Subject: Jay Lee

• Soundcheck

  April 27, 1995

• Got Five Minutes and a Mug?

  Then you, too, can have a "chocolate cake" that looks like something you'd find in the lower intestine of an elephant.  Sounds tempting, right? The "Five Minute Chocolate Cake" recipe has been circling the internet for years, wowing college students and lazy eaters the world over.  It's a pretty basic recipe, really, and as close to a boiled cake as you'll want to get on this side of the Atlantic.  And, yes, it is cooked in a mug.  In your microwave.  In five

  January 20, 2009

• Aftermath: Son Volt at the Continental Club

  Photos by Jay Lee"Now and then it keeps you runnin', never seems to die..." The opening line to Son Volt's soothing elegy "Windfall," which closed out Tuesday's main set at the Continental Club - just like almost every other SV set since the band's 1995 debut Trace - goes a long way to explain why Jay Farrar is still hanging around all these years since Son Volt and Wilco sprang from his and Jeff Tweedy's uncomfortable Uncle Tupelo divorce. "It" is that mysterious impulse to keep writing s

  February 25, 2009

• H-Town Hangman Addendum: Blaggards Prize Still Unclaimed

  Photo by Jay Lee Blaggards frontman Patrick DevlinWell, despite being so easy Bob Ruggiero a caveman could do it, it appears as if the world premiere of H-Town Hangman still couldn't manage to deliver on the prize front. Or, rather, the first Hangman winner didn't stick around long enough to claim his(?) spoils. Rocks Off is a good sport, though, and the Blaggards really want to give away some shit, so we're going to give this a second go. Same deal as last time - leave your answers in t

  February 25, 2009

• 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 the Arena Theatre (his new favorite local venue) for Erykah Badu's retro-futuristic benefit for Houston's Imani School. The local private academy's jazz ensemble - no member was over age 13 - ev

  March 9, 2009

• Sole Of Houston: East Side Story -- Trains, Tequila, Dogs & Grief

  Photos by Jay LeeI just can't get enough of Houston's East End/Second Ward/Ship Channel area, so that is where the latest installment of the Sole of Houston took us. I don't think I can recreate the route with anything more than about 90 percent accuracy, but my best guess is that it looked something like this.David Beebe couldn't make this one, so I took a couple of Sole rookies along. Jay Lee, the high-tech renaissance man and Flying Fish Sailor was invited along for both his conversatio

  March 12, 2009

• 2006 Houston Press Music Awards Supplement

  July 27, 2006

• Flying Fish Sailors

  Poke You in the Eye (Topmast Productions)

  January 8, 2004

• Hot Tunes, Summer in the City

  Houston Press Music Awards Showcase 2002

  July 18, 2002

• Shanty Irish

  The Flying Fish Sailors hoist anchor on a sea of Irish ballads and salty songs

  October 25, 2001

• Aftermath: Fleetwood Mac at Toyota Center

  Photos by Jay Lee Every night the band goes onstage, Fleetwood Mac faces a concert onus only a handful of other groups need worry about: Are its songs too iconic? Is the rush of watching Stevie Nicks twirl out "Landslide" or "Rhiannon" live any match for the lifetime (or decades, anyway) of memories, associations and emotions those songs bring forth? Of course not. It's a trick question anyway. For one thing, only a fraction of Saturday night's nearly sold-out Toyota Center crowd - twenty- to si

  May 4, 2009

• Can't Get It Out of My Head: "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"

  Jay Lee Rocks Off would wholeheartedly like to wish Ms. Stevie Nicks a very happy birthday today; since she's the epitome of a rock and roll lady, we'll refrain from revealing her actual age. At Fleetwood Mac's Toyota Center concert earlier this month, Nicks seemed to be walking with a limp, and her voice was noticeably raspier than on record, but her performances of "Gypsy," "Sara" - during which she walked over to embrace Lindsey Buckingham near the end, a clearly unrehearsed and utterly movi

  May 26, 2009

• Aftermath: Roky Erickson at the Continental Club

  Jay Lee Remember when Little Richard quit rock and roll because he was worried about going to hell? Roky Erickson is what would have happened if he went... and came back. The 61-year-old '60s survivor, fronting a sleek three-piece band whose collective age may have added to 61, played a 75-minute set at the Continental Club Wednesday night haunted by monsters and demons, the leering Iggy Pop and snowblind Black Sabbath. It was sinister, driving and downright evil - slow, grinding blues "The Bea

  June 25, 2009

• Your One-Stop HPMA Showcase Link

  GroovehouseLos Skarnales just wouldn't quit at House of Blues Sunday.​ Rocks Off is just about recovered from Sunday's HPMA showcase mayhem, or as recovered as we're going to get. Despite some bitching on Hands Up Houston - what else is new? - everybody we've talked to had as much of a blast as we did. But in case you missed something, just follow these links to Rocks Off's various reports from the field and pictures, pictures, pictures. By the way, the winners will be announced Thursday eveni

  July 28, 2009

• HPMA: We Have Some Winners: Little Joe Washington, Cornbreadd, Flying Fish Sailors

  Chris Gray​ Umbrella Man got the HPMAs off to a rousing start with some heel-kicking, toe-tapping zydeco gospel - after they cleared off the cables so hobbled singer Kam could get to center stage on her Rascal-like scooter. Then the first round of winners was announced... Best Folk: Flying Fish Sailors. FFS' Jay Lee almost took his own picture onstage. Best Guitar: Little Joe Washington, who we couldn't seem to find, but managed to be front and center when his name was called, then serenaded

  July 30, 2009

• Aftermath: Drive-By Truckers' Cathartic, Down-Home Halloween Redemption at House of Blues

  Photos by Jay Lee​ It took Aftermath most of Friday to figure out why we were in such an awful blue funk after Thursday's Pogues show, especially after the band delivered a more brilliant set than even this 20-year fan thought they were capable of. But after leaving work early and relaxing for a while at home in the fetal position, we knew. Some shows - particularly ones we've waited more than half a lifetime to see - we'd rather just be a face in the crowd, soaking up the music and the booze

  November 2, 2009