Gainesville

The Unsent Letter to Art Garfunkel I Found In a Record Sleeve

This past weekend I went digging for records at some thrift stores near my parent's house in Pearland. Yes, the fella who wrote a blog about needing to pare down his record collection went looking for more to add to his pile. Rewind: Liquidating Your Record Collection Is Harder Than You Would Thi ... More >>

Fuccing the Devil With Against Me!'s Andrew Seward

If there is something that is sadly lacking in the world, it's musicians directing music videos. Some do it, of course, like Blitzen Trapper's Brian Adrian Koch or Taylor Momsen who does her own storyboards. For better or for worse, though, most bands turn their product over to a professional direct ... More >>

Last Night: The Gaslight Anthem, Rise Against, And Hot Water Music At Bayou Music Center

Houston punks had two choices last night: Rise Against and the Gaslight Anthem, with Hot Water Music at Bayou Music Center -- still getting used to that name -- or OFF! and Negative Approach at Warehouse Live a few miles east. I ended up catching both somehow, though our Nathan Smith would write w ... More >>

Why Houston Artist Jeremy Choate Really Died (Wear Helmets, For Crissake!)

Last Sunday, after the din of sirens had quieted, and after one of Houston's most recognized artists, Jeremy Choate, had died following a horrific traffic accident along Studemont, the public conversation turned to the woman who had apparently caused the accident. Where had she fled to? Had she been ... More >>

5 Things Texans Safety Troy Nolan Could Be Doing in This Picture OTHER Than Urinating

This just in -- sometimes men pee in places other than the bathroom. Sometimes it's out of choice, sometimes it's out of necessity, sometimes it's out of spite. Or it can be a combination of all three. (My co-host on 1560 The Game and noted LSU fan John Granato famously tells a story about a crowd ... More >>

Randy Travis: Weird North Texas Drunk-In-Public Bust

It may seem that we're talkin' foolish, but Randy Travis was arrested early this morning, allegedly drunk in a car parked in front of a Baptist church in the Denton County town of Sanger. (Travis reportedly owns a ranch in Tioga, 25 miles east of Sanger.) TMZ broke the story. They reported that a ... More >>

This Just In: SXSW Announces First Round Of 2012 Showcasing Bands, Including Fat Tony and Something Fierce

Photo By Marco TorresFat Tony at a day show at SXSW '11​Sweet lord, it's not even Thanksgiving yet and South By Southwest is making us excited for March in Austin already. Today the industry festival announced a few bands coming to the capitol city next year, and a few Houston names and Rocks ... More >>

Nazi POWs in Texas: Five Facts, Including the Most Inept Escapes Ever

Texas used to be dotted with prisoner-of-war camps in World War II, a temporary home to thousands of Germans and Italians. Texas had far more prisoners than any other state, mainly because the first batch came from the North Africa campaign, and the Geneva Convention said prisoners should be housed ... More >>

Andre Johnson Doesn't Deny Knowing the Rogue Miami Booster

Andre Nevin on the right, trouble for Da U​In what has the potential to be the most explosive college football scandal since Eric Dickerson was pumping bass out of the speakers of his shiny new gold Trans-Am in the late '70s, a rogue University of Miami booster who doubles as a convicted felon ... More >>

The Final Play

After traumatic knee injury, Case Keenum has one more season to prove his talents.

Against Me!

NFL & College Football Best Bets -- It's Crime Time

Lennie knows all, eventually​To some of you this may sound obvious, to some it may sound weird, and to some it may sound deplorable -- I wish I had time to watch more television. With the advent of episodic television on cable channels like HBO and Showtime, the ante has been upped and the ne ... More >>

Random Christmas Food Traditions: Junk Food, Arby's and Red Lobster

​Quickie-mart junk food, roast "beef" from Arby's and Cheddar Bay Biscuits from Red Lobster were what we ate around the holidays when I was growing up back in Florida. Sure, Christmas Day had the usual suspects of turkey and cornbread dressing, but before Christmas and after, we bowed down to ... More >>

Pop Rocks: What Books Would Jesus Burn?

​Talk about your (mostly) lone nuts. Terry Jones, reverend of something called the Dove World Outreach Center (sounds like a rehab facility that uses soap enema therapy), is going ahead with his planned "International Burn-A-Koran Day" on September 11. This in spite of mounting criticism from ... More >>

ESPN GameDay Coming To....Waco?

Colleges all over the country drool at the thought of hosting ESPN GameDay. It's a mark of high honor and respect, and students try to outdo each other in raucously cheering on-camera behind the hosts.Baton Rouge, Austin, Gainesville, they've all hosted. And ESPN has now announced that they will be ... More >>

Ingredient of the Week: White Acre Peas

​What are they? White acre peas are small, delicate legumes that have a creamy, mild taste and soft texture. They're related to the black eyed pea, but have a much softer outside making them more tender and definitely more refined. The peas themselves are also slightly smaller in size than pu ... More >>

A Different Kind of Burger: Louis' Lunch

​Since 1928, Louis' (pronounced Loo-ee-z) Lunch in Gainesville, Florida has been mixing up its special batch of meats and spices, forming them into small patties and frying them in a cast-iron skillet. Yes, you read that right, their method of making an already unhealthy indulgence even more u ... More >>

Game Time: We Interrupt March Madness For This Earl Thomas Interview

​By the time this post is up, March Madness will have tipped off, so I hope everyone was able to glean enough "infotainment" (a word my good friend WWE Hall of Famer, Jim Ross, loves to use) to mentally and psychologically prepare you for the next few weeks. If you missed it, you can get the Mar ... More >>

Feel a Whole Lot Better: For His Birthday, Five Great Non-Petty Tom Petty Songs

Tuesday just happens to be the 59th birthday of Rocks Off's personal hero, role model and by all accounts someone who smokes even more weed than we do, Thomas Earl Petty. Speaking of, it's also Snoop Dogg's birthday, which means 10/20 deserves to be a NORML holiday even more than 4/20 does. But unt ... More >>

A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas: "New Texas"

In the third in our continuing series on the music of the five states of Texas, we examine the fictional state of New Texas, comprising Austin and the Hill Country. See Part 1 here and Part 2 here. New Texas Capital: Austin Patron Saint: Willie Nelson ​Lesser Icons: Roky Erickson/Thirteenth Floor ... More >>

Aftermath: The Revival Tour at Walter's on Washington

Against Me! at ACL Fest

Tom Petty Day, Part 2: TP&HB Videos

What Mainstream Publishers Don't Want You to Know About Door-to-Door Magazine Sales

That kid at your door with a magazine order form will tell you a story -- part sad, part hopeful. The truth will be infinitely worse than you can imagine.

Review: Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001), by Don Felder with Wendy Holden

Classic Rock Corner: Mudcrutch, Golliwogs, Mynah Birds, Moving Sidewalks and More

Last Night: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at Super Bowl XLII

School Ranking 101

The Dean Is Risen

Some Dean Martin albums we wish existed

Money for Nothing

Hopeful beggars shake their virtual cups online

Houston's Best Public High Schools

Counting down: Our sixth- through tenth-place finishers

Rock and Roll Bestiary

You already know all about this year's crop of wolf bands. We examine the tiger, bear, shark and lion bands, and offer up a rock zodiac.

Letters

Less Than Jake

Thursday, April 3

Man's New Best Friend

In the wake of September 11, security dogs have become must-have items. Prices have skyrocketed. There aren't enough German shepherds.

The Mercury Program

All the suits began to fall off (Tiger Style)

Press Picks

The Angelides Affair

A dispute over research fraud has split the faculty at Baylor College of Medicine, and could jeopardize the way universities police scientific misconduct

Naturalist Born Thrillers

Butterflies are nature's floorshow and the Natural Science Museum's cash cow. John Watts' job is to keep the performers alive and flitting.

Even the Normal (Get Lucky Sometime)

Craftsman Tom Petty uses the right tool for the right job

The Man Behind Mad Max

Vernon Maxwell has made a reputation by going crazy. Now he says he wants to go straight. Really?