Caroline Collective

Meet the 2012 HPMA Showcase Nominees: Chase Hamblin

Rocks Off reached out to the artists playing this year's Houston Press Music Awards showcase Sunday, August 5, and asked them to introduce themselves. Here's what they sent back. Catch up with the other showcase nominees and see the rest of our HPMA coverage Rocks Off: When and where was your firs ... More >>

How Many Puppets Can Fit into a Phone Booth?: Three New Works for the Puppet Stage

State Of The Scene Part 1: Growth, Splintering & Change

Fatal Flying Guilloteens, left, in 2007 and their descendents Weird Party (right) at Summer Fest 2011​Thursday is the fourth anniversary of the Live Earth concerts, which Rocks Off remembers today less for any of the music - Madonna and Gogol Bordello is the only thing that readily comes to mi ... More >>

The Mink Celebrates Five-Year Anniversary With Young Girls

​Goodness, it's been a while since our last MCM update, but we're back. Rocks Off is scouring the Internet for every tidbit of Houston music news we can find, and reporting it all back every Friday. If you'd like to facilitate our hunt, feel free to drop a line to marc [dot] brubaker [at] gmai ... More >>

Upcoming Events

Photo courtesy of incycleCome get some this weekend.​Head down to Galveston this Saturday, December 11, to raise money for a very good cause and meet a 'cue-lebrity at the same time. Neil "Bigmista" Strawder, contestant on TLC's BBQ Pitmasters and owner of nationally acclaimed Bigmista's Barbe ... More >>

Texas Vodka Throwdown Crowns Tito's As Its King

Photo by Groovehouse / Click here for a slideshowMike Cortez (R), organizer of the event, congratulates Tito's Handmade Vodka on their win.​Longtime Texas favorite Tito's Handmade Vodka won the Texas Vodka Throwdown by a wide margin on Saturday evening after a blind tasting by 15 judges from t ... More >>

Upcoming Events

Get ready for a boozy good time on Saturday.​Get your palates primed for the Texas Vodka Throwdown this Saturday night at Caroline Collective (4820 Caroline). The event, which runs from 6 to 9 p.m., is absolutely free (as long as you're over 21), but that's not the best part: The best part is ... More >>

Upcoming Events

You could also stay inside and make Martha Stewart-inspired berry cakes, but that isn't nearly as fun.​With a three-day weekend ahead, you can make the most of it (rain or shine) by heading to one of the patriotic parties hosted by some of the city's best restaurants. Branch Water Tavern is h ... More >>

The Twitterverse

More than just cyberspace, the tweet life inspires people to make friends and adopt causes in person. It has a few problems, too.

Magnolia City Mixtape: Roky Erickson, Houston Symphony, BandCamp, Solange, The Vatican, Watermarks, Featherface, Lots More

Roky Erickson and Will Sheff of Okkervil River at Toy Joy, Austin TX from Roky Erickson w/ Okkervil River on Vimeo. Roky Erickson plays tomorrow night at the Continental Club for the second time in about six months. The Texas Psychedelic Rock blog posted a video last week of Erickson and Okkervil R ... More >>

Distant Early Warning: Cannibal Corpse, Coheed & Cambria, Jana Hunter, Jimmy Buffett, Phoenix, Shooter Jennings, etc.

​Angels & Airwaves, Say Anything: Tue., May 18. House of Blues. Best Fwends, Balls Deep, Fat Tony: Sat., March 13. Mango's. Black Congress, Young Mammals, Weird Party: Thu., March 25. Walter's on Washington. Bleeding Through, Born of Osiris, Sleeping Giant, Oceano: Fri., May 7. Wired Live. Cannib ... More >>

Magnolia City Mixtape: Sign the WestFest Petition, And Other Stuff You Need to Know About

MTV Shows Are you READY for Rocks Off's Washington Shore party this Thursday? If not, this video of Jersey Shore's Snooki interviewing Phoenix on MTV will melt your brain. If you read even one Houston-based music Web site, you probably already know that a petition is circulating to show support for ... More >>

Gingerbread Architecture at Caroline Collective

Photos by Katharine Shilcutt​This has been a year for non-traditional gingerbread houses in Houston. The gingerbread dog houses at Voice kicked off the season earlier this month, and Caroline Collective all but finished it off with its first annual Gingerbread Build-Off. The concept came from ... More >>

All Good Again

Important things to know about Atlanta mystery men Goodie Mob.

Adobo Hoedown: Filipino Food For a Charitable Cause

Photo by Katharine ShilcuttFilipino pastries from Godo's​When Typoon Ketsana hit the Philippines on September 25, it was the worst weather-related disaster the country and its capital city of Manila had seen in decades. Severe flooding caused an evacuation of an enormous portion of the city, displ ... More >>

Bayou Beat: Half Price Live Nation Tickets, Last Call for Photo Contest, First Call for Poster Exhibit, Final "They, Who Sound" (For Now) This Sunday

​ Live Nation's weekly Wednesday "No Service Fee" ticket offer is pretty stiff this week: Buy one ticket for dozens of shows at House of Blues or Verizon Wireless Theater - such as Alice Cooper, O.A.R., Jewel, Goodie Mob, Bob Saget, Drive-By Truckers, Hanson, Peaches, Stryper, Zappa plays Zappa an ... More >>

Progress Report

Taking stock of the Houston music scene on the eve of the annual Houston Press Music Awards Showcase.

Inquiring Minds: Is Houston the New Austin?

But more importantly, do we want it to be? And, God help us, what if it already is? When Rocks Off polled a cross-section of Houston music insiders for his "dead-tree" column this week - thanks for the term, Jeremy at Space City Rock - he was forced to omit one question from the final version for sp ... More >>

The Tontons

Hell on Earth

Long Island hardcore quartet This Is Hell thrashes till the sun goes down.

Distant Early Warning: Al Green, Arctic Monkeys, Living Colour, Meat Puppets, Melvins and More

Al Green: Fri., Sept. 11. Arena Theatre. Arctic Monkeys: Sat., Oct. 3. House of Blues. The Beauvilles, Flowers To Hide, The Live Lights: Sat., July 25. Meridian. The Black Crowes, Truth & Salvage Co: Wed., Oct. 14. House of Blues. "Broke Lizard: Live": Thu., Oct. 15. House of Blues. Cold, Tapro ... More >>

Social Distortion: Sweet Caroline's First Birthday (Only 17 Years 'Til She's Legal)

Photo by GroovehouseIf you weren't at Caroline Collective's anniversary affair this past Saturday evening, chances are you're pretty much as lame as they come. Or you hate Houston's burgeoning artistic and technological communities. Take your pick. Amidst what was described by revelers as "the mo ... More >>

Houston's SXSW Strategy

Seeing the Elephant

Slideshow: Pre-SXSW Party at Caroline Collective

We just loaded up some photos from Thursday's pre-South By party at Caroline Collective. Click here for more action.

Slideshow: Pre-SXSW Party at Caroline Collective

We just loaded up some photos from Thursday's pre-South By party at Caroline Collective. Click here for more action.

Tonight: Houston SXSW Mixer at Caroline Collective

If you're from around these parts and headed to SXSW - whether the film, music or interactive festivals - or just curious about who is, head down to Caroline Collective, where this year's Houston delegation will be rubbing elbows and quaffing drinks starting at 5 p.m. "Our goal is for Houst ... More >>

Wayne Dolcefino Brings Art People Together (Really)

Photo courtesy KTRKWayne Dolcefino, friend of the Houston art world?That seems unlikely after his reports late last year ripping arts funding in town, which took the tone of "Do you know what crazy so-called 'art' your tax dollars are paying for?" (It also, to be fair, exposed some boondoggly stuff. ... More >>

Slideshow: Houston Twestival at Caroline Collective

Last night at Caroline Collective, hundreds of Houston Tweeters gathered for charity, conversation and music. Mark C. Austin brought back plenty of photos. Follow us on Twitter here.

Tonight: Twestival Houston at Caroline Collective

Wayside DriveTonight at Caroline Collective, Houston will be joining over 175 cities across the world for the Twestival. The Twitter-spawned event was set-up to benefit Charity:Water, a nonprofit group that helps build wells in underdeveloped countries to help bring fresh water to their commu ... More >>

Musicians on Twitter

Is the "microblog" Internet phenomenon the next leap forward or just a tweeting waste of time?

Local Rotation: The Snake Charmers' Been Gone Too Long

The Snake Charmers Been Gone Too Long www.snakecharmers.net Contrary to popular belief, the blues is mostly about restraint; a few carefully chosen and timed notes are almost always preferable to a shower of technically precise show-offery. Luckily, the Snake Charmers don't have this problem. T ... More >>

Tonight: Peter and the Wolf and More at ArtStorm

Austin's Peter and The Wolf does road music. Not road music in the sense that Sammy Hagar did songs for the open road. Chief P&W songwriter Red Hunter's songs remind Rocks Off of walking down gravel roads, occasionally wiping sweat from our brow and meandering with no destination. Hu ... More >>

Foul Ball and Quick Fix

Music's Ickiest of the Icky, Circa 2008

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

"Made From Ike"

The Fresh Arts Coalition auctions off hurricane creations for relief efforts

This One Time at BandCamp

Fried Rice: Live-blogging the HPMA VIP Party

HPMA Showcase Preview: Videos from Wild Moccasins, Miss Leslie, Tontons, Southern Backtones, Hearts of Animals and Born Liars

Can Alternative Venues Jump-Start the Local Music Scene?

Ten Things I Love About the Houston Music Scene

Over the Weekend: Mugsy's, Big Easy, SW Foodservice Expo, Tom Waits and Astros

Weekend Music: Allen Oldies Band, True Colors Tour, Tom Waits and a Really Strange Japanese Guy