Subject: Mark Austin

• Last Night: The Houston Press Music Awards Showcase, Part Three

  July 30, 2007

• Re: Fire at Austin City Limits

  September 15, 2007

• Drenched In Blog: ACL Fest in Photos

  September 15, 2007

• SXSW: Flatstock in photos

  March 15, 2008

• This Just In: Craig Biggio to Become St. Thomas Baseball Coach

  May 19, 2008

• Over the Weekend: Capone's, Tipsy Clover, Deco, Caroline Collective and Astros

  June 9, 2008

• Slideshow: Tom Waits at Jones Hall

  June 23, 2008

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

  June 23, 2008

• Slideshow: Stone Temple Pilots at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

  June 29, 2008

• Over the Weekend: Pride Parade, La Carafe, Frank's Pizza, Stone Temple Pilots and Houston Astros

  June 30, 2008

• Slideshow: Geto Boys at Warehouse Live

  July 6, 2008

• Slideshow: Boxmasters at Scout Bar

  July 23, 2008

• Slideshow: Kid Rock and Lynyrd Skynyrd in the Woodlands

  August 10, 2008

• Aftermath: No Doubt, Paramore, The Sounds at Cynthia Woods

  Our review of last night's epic No Doubt reunion show out in the Woodlands is coming. We still have the cheers and screams of thousands of women in our ears, so we are a tad wobbly. For now, here's a taste of Mark C. Austin's camera-wielding skills from last night. More is on the way! Mark C. Austin

  June 1, 2009

• Houston Texans Cheerleaders and Fans

  September 3, 2008

• Ten Performers Besides Bruce Springsteen Who Were Considered for the Super Bowl

  October 2, 2008

• Voting Open in Skyline Network's Sammy Awards

  It’s time once again (the second time, specifically) to vote for your favorite bands, bars and venues on a blog that’s not our own. The local “Party! Call Me!” crew behind The Skyline Network opened the primaries for its Sammy Awards. This first phase is an open primary where you nominate picks for standard categories such as favorite band, album, venue, bar, etc. But there's also quirky awards such as “Favorite WTFers” and “Favorite Thing Ever.” “As life goes on, thin

  November 22, 2008

• Aftermath: Scott Weiland at Warehouse Live

  Photos by Mark C. Austin There has to be an unspoken rule from now on that solo albums from the lead singers of big rock bands should be studio-only affairs. These are meant to fulfill record-company contracts, and should never be passed off as an extra insight into the artistic machinations of an otherwise powerful and enigmatic frontman or sideman. Scott Weiland falls into the category from now on. Saturday was three strikes, Mr. Weiland. Didn't you learn anything from Sixx A.M or even t

  January 19, 2009

• Aftermath: DeVotchKa at Warehouse Live

  Photos by Mark C. AustinIt's always nice to see a band that respects its elders, and Denver's DeVotchKa has taken Van Morrison's "Into the Mystic" promise "I wanna rock your gypsy soul" to heart. Finding the seam between Old World traveler tunes and contemporary indie-rock, the quartet (and a few friends) matched the energy of the full house in Warehouse Live's studio with nearly 90 minutes of full-tilt fiddling, plunking, blowing and strumming that barely stopped to catch its b

  February 10, 2009

• 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.

  February 13, 2009

• Aftermath: Rascal Flatts at RodeoHouston

  Photos by Mark C. AustinAnyone who thought that '80s-style power ballads had long gone away with Kurt Cobain's green sweater and Crystal Pepsi is dead wrong. They are kept alive, nightly, by Columbus, Ohio's Rascal Flatts. Bundled-up couples of all ages walked hand-in-hand, and apple-lotion-scented gangs of teen girls made their way into Reliant Stadium Tuesday night to watch America's modern-day Air Supply with a twang bust out hit after hit. The rodeo folks really dug deep this ye

  March 4, 2009

• Rocks Off Is Too Critical For CMT

  Mark C. Austin Yes, CMT, we did enjoy Alan Jackson's RodeoHouston performance.If you've been following Rocks Off's rodeo coverage, which hopefully you have, you've probably noticed that we've found a few of the entertainers' performances to be less than stellar. Which is not to say we haven't been having a blast down at Reliant Park with thousands of our friends and neighbors. CMT has certainly noticed and, um, "called us out" on it a few hours ago. According to CMT blogger Craig Sh

  March 11, 2009

• ZZ Top, Aerosmith Hit Woodlands July 17

  Mark C. AustinMonday morning, word came down from Aerosmith and ZZ Top's respective camps, via Billboard, that the two boogie-rocking bands are teaming up for a massive world tour. After some digging, Rocks Off found out the tour makes its Houston-area stop Friday, July 17, at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. It won't be officially announced until next week (probably), but we have our ways. The tour, sponsored (or "presented") by Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, takes both bands across Europe

  April 14, 2009

• Slideshow: Jazzfest In New Orleans

  Mark C. AustinDidn't go to Jazzfest? Don't worry. Neither did Rocks Off, but that guy above sure did, and so did our intrepid photographer Mark C. Austin. See what else he shot in the Big Easy right here.

  May 5, 2009

• Aftermath: Pete Yorn at Meridian

  Mark C. AustinPete Yorn has been and will always be "sad bastard music" to Aftermath's ears. One thing that has always interested us about the forlorn tunes that seem to drip from Yorn's fingers is how big of a female audience he has. We have quietly hypothesized that somehow women are drawn to listening to men sing plaintive and sad tales about the treacherous acts of the fairer sex. It serves to confirm what they want to believe, that not all men are unrepentant bastards who will leave you s

  July 15, 2009

• Be Sure To Check Out Our Coverage Of The Houston Press Music Awards

  Photo by Mark C. Austin​Like everyone else with any sense of self-worth, you spent part of your weekend at the crazy circus known as the Houston Press Music Awards.Check out sister blog Rocks Off for constantly updated reviews and reports; click here for a collection of slideshows documenting the action.

  July 27, 2009

• HPMA Aftermath: Ozeal & the Eulypians, Nosaprise, Benjamin Wesley, Tha Fucking Transmissions, Kristine Mills, Peekaboo Theory, Versecity and Spain Colored Orange

  Chris Gray​Five hours is not a long time. It is if you're driving from Houston to Texarkana or Uvalde, maybe. But when hopscotching all over downtown trying to take in as much of the Houston Press Music Awards showcase as you can until your feet and your ears cry uncle, those 300 minutes go by in a heartbeat. But every once in a while, in the words of Bob Dylan, "the next 60 seconds can seem like an eternity." Those fleeting moments are the keepers, and tops on the list Sunday was Ozeal &

  July 27, 2009

• HPMA Aftermath: MELOVINE, the Snake Charmers, LL Cooper, Peekaboo Theory and Buxton

  Mark C. AustinThe Snake Charmers take a breather after bluesing up Martell's.​ It was hot as hell when the Houston Press music staff met up at the Flying Saucer ordering different shades of exotic beers and several different kinds of cheese. Bands were divided up between writers, and pretty much everyone got to go see the Tontons but us. Aftermath has never seen metal in the afternoon before, so it was nice to have MELOVINE start the evening off with a first. After being sorely disappointed a

  July 27, 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

• MP3 of the Day: H-Town Underground All-Stars

  Mark C. AustinB L A C K I E holds court at Dean's on Showcase Sunday.​ We heard a rumor bubble up a while ago about how a couple of the Houston Press Best Underground Hip-Hop nominees were supposed to be working on a group track together. There was even supposed to be a co-sign from Bun B worked in there somewhere. The names rumored to be involved with the project periodically changed, but the message remained the same: the song was to be an official signaling that these were some kids who int

  July 30, 2009

• Tonight: All the HPMA Coverage You Can Handle

  Mark C. Austin​ Only a few more hours until this year's Houston Press Music Awards winners will be announced at Warehouse Live. There's still time for you to head over to Momentum Audi (2315 Richmond) to pick up tickets; doors open to the public at 7:30 p.m. Performing tonight are HPMA nominees Kam, Born Liars, Ryan Scroggins & the Trenchtown Texans, Flamin' Hellcats, Benjamin Wesley (above), Nosaprise and Mechanical Boy. Of course, if you can't make it, Rocks Off will be live-blogging the

  July 30, 2009

• Bayou Beat: Three Fantastic on NPR, Beyonce Leads MTV Noms, Rocks Off Seeking Intern, More Live Nation Deals, etc.

  Mark C. Austin​ Congratulations to Houston's Three Fantastic, whose "Hot Summer Day" was chosen as NPR's "Song of the Day" Wednesday. Comparing it to "one of those half-remembered Sugar Ray hits from a decade ago," NPR's David Browne is a little taken aback by the band's idea of a "glorious summer day": "As the music revs up, the litany of environmental disasters continues," he writes. "Trees burn to cinders and oceans boil; even the air conditioners are at loose ends." Sounds like Houston to

  August 4, 2009

• Aftermath: Green Day at Toyota Center

  Mark C. Austin​ During "Minority," the motorized 2000 Celtic-thrash mash-up that closed Green Day's main set Saturday night, Toyota Center's video screen became a collage of flyers from the group's early days, before the platinum albums, roadies, Grammys and extra live musicians (there were four Saturday). Meanwhile, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, showing little if any fatigue after more than two hours of running, jumping and screaming, might as well have been back in those clubs as he doused

  August 10, 2009

• MP3 of the Day: Last Chance to See the Tontons Until God Knows When - And It's Free

  Mark C. Austin​Just a quick reminder that tonight is your last chance to see everybody's favorite Houston indie-rock/psych/jazz/blues/surf/spaghetti-Western quartet, the Tontons, who are going on hiatus until January. Unless you want to talk singer Asli Omar out of going to school in New York, that is, but that's probably not going to happen. The band's free show at House of Blues' Bronze Peacock Room will be filmed for an upcoming Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau TV commercial.

  August 31, 2009

• Four Possible Reasons Jay-Z Is Skipping Houston on His Blueprint 3 Tour

  ​Self-proclaimed king-of-rap Jay-Z unveiled his autumn tour schedule last week. The 26-date jaunt - which began Monday night in Chi-town and winds down just in time for Thanksgiving - will take Hovito all around the world, from New York to London to Kentucky to noise-rock haven Providence, R.I., to Ontario to Mexico. He will rock El Paso; he'll thrill Austin. But the absence of a date for Houston - the hometown of wifey Beyonce - is perplexing, not to mention a bit insulting. Dude's gonna trea

  September 9, 2009

• Live from ACL: Blitzen Trapper, Hopelessly (and Happily) Stuck In the '70s

  Photo by Mark C. Austin​ACL was barely three hours old, and we already have a winner in the "New(ish) Band That Totally Sounds Like 1972" contest. It's our new Portland friends Blitzen Trapper, whose heavy folk-rock harmonies, atmospheric Led Zep slow blues (we half expected John Paul Jones to join them, but apparently he was busy with Sarah Watkins) and ELO electric piano was like a musical walking tour of the decade of shag carpeting and avocado countertops.

  October 2, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day One: Live Shots

  Photo by Mark C. AustinThe Bright Light Social Hour​The artist lineup on day one of ACL was massive to say the least. And we caught as many of the bands as our fleet feet allowed as to. As we wait for the reviews to roll in, enjoy some of our favorite concert shots from the day so far.

  October 2, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day One: Aftermath

  Photo by Mark C. AustinSchool of Seven Bells​Before we start discussing the great music we heard yesterday, we would like to take time to thank the Gods Of Rock for blessing Day One of the Austin City Limits Festival (ACL) 2009 with an amazing afternoon and evening of weather. Anyone who has partaken of this three-day jaunt in the Texas sun in past years can relate horror stories filled with 100-degree-plus heat and rolling dust storms that, for some of Aftermath's friends, occasionally r

  October 2, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day One: Kings Of Leon Rage Against The Fame

  Photos by Mark C. Austin​Funny thing happened last night. It was the same thing that happened to U2 in 1987 in the wake of The Joshua Tree, and the same thing that killed Kurt Cobain in 1994. Fame has finally overtaken Kings Of Leon, leaving their core boots 'n flannel crowd in the proverbial pop culture dust. The even funnier thing is that KOL seems to see and are raging against it. It's not a bad thing when a band gets huge and finds themselves surrounded by new fans. Those are the things t

  October 3, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day One: Them Crooked Vultures. Duh.

  Photos by Mark C. Austin​Rocks Off saw Them Crooked Vultures a little less than twenty-four hours after their pulverizing set at Stubb's on Thursday night. It was the same setlist, just harder and Grohlier. Meaning that Dave Grohl was seemingly taking out his demons on his drum set. John Paul Jones pulled out some sort of customized slide bass for "Daffodils", in addition to his assortment of eight-string instruments. Lead singer and guitarist Josh Homme even had a chance to tease the crowd wi

  October 3, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day Two: Phoenix, Robyn Hitchcock and Them Crooked Vultures

  Photo by Matthew Taplinger​The quality of the grass at ACL on Charles Attal's apparent birthday blow out (if projections for "Feliz Cumpleanos" were to be believed) was nothing to sniff at. The great lawn of Zilker Park was emerald and ready to absorb the dance steps of a sold-out crowd with happy feet. The air was redolent with killing kindness, which raised the question of just how family friendly Austin's premiere outdoor music fest really is. Phoenix showed the crowd that there's mor

  October 3, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day Two: Aftermath

  Photo by Mark C. Austin​Was it something we said or did? Aftermath openly gushed about how great the weather was on Friday and how it seemed that maybe, just maybe, we were going to finally attend an Austin City Limits (ACL) that didn't consist of heat and dust. Well, it seems that the powers-the-be misunderstood what our words of thankfulness and decided to perpetuate the lack of oppressive heat and dust by having it rain all day long. As in, Aftermath arrived at Zilker Park just after n

  October 4, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day Two: Ghostland Observatory

  Photos by Mark C. Austin​One word: LASERS. Enjoy the spectacle below.

  October 4, 2009

• ACL Day Two: Deadheads Rejoice!

  Photos by Mark C. Austin​An unexpected guest showed up yesterday afternoon at the Austin Ventures Stage with Austin-by-way-of-Louisiana slide guitar hotshot Papa Mali. The Grateful Dead's Bill Kreutzman was backing up the dreadlocked Mali on drums.

  October 4, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day Two: Live Shots

  Photos by Mark C. AustinMute Math​The second day of the festival was so busy (and so rainy) that we barely had time to get back to our laptops and card readers to upload photos. So - one day late - enjoy our favorite shots from Day Two of ACL, featuring Bon Iver, Citizen Cope, Grizzly Bear, Mute Math, The Scabs, Sam Roberts Band and more

  October 4, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day Three: Pearl Jam With Special Guests Ben Harper and Perry Farrell

  Photos by Mark C. Austin​Pearl Jam closed out this year's ACL with aplomb, the audience stretching nearly the entire length of Zilker Park to see Eddie Vedder and the seminal band while nostalgically recalling large portions of the 1990s as songs like "Daughter" and "Evenflow" washed over the crowd. Halfway through the concert, Vedder brought Ben Harper -- who had earlier played to a packed crowd on the AMD Stage at 6 p.m. -- on stage for a rendition of "Alive." Pearl Jam further thrille

  October 5, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day Three: Live Shots

  Photo by Mark C. AustinDan Auerbach​As we wait for the final day of ACL coverage to roll in, enjoy some of our favorite shots from the festival below.

  October 5, 2009

• ACL Aftermath, Part 1: Spearhead's "Electric Mudslide" and the Whole "Dillo Dirt" Situation

  Mark C. Austin​ Night fell on the Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park this past Sunday under a full moon and over a sea of mud. (It wasn't strictly mud, but more on that in a bit.) Many in the crowd, especially those in the proximity of the Dell stage, responded the only logical way possible - by dancing, or something close to it. Since the squishy, slippery ground made it a little difficult to move your feet - people weren't so much walking through the grounds at this point as gi

  October 5, 2009

• ACL Aftermath, Part 2: Now That That "Dillo Dirt" Unpleasantness Is Out of the Way, How About Some Music?

  Mark C. AustinSeems like we recognize this guy from somewhere...​ More and more, Aftermath uses ACL more than SXSW to see which recent buzz bands are worth their salt, and of course to check on how some old favorites are doing. This year, tops on our new-to-us list were Blitzen Trapper, who managed to condense most of the late '60s and early '70s - Dylan, the Dead, CSNY and a lot more besides - into their hour-long set Friday, and MuteMath, neighbors from New Orleans whose echoing guitar, prop

  October 5, 2009

• Just When You Thought All the ACL Aftermath Was Over...

  Photos by Mark C. AustinKate Pierson of the B-52's​You could roam, as the B-52s put it during their early afternoon set Sunday on the AMD Stage. But as Mudstock 2009 came to a close (let the debate about the later-in-the-year dates begin) most members of the muddy-stocking clan were losing their lightness of step. Happy faces were still abundant, however, and the artists recognized that anybody willing to stick it out through the stench in the trenches deserved nothing less than the best. Spa

  October 7, 2009