Craig Hlavaty

The Best Concerts In Houston This Week

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Fitzgerald's, January 21 The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion has been back preaching the blues gospel and garage wail for three years now, since reissuing their catalog to rave reviews and excitement from fans young and old. The trio -- Jon Spencer, Judah Bauer and Russell S ... More >>

15 Notable Houston Concerts of 2012

As we look back over 2012 this week, it is now time to revisit some of this year's memorable shows. It wasn't easy narrowing the list down to 15. Concerts are in chronological order. CHRIS GRAY DAY, The Continental Club So much local talent and so much love. Uh, if I'm maybe a little too biased on ... More >>

Promised Land

SXSW 2012, from Bruce Springsteen to Buxton.

2011 Music Awards Showcase

Your guide to the bands and venues.

A Dream Austin City Limits Weekend For Houston

Craig HlavatyColdplay at The Woodlands, July 2009​Summer is creeping in, which means the fall concert calendars are filling up fast, and we should know which Austin City Limits Music Festival artists will book side dates in our area sooner rather than later. The standard disclaimer: Rocks Off ... More >>

Summer Fest Critic's Guide: Who We're Seeing At Tinsley

Jermaine Rogers​In three very short years, Free Press Summer Fest has gone from an experiment most people thought would fail to destination music festival most people wouldn't dare miss even if it is going to be 105 degrees outside. Rocks Off has seen quite a bit of online chatter from people ... More >>

Hamburger Heaven at Hefley's

Poor picture quality aside, this was a fine burger specimen.​I confess to not having very high expectations when Hefley's (138 West Gray), opened recently in the old Luling BBQ location in Midtown. Perhaps it was due to the former tenant's proclivity for really poor Texas food, perhaps it was ... More >>

Where Are We Peeing? And Looking At Yuppie Real-Estate Porn?

Photo by Craig Hlavaty​ Jesus, this bathroom looks grim. Suspect swatches of toilet paper on the ground. Huge white footprints next to the throne. A copy of 77007 Magazine lying on around like a copy of Yuppie Hustler. How depraved is it to read about Washington Avenue real estate that while you a ... More >>

No Pho-king Way: Bye-Bye Mai's, At Least For Now

Update: The official HFD release says "Houston Fire Department arson investigators have ruled the cause of a fire at Mai's Restaurant on Milam due to a cooking fire (wok)." Photos by Craig Hlavaty​Firefighters continue to battle the blaze at Mai's, and reports are grim. (In terms of property, at ... More >>

Artist of the Week: Proud Member of the "Overeducated Underclass" The Cocker Spaniels

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com. ​ The three coolest guys ... More >>

Where Are We A.C. Slatering Peeing?

Craig Hlavaty Oh Hell, the bar that houses this restroom has been a godsend these past two weeks. The bar itself, not the restroom, that is. Our internal plumbing is fine; besides, we are choosy as to where we A.C. Slater* anyway, what with all the diseases running rampant on the avenue where this b ... More >>

Aftermath: Rocks Off's Buddy's Bachelor Party at House of Blues, Leon's, the Darkhorse and, Suprisingly, Not Jail

Craig Hlavaty​ Like we wrote last Friday, Rocks Off attended a bachelor party this past weekend for our friend Brett, who gets hitched this coming Saturday. (It took us a few days for our head to clear.) It was a star-studded event that included a faux Kings of Leon sighting, Luis Scola, a Led Zep ... More >>

Where Are We Peeing?

[Ed. Note: Just in time for lunch, Rocks Off presents our own spin on Houston Press food blog Eating Our Words' popular Where Are We Eating/Drinking series.] Craig Hlavaty​ Monday nights we usually hit this place up to watch The Daily Show on mute and partake in their weekly Lone Star and Jaeger s ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, September: Taylor Hicks, Chickenfoot, Abbey Road, Monotonix, Butthole Surfers, Happy Mondays... and Creed

Craig Hlavaty​ Collective Soul, House of Blues, September 1: "Collective Soul is no one's idea of a Southern Rock band, but the band did manage to prove a point or two. First, nostalgically speaking, the '80s are over. The '90s are where the money is. Second, Kings of Leon hardly sprung from a vac ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind: Backtracking to Free Press Houston Summerfest

Craig Hlavaty"Hippie Mike" may have been a bigger hit at Summerfest than any of the bands.​ Craig Hlavaty: "The two-day concert reminded us of a fun-size Austin City Limits Festival, with the best bits of Westheimer Block Parties of yore thrown in for good measure, with sprinkles of Houston's ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, August: Weezy, Blondie, Depeche Mode, JoBros, Katy Perry, Mos Def, De La Soul, Blue October, Green Day and an Audience With King George

Shea Serrano​ Asher Roth, Kid Cudi, House of Blues, August 1: "[Cudi has] tapped John Goldstein, Kanye's famed stage light guy, to help him create an actual feel to his show. Hipster rappers get derided a lot as not being "real rappers," but they put on a hell of a show. The crowd is already his." ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, July: Beyonce, Coldplay, Aerosmith/ZZ Top, Judas Priest, Rod Stewart... and the Trae Day Gunplay

Craig Hlavaty​ Wooden Birds, Other Lives, Walter's on Washington, July 2: "This is Andrew Kenny's latest project away from American Analog Set. That band is currently on hold while Kenny and the rest of the group go off to pollinate elsewhere. The Birds don't fall far from the AmAnSet tree at all, ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, June: Roky Erickson, David Byrne, Heartless Bastards, Santigold, Clapton & Winwood, the Jenny Lewis Shushing and '90s Alt-Rock Back from the Dead

Daniel Kramer​ New York Dolls, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, House of Blues, June 4: "What we got last night at the House of Blues was an hour-long set of sporadic and confounding re-workings of their bedrock material, and a whole helluva lot of middle-of-the-road bar rock from two dimming ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, May: No Doubt, Dave Matthews, Fleetwood Mac, Steve Earle, Fischerspooner, Bob Log and, Um, BuzzFest

Craig Hlavaty​Dave Matthews Band, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, May 1: "It's hard to label what exactly they do, but it can't be called 'jam.' As limitless and expansive the bands who get stuck in that genre may be, folks like String Cheese Incident, O.A.R. and Dispatch cannot hold a flickering ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, March: Erykah Badu, Britney, Billy Joel & Elton John, A Baybrook Beatdown and A Whole Lotta Rodeo

Mark C. Austin​ Rascal Flatts, Reliant Stadium, March 3: "It's almost devious how much these guys sweetened and tune their songs up, close to the point of an almost automaton-like perfection. Each song is custom-built like a souped-up hot rod, with almost no flourish or guitar vamp going to waste. ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind: SXSW 09 Revisited, Broken Arm and Everything Else

​ Balaclavas: "On the way to see Houston's own Balaclavas at the Independent to debut new stuff off the soon-to-be released Roman Holiday, I abruptly hit a curb with my bicycle. Luckily my elbow took one for the team. Well, it ended up getting fractured and I have all kinds of internal business go ... More >>

A Report from the Lee Powers Memorial: That's Enough Death for A While, Everyone

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​Houston's most fervent cyclists, skaters, musicians and artists converged on The Silo on Saturday afternoon to commemorate the life of fallen Free Press Houston staffer Lee Powers. The arty ruins in the warehouse district welcomed friends and family of Powers with enough sp ... More >>

Aftermath: Reliably, Early Man and Valient Thorr Melt Our Faces One More Time at Rudyard's

video by Craig Hlavaty Thursday night was probably Aftermath's fifth or sixth time seeing Early Man and Valient Thorr since we discovered them in 2005. It's shows like these that allow the setting aside of critical artifice to straight up jam out. There's no taking of careful notes or delicately an ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Two: I Am Mulletron!

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​Look twice, that's actually a fake mullet. Homeboy has a patent on this item, which is actually a sweatband with hair woven into it. With his head-to-toe camo gear we just figured he was another red-blooded Son Of The Nuge with a characteristically questionable style. One ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Three: In Which We Fall In Lurve With White Dress

Photo by Craig Hlavaty​White Dress opened for the Heartless Bastards on Thursday night in Houston, while we were at Them Crooked Vultures in Austin. We finally got to catch them just a few minutes back and sweet mama was it nice. The Austin-based band, led by the raven-haired Arum Rae, kicked the ... More >>

ACL 2009 Snapshot: "I'm Wearing A Goofy Hat"

Photo by Craig Hlavaty​"So, if you see me at the show I'm wearing a Goofy hat. Nah, not a funny hat. A Goofy hat. The dog dude from the Mickey Mouse movies. Remember that movie we watched in driver's education? That guy. I'm wearing his head on my head. Yeah. That Goofy."

ACL 2009 Day One: The Knux Rock Our Sox

Craig Hlavaty​Waking us up out of our Sixth Street-induced coma were The Knux from Los Angeles, by way of Nawlins on the Xbox 360 stage. The hip-hop trio were decked out in leather and spat out grimy Wu-Tang style rhymes with intermittent old-school Cure riffs thrown in for sick measure. Our favor ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day One: Thanks For Stealing Our Idea....

Craig Hlavaty​Look who totally copped Rocks Off's hustle? We would totally own these kids at Beatles: Rock Band but we don't feel like making kids cry. We are masters of restraint and resolve. Some call us saints in sinners' bodies.

ACL 2009 Day One: Hi, Diet Coke. How Are You?

Craig Hlavaty​ Here's Daniel Johnston pouring himself a glass of non-demon tainted Diet Coke. Which is weird because we always thought he was down with the Dew, as in Mountain. Not the band Mountain of "Mississippi Queen" fame. The gross-ass faux energy drink, the one that hillbillies but in thei ... More >>

Aftermath: Taylor Hicks' Supper-Club Soul Patrol at Warehouse Live

Craig Hlavaty​Monday night's Taylor Hicks show left Aftermath with way more questions than answers, mostly of the existential variety rather than the musical. Our minds were blown, and not in the same "Oh man, I finally got to listen to Zaireeka the other night" kind of way that the Soul Patrol ma ... More >>

The Beatles: Rock Band Is In the House

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​ It's like Christmas morning here at Rocks Off today. We just got our copy of The Beatles: Rock Band and, like a car wreck or the Williams Tower waterwall, can't stop staring at it. (Must... look... away...) It looks like developer Harmonix spared no expense - and, at $250 ... More >>

Aftermath: Passengers' Robotic Drug-Rock Drone at the Mink

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​ Seeing that Aftermath is childless (we hope), it's a rare occasion for us to see something be birthed before our very eyes. Sure, we have probably unwittingly been around for some conceptions, but never a full-on screaming mama genesis like we saw and heard Friday night at ... More >>

Midtown Was Smokin' On Sunday -- We Have The Photographic Proof

Photos by Craig Hlavaty​Midtown residents were treated to a ton of smoke yesterday when a transformer blew and caught on fire.No injuries or major damage was reported, but it sure did look smoky/ HFD assistant chief Adrian Trevino tells Hair Balls an investigation will take place, but lightning is ... More >>

HPMA Bombshell: Kim Is NOT Asli

Craig Hlavaty ​During yesterday's HPMA festivities, our resident Rocks Off Wonder Woman Kim Douglass was mistaken for the Tontons' Asli Omar at least twice on the street. Here is definitive proof that they are two different people. Upon seeing this picture, both women looked at each other in a sor ... More >>

Aftermath: Coldplay at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Photos by Craig Hlavaty Coldplay carries with them almost every major defect available to make it possible for someone like Aftermath to hate them. Bandleader Chris Martin prances on the stage like a marionette detached from his strings for one, his gee-whiz smile notwithstanding. Just like the its ... More >>

Aftermath: Rancid and Rise Against at Verizon Wireless Theater

Craig HlavatyThere's something about the punk rock of Northern California's Rancid will remain forever and indelibly ingrained in Aftermath's heart. No matter what we seem to find ourselves getting into, all we need to hear is a few spins of ...And Out Come The Wolves to bring us back to our liberty ... More >>

Aftermath: Clutch at House of Blues

Photos by Craig Hlavaty If you ever wondered what might have happened if James Brown and Audioslave had a baby, you should have been at House of Blues Wednesday night. You might only be wondering this if you are a member of the male gender, because - with a few exceptions at the almost-full venue - ... More >>

Bayou Beat: B L A C K I E on Tour, Michael Jackson Tribute at Discovery Green, Ticket Deals and More

Above is some video from B L A C K I E's performance Monday night at New Orleans' Dragon's Den, the first show of his mini-tour. The feedback-loving local rapper visits Baltimore Friday and Brooklyn's Afro!!Punk!!Fest!! Sunday. Rocks Off has heard through the proverbial grapevine that there's a Mic ... More >>

Corpus Christi: Home of the Whataburger

Photos by Craig HlavatyThis past weekend, we visited the hometown of Whataburger, Corpus Christi. The burger chain is based there, but the center of operations will be moving to a bigger complex in San Antonio in the next few months. The move is a sad one. The chain has been based in Corpus since ... More >>

Aftermath: Double Dagger at Super Happy Fun Land

Craig HlavatyWallet, keys, lighter, cellphone, camera(s). We had it all last night as we walked into the arty confines of the East End's Super Happy Fun Land. But one thing we didn't have was a pair of earplugs, and right about now we feel kinda silly not dishing out the extra buck for the ones sitt ... More >>

Live Shots: Yanni At The Toyota Center

It's about to get all new age up in this piece! Stay tuned for our review of last night's show... Photo By Craig Hlavaty

Aftermath: Flight of the Conchords at Jones Hall

Photos by Craig HlavatyThe thing about musical comedians is that if the humor is there but the tuneage is not, you can pretty much cash your chips in and give up and steal some of Louis CK's jokes and start selling out basketball arenas. New Zealand's Flight of the Conchords almost has too much musi ... More >>

Slideshow: Homopolice at Westheimer Block Party

Craig HlavatyLeather-loving noise-punks Homopolice's show at Mango's during Westheimer Block Party Saturday evening had it all: amplifier humping, instrument smashing, guest screaming from Rusted Shut's Don Walsh, lots of blood and even more dude-on-dude action. It was so over-the-top outrageo ... More >>

Aftermath: One Wild Weekend

Craig Hlavaty The Imani School Student Jazz Ensemble Craig Hlavaty Erykah BaduRocks Off is still in the very early recovery stages from this weekend, which was one of the most satisfying musical whirlwinds he's been sucked into in quite some time. He started off Friday evening at  ... More >>

Aftermath: The Ka-Nives at Big Star Bar

Photos by Craig HlavatyWith a roaring fire pit outside and the Schlitz flowing freely inside, three-piece Ka-Nives put on a one-off gig in a corner of the Heights' Big Star Bar late Saturday night. The erstwhile Austin plumbing enthusiasts tore through a short set of their Jerry Lee Lewis-cum- ... More >>

Chinese Democracy Not Exactly Flying Off the Shelves

  Photos by Craig Hlavaty For curiosity's sake, Rocks Off drove over to the Galleria-area Best Buy at 5133 Richmond yesterday afternoon to see if Guns 'N' Roses' new album, Chinese Democracy, was flying off the shelves. This record has taken over thirteen years to come out. Thirteen years ag ... More >>

Aftermath: Eagles of Death Metal at Meridian

Photos by Craig Hlavaty  It's super-hard to intelligently review a party band. You can't very well sit in one corner of the venue, gently stroking your scholarly beard jotting down notes on each intricate riff and drum fill. In the interest of science, you have to immerse yourself in the at ... More >>

Usher's Security Don't Take No Mess

Photos by Craig Hlavaty Click here for a slideshow Last night at one of the last stops on Usher's"Ladies Only" tour, I realized that I was one of maybe two dozen or so dudes in attendance. And I was working the damn thing, so even then. I don't think it was the tour's name that account ... More >>

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A Different Breed

Last Night: Valient Thorr and ASG at the Meridian