Chuck Prophet

Alejandro Escovedo: "Getting Older Every Day, But I'm Digging It"

Alejandro Escovedo is one of Texas' most gifted and versatile singer-songwriters, with the soul and background of a punk rocker, the work ethic of a tradesman, and the undying faith in rock and roll of two of his closest contemporaries -- also men of uncommon emotional range and teeth-gritting tenac ... More >>

Rest Of The Best: Houston's Top 8 Jukeboxes

Along with pickled pig's feet and a steady supply of Slim Jims, a good jukebox is a prime element for any great bar. But, like dinosaurs, jukeboxes are a vanishing breed. Unlike digital jukes, iPods or DJs, jukeboxes require love, care and maintenance, as well as -- among the truly great ones -- som ... More >>

What Every Musician Needs: Better Shut Up Lines

We all hate the trope "Houston, we have a problem," but we do have a problem in Houston with talkative, inattentive crowds at live shows. Scanning back over reviews from the past two years, at least 20 percent of them mention crowd noise. So what do the musicians think and, more importantly, what ... More >>

No More "Wild Thing" For the Troggs

​Lonesome, Onry and Mean was sad to learn via Chuck Prophet's Facebook page this morning that Reg Presley, lead singer of Sixties proto-punkers the Troggs, has been diagnosed with lung cancer. The Troggs are known primarily for their 1966 hit "Wild Thing." LOM was a sophomore in high school ... More >>

RIP Johnny Otis, the Godfather of Rhythm and Blues

Johnny Otis, one of the creators of rock and roll but primarily remembered as the godfather of rhythm and blues, has passed away at 90. Otis died at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena. A consummate band leader and showman who was of Greek descent and changed his actual last name, Veliot ... More >>

The Funky Chicken: Good Stuff in the Mailbox

Yeah, it's like that.​Once again our mailbox has filled to overflowing with CDs (and zip files). The desk looks like a Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown of jewel cases, and the entire room is littered with (largely unread) piles of hype-and-tout. And while much of what comes over the transom ... More >>

Street Soul

Alejandro Escovedo puts strings on ice for the penetrating rock of his past two albums.

Friday The 13th Escovedo, Skarnales Fans' Lucky Day

Jason WolterAlejandro Escovedo, Sensitive Boy​While Friday the 13th is universally considered a day of bad luck, in fact it just turned out to be Houston's lucky day. This afternoon Miller Outdoor Theatre announced a free show for that date starring none other than Alejandro Escovedo and the S ... More >>

Rocks Off's Favorite Shows Of 2010

Marco Torres​Editor's Picks: Mary J. Blige, Reliant Stadium (RodeoHouston), March: Exquisite. Beach House, Walter's on Washington, April: Can't hate on this one either. Magical. Wu-Tang Clan, Numbers, December: Against all odds, they brought the motherfuckin' ruckus.

Five Great 2010 Albums Lonesome Onry And Mean Forgot

​Other than it just being a form of lazy journalism, one reason LOM hates making best-of lists is that there are always items that we forgot about, or considered but felt like they just barely didn't make it somehow. Then we wish we had included them. Here are a few more obscure 2010 albums th ... More >>

Lonesome Onry And Mean's Top 11 Shows Of 2010

Jason WolterToots & the Maytals at House of Blues, May 2​Along with the season of shopping madness and suicidal depression comes the season for Best-ofs. Live show-wise, 2010 was very benevolent to Lonesome Onry and Mean. Some of our favorites from 2010: 11. Jon Cleary, The Big Easy: Cleary ... More >>

Lonesome Onry And Mean Plays "Spin The iPod" (Almost)

​Facebook, that great time-waster, is always a source of mindless brain candy. Just a few moments ago, Lonesome, Onry and Mean was tagged in a note titled "15 Random iPod Songs." The rules were fairly straightforward: Put your unit on "random" and list the first 15 songs that play. This sound ... More >>

Upcoming: Buzzfest XXV, Chuck Prophet, Deer Tick, Lights, Posies, Etc.

Update/correction (10:03 a.m.): Big Boi is not playing Ghoulsfest after all. But if you happen to be on the U.S.S. Yorktown aircraft carrier in Charleston S.C. on October 28, you can see Sir Luscious Left Foot there. ​Bob Schneider: Thu., Oct. 28. McGonigel's Mucky Duck. Buxton, Cotton Jone ... More >>

Wednesday Night Is The Loveliest Night Of The Week

myspace.com/davinjamesDavin James​Don't look now, but Wednesday is one of the hotter musical nights these days, not that there isn't something for everyone almost every night if you've got your nose to the ground. Here's a brief report of what's catching Rocks Off's attention lately. 1. Puffa ... More >>

9 Places We'd Send The New York Times

Mark C. AustinJandek (right) and trio at Rudyard's... who says we're not hip?​ As we may have mentioned, Rocks Off was none too pleased when we read The New York Times' most recent article on Houston in this past Sunday's travel section and found exactly zero mentions of anything music-related. Th ... More >>

Kelly Willis Happy To Leave Kids At Home For Miller Outdoor Show

​Kelly Willis, who plays Miller Outdoor Theatre Saturday night with Ray Wylie Hubbard, has four kids and is known to be a doting mother. She and husband Bruce Robison could probably both have much more tour-heavy careers were they not so devoted to raising their kids in a family, non-showbiz atmos ... More >>

Kelly Willis

SXSW Aftermath: Roll Call At Saturday Night's Alex Chilton Tribute

Philippe Brizard/ WikipediaAlex Chilton in France, 2004​Which big names played the Big Star tribute? In the wake of turmoil of the death of Alex Chilton, local media bandied names including Cheap Trick, fresh off a sterling SXSW show at Auditorium Shores, and Paul Westerberg - who had his say-so i ... More >>

Your Lucky Day

St. Paddy brings the party when you need it most.

American Man

Chuck Prophet's ¡Let Freedom Ring!: Political songs for nonpolitical people.

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 >>

Roots-Rocker Chuck Prophet Heads Under the Volcano For St. Patrick's Day

myspace.com/chuckprophetofficialAlejandro Escovedo and Chuck Prophet​Chuck Prophet won't be skipping Houston on his upcoming tour as he makes his way toward Austin and South By Southwest. Under the Volcano announced yesterday that Prophet will play there Wednesday, March 17. The Bissonnet bar has ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: This Is Not (Really) a Best-Of-2009 List

​Lonesome, Onry and Mean saw a great comment from Dave Alvin on Facebook recently that went something like this: "I do not do Best of lists or End of the Decade lists, the only lists I do are 'crap I have to do' lists." We gladly second that, Dave, as there is nothing other than Christmas shopping ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Chuck Prophet's ¡Let Freedom Ring! Doesn't Disappoint

"American man in the laundry pile/ With the rain check claims and the skateboard child" - Chuck Prophet, "American Man"​We admit to being full-fledged, card-carrying members of the Chuck Prophet Party, but it still took Lonesome, Onry and Mean longer than usual to get the ears and head wrapped aro ... More >>

Are MP3s and Downloading Eroding Music's Communal Properties?

​ Although Rocks Off had every intention of rambling about something different this week, we thought it would be a lost opportunity to not examine an issue that seems to have been revealed by readers' responses last week. Although many fantastic points were made, we were fascinated to detect that ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Meet Mark Selby and Selby Mills Lemaire

LOM still can't get over the death of Tim Krekel. Nor can we get over that he was, for the most part, so underrecognized and underappreciated by the world at large. Several late-night dinner parties have passed at our house in the weeks since his passing, and we always seem to end up listening to T ... More >>

Saturday: Tim Easton at Cactus Music

I first encountered Tim Easton about five years ago at a New West Records South By Southwest party. It was a hot day at an outdoor stage. I felt the presence of someone moving up beside me and saw from his name tag that it was Michael Corcoran, longtime music critic for the Austin American-Statesma ... More >>

Lonesome Onry and Mean: 2008's Heavy Rotation

For the second (third?) year in a row, LOM didn't vote in either the Nashville Scene's best of country music poll or the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop best of American music poll. I'm just not a good list-maker. Detest that stuff. Just trying to compile a list of possibles makes my brain hate me. ... More >>

Aftermath Extra: The Best Concerts of the Year, Part 1

[Note: Aftermath attended all these shows and reviewed most of them. Even he couldn't see them all.] Six Organs of Admittance, Walter's on Washington, January 18: "[Ben Chasny's] quieter moments reminded me of the softer side of bands like Pavement and Guided by Voices, and the mournful specte ... More >>

Alejandro Escovedo: Real Animal

Last Night: Over the Rhine at the Mucky Duck

Local Motion

Last Night: Chuck Prophet at the Continental Club

Chuck Prophet

Chuck Prophet, Soap and Water

Rotation

Colorado River Blues

For New Mexico-bred singer-songwriter Eric Hisaw, the move to Austin is just starting to pay

Chuck Prophet

Tuesday, May 20

Songbird Silenced

Pioneering singer/songwriter and native Houstonian Mickey Newbury passes away