Bo Diddley

An Animal Roars Again: The Eric Burdon Interview, Part 1

As lead vocalist for the '60s British Invasion band the Animals, Eric Burdon fronted what was perhaps the toughest R&B-influenced group from the era (sorry, Stones fans), and had a second incarnation exploring psychedelic music. In his collaborations with War, Burdon pushed the boundaries of impro ... More >>

Not Fade Away Soundtrack Offers Up a Fistful of Blues, Stones

Not Fade Away, Director David Chase's period piece about a burgeoning rock band in the '60s, is still playing on limited screens in New York and Los Angeles, but this week preview copies of the soundtrack hit mailboxes. It is a sprawling double-disc, double-LP collection featuring vintage Rolling St ... More >>

Saturday Night: Roky Erickson at the Continental Club

Roky Erickson Continental Club July 14, 2012 With the arid summer of 2011 fresh in our memories, it's easy to forget that Houston's often a sweaty, swampy mess. Saturday night it was no different, having rained for a week straight. Though the rain was done by evening, the air was thick and balmy t ... More >>

Roger Rouland: Creepy Ex-Baylor Lecturer Cops to Kiddy Porn Charges, Awaits Sentencing

As Bo Diddley once famously sang, you can't judge a book by lookin' at the cover. Except when you can, we would add, which certainly seems the case with Roger Rouland. The former Baylor lecturer pleaded guilty this week to possession of child porn two-and-a-half years after janitorial workers fou ... More >>

30 Seconds With Astronautalis

Rocks Off hitched a ride on a space whale in order to hook up with Andy Bothwell, also known as Astronautalis to see what we could learn about our biggest hope for rap in 30 seconds. paperocean​Rocks Off: What is the worst song in the world? Astronautalis: "Love in an Elevator" by Aerosmith. ... More >>

Top 5 Musical Ed Sullivan Show Controversies

theselvedgeyard.wordpress.com"You want me to sing WHAT now?"​To the right-wing conservatives, religious groups, and self-proclaimed family organizations raising hell over Chaz Bono's "assault on family values" as the first transgender contestant on Dancing With the Stars, Rocks Off asks the q ... More >>

Last Night: George Thorogood At House Of Blues

Photos by Groovehouse​George Thorogood & the Destroyers House of Blues April 26, 2011 George Thorogood is an odd sort of working-class hero. Like many of his bluesy forefathers, the Delaware-born rocker is as modest and self-deprecating in person (or at least on the phone) as his songs are s ... More >>

Rocks Off's Fantasy RodeoHouston Lineup

Photos courtesy of Houston Livestock Show & RodeoGeorge Strait in 1996​If you walk through Reliant Center, hanging from the ceiling are banners listing almost every musical performer RodeoHouston has hosted since the '60s. The names reflect the hallowed history of country and fleeting fancies ... More >>

Blues Christmas

Dialtone Records Showcase

A Long Night Of The Harmonicas At Minute Maid Park

Photos by Groovehouse​ For more photos from Friday's Harmonica Night, see our slideshow here. Rocks Off spent a lot of time last week wondering what Minute Maid Park was going to sound like this past Friday. In cooperation with the Astros, the people behind last year's harmonica documentary ... More >>

Ten Thousand Harmonicas Coming To Minute Maid Next Friday

Courtesy Pocket Full of SoulHarmonicas can multiply like cockroaches if you're not careful.​If you're going to try to break a world record by having 10,000 people play the same instrument at the same time, Rocks Off supposes the harmonica is a pretty good way to go, and a ballpark is a pretty ... More >>

Into the Jungle

The Jungle Rockers are wound too tight for Vietnam...what about Texas?

Jungle Rockers

Aftermath: George Thorogood's Raucous Rock Party Destroys House of Blues

Photos by Groovehouse​ Since we have long since moved into a digital age of music journalism, Aftermath now takes notes on his cellphone or loads his thoughts onto Twitter. Sifting through our pecking from last night's George Thorogood and the Destroyers show at the House of Blues, we noticed that ... More >>

Leon's Lounge Needs Some Soul. Brett "Dirty Honey" Koshkin Has The Platters.

​ Leon's Lounge, the venerable Midtown throwback dive, is currently closed for renovations as new owner Pete Mitchell (Under the Volcano) gives it a good scrubbing, but it should be back open before too much longer. Maybe as soon as next month. Earlier this week, Rocks Off heard some equally good ... More >>

Inquiring Minds: An Hour With The Red Krayola Mastermind Mayo Thompson

Chris Strong/ Drag City​ Last Friday, Rocks Off had the distinct pleasure of talking to Mayo Thompson, the man behind psychedelic (or not) art-rockers The Red Krayola, whose career spans the early days of Houston label International Artists, the art worlds of New York and Europe in the '70s, a sti ... More >>

Fast As You: Rocks Off's Playlist for Sunday's Houston Marathon

anythingaboutcars.comThe 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner. Please keep your drooling to a minimum.​ The drinking stops tonight. Rocks Off is joining 30,000 other crazy, hardy souls to run the Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Half Marathon this Sunday. (We're running the half - it's only our second race ... More >>

The Man Comes Around: Top Ten Big-Deal Musical Deaths of the Decade

​This past decade saw the passing of an innumerable amount of musical icons and pioneering giants. Not only did we lose the second coolest Beatle, but we lost two of the best dancers and performers the world will ever see. Punk rock and metal saw some of their best and brightest lights get snuffed ... More >>

(Don't) Book 'Em, Dano: 42 Artists Who Have Absolutely No Business Touring Together

​ When Rocks Off received word last week that indie duo The Big Pink was embarking on a 2010 tour with NYC's A Place to Bury Strangers, our initial thought was, "Cool," followed closely by, "Ew." For once, there's a promo poster we really have no desire to see. But then our next thought was, "Coul ... More >>

Please, Kenny Rogers, Just Sing and Spare Us the Pictures of Your Kids

Photos by Eric Sauseda/ Click here for a slideshow​ Kenny Rogers is now 71 years old. And, as of a few years ago anyway, his boys can still swim. Aftermath knows this because we were treated to a slideshow of Rogers' twin five-year-old sons - even some shots from the delivery room - as he sang the ... More >>

Million-Dollar Mud

The 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival became a quagmire everywhere but onstage.

ACL Aftermath, Part 2: Now That That "Dillo Dirt" Unpleasantness Is Out of the Way, How About Some Music?

Mark C. AustinSeems like we recognize this guy from somewhere...​ More and more, Aftermath uses ACL more than SXSW to see which recent buzz bands are worth their salt, and of course to check on how some old favorites are doing. This year, tops on our new-to-us list were Blitzen Trapper, who manage ... More >>

Aftermath: Th' Legendary Shack Shakers at Rudyard's

Photos by Chris Gray​ Th' Legendary Shack Shakers are a sort of Blue Ridge Parkway answer to Los Skarnales, mining Anglo-American roots music and all things Memphis - Sun Records, Beale Street and the Oblivians - to create a turbo-charged, gypsy-flavored, punk-speed rockabilly dynamo with a metric ... More >>

Eyeballin': John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band Live in Toronto '69

It's a story well-told in Beatles lore. Reeling from the Fab Four's unraveling, a bored John Lennon accepted an invitation to perform at the Toronto Rock 'n Roll Revival show in September 1969. He quickly formed an ad hoc group of friends (wife Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton on guitar, Klaus Voorman on bass ... More >>

Album of the Week: Pretenders, Break Up the Concrete

Pretenders Break Up the Concrete www.thepretenders.com Old punk rockers - or, in this case, post-punks - never die, they just go country. On the Pretenders' first album since 2002's barely-registering Loose Screw, Chrissie Hynde confronts middle age by revisiting the musical styles of the mid-2 ... More >>

Classic Rock Corner: Blues/Soul/R&B In Memoriam 2008

Ah, that nasty Grim Reaper took a lot of great musicians this year, and his scythe cut a wide swath across all genres, including many heavyweights in the blues and R&B world. The greatest loss comes in the form of someone who was a man, a song, and a beat all in one... Bo Diddley, singer-songw ... More >>

Cadillac Records Can't Handle the Truth

Spinning Blues into Lies

“Day of the Dead Rock Stars”

See Bob Marley, Bo Diddley and others given the DOD treatment by artist Carlos Hernandez

"The Sounds I See: Photographs of Musicians"

This MFAH exhibit features live shots of popular music's greatest contributors

Hamilton Loomis

Don’t miss the chance to see a premiere blues guitarist in a small setting

Locals Only

Last Night: X at Warehouse Live

Bo Diddley, RIP

Siouxsie, Mantaray

CD Review

Drenched in Blog: Bo Knows Hospitals

Rock Radio (and Rock Romano) Redux

Bo knows good rock when he sees it. Do Houston radio programmers?

Money Waters

The Porch (Soullsys Music/Noir Sound)

Hudson Hawked

Kate gets the hard sell in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Hamilton Loomis

Hamilton Loomis Live: Highlights (Ham-Bone Music)

Roy Head

Head On! (Music Club)

Guy Forsyth

Steak (Texas Music)

HammingIt Up

Local blues guitarist Hamilton reaches musical puberty

Press Picks

Nails in the Coffin

Five decades of Chess Records lead to a blues stalemate

Aw, Twern't Nuthin'

That's what Mike Henderson says, but his fans disagree

Rotation

Bo Knows

Swamp Thang

New Blues

Alternative rock robs pop's cradle