Subject: Otis Redding

• SPA Houston: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

  March 26, 2009

• Exhumin' to the Oldies

  January 18, 2007

• The Seoul of Houston: The Weather Was Not the Strong Point on Long Point

  January 30, 2008

• Soul Day at ACL: I Feel Good!

  September 27, 2008

• On the Waterfront

  Lunch with Rory Miggins

  January 4, 2001

• Dan Aykroyd on the (Mostly Texan) Blues Brothers Band, Our New House of Blues, Lightnin' Hopkins, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Houston Kinfolk, SNL in Campaign '08 and More

  October 17, 2008

• Master Blaster

  Cody ChesnuTT sees rock and roll, and he wants to repaint it black

  February 27, 2003

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: New Records from Nicholas Tremulis and Felix Cavaliere

  Nicholas Tremulis with Robbie Fulks, "Mystery Train" Some killer records have recently fallen through Lonesome Onry and Mean's cracks, either due to a lack of space in the paper or LOM having just found the CDs under the seat of his truck. Yeah, stuff happens. The Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra's Pinky is a monster blues-rock record. Actually, to call what Tremulis does blues-rock is to set a musical limit that doesn't exist. What does exist with this road-hardened band of full-grown men is a wit

  November 25, 2008

• An Hour in Sunny 99.1's Holiday Hell

  Band Aid: Do they know it's Christmastime at all? Most people I know hate Sunny 99.1, but not me. And I should really hate it. Any radio station supported by the American Dental Association has to suck. But every time I listen to it, I either hear something so corny and half-baked that I can't turn back to the Ipod. It's like pouring liquid Valium in my ears. I don't have to worry about hearing the same Nirvana song I've heard for the past fourteen years, like on the Buzz. Nor do I get to hea

  December 2, 2008

• Songs Not To Play At Intercontinental Airport's New Karaoke Booth

  So now there's a karaoke booth at Intercontinental Airport. According to the Houston Chronicle, travelers can choose from "hundreds of titles."We got to wondering this morning about what's in their song selections there and more to the point -- what isn't.We imagine that the management of IAH's karaoke bar had to have studied the infamous September 2001 Clear Channel memorandum of songs with "questionable" lyrics, some of which concerned aerial death and disaster. If they did, they would know to

  December 4, 2008

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: Gwil Owen's Gravy

  Gwil Owen Gravy www.gwilowen.com Here's another good record that fell through my cracks this year but deserves to be mentioned. Gwil Owen lives in Nashville and can write to the country form anytime he wants to - or his checking account tells him he needs to. But on his latest project, Gravy, Owen exercises his soul music muscle, both as a writer and singer. Once you realize Toni Price has been cutting Owen's songs almost as long as he's been writing them, it all sorta starts to make sen

  December 4, 2008

• The Best Local Songs of 2008, Part 1

  "Song About My Mom," Jenny Westbury: This song likely encompasses all of Westbury's tunes. It's silly, serious and most of all lyrics meet instrumentation in perfect harmony. Westbury's lyrical phrasing makes it seem as though rhyming couplets pour as effortlessly out of her mouth as water does from a faucet. She sings: "Hawaiian shirts and button-downs and party gowns are difficult, especially the sleeves / Her fingers were so delicate / experienced as she was / From securing the tightrope

  December 31, 2008

• SXSW Update: Sonics, Bar-Kays, Black Lips, Young Mammals, Wild Moccasins Added

  The Sonics, "Psycho a Go-Go" Another week goes by, with yet gigantic list of SXSW performers coming to Austin in March. The final list comes out January 30, so be prepared for maximum bloggage. We're still crossing our fingers and polishing up the nondescript white van in the hopes that Katy Perry will be heading to the Capitol. She just dumped that dude from Gym Class Heroes, and hits Houston March 20 for a show at House of Blues - come on, there's booze all over town. Of course she'll b

  January 14, 2009

• Blowed Up Real Good

  July 27, 1995

• Static

  April 18, 1996

• Rotation

  February 5, 1998

• Lonesome Onry and Mean: Ben Mallott at McGonigel's Mucky Duck

  www.benmallott.comWith its outrageous cowboy boots and fringed pant legs, the cover of Sugar Land native Ben Mallott's Look Good, Feel Good had just enough of the bells and whistles to make me think this could be another Texas music wannabe floating along on his Undecided/General Studies degree and daddy's money. But there was also some ironic thing at work, and we all know those Texas music doofuses don't do irony. I'm relieved to tell you it was obvious from the first song that Mallott

  February 23, 2009

• Feel for the Real

  April 23, 1998

• Aftermath: Lady Antebellum at RodeoHouston

  Photos courtesy Houston Livestock Show & RodeoFrom one-night stands to missing the one that got away, love and country music go hand in hand. Monday night, fresh pop-country faces Lady Antebellum - reigning ACM Top New Duo or Group and CMA New Artist of the Year - rocked out to all of love's in-betweens. Kicking off the show was the trio's recent hit, one-night-stand disclaimer "Lookin' For a Good Time," a surprisingly decent splice of Lady A's own sound and AC/DC's "You Shook Me All

  March 10, 2009

• 2008 in Texas Albums and Local EPs

  January 1, 2009

• Garlic-Chomping Reggae Royalty Toots Hibbert

  The Harder They Come

  August 14, 2008

• Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears

  August 14, 2008

• Truth Be Told

  Lee Roy Parnell finds his roots everywhere but Nashville

  August 23, 2001

• Jennifer "Miss Pop Rocks" Mathieu's Matagorda Island Discs

  May 22, 2008

• T-BONE TOM'S SUNSET SHOT

  April 17, 2008

• Detroit Cobras

  Saturday, July 20

  July 18, 2002

• Big Country

  Buddy and Julie Miller --

  April 27, 2000

• porterdavis

  Q&A with Daniel Barrett

  March 29, 2007

• Tommy Castro

  Saturday, March 18, the Continental Club, 3700 Main, 713-529-9666

  March 16, 2006

• Various Artists

  The Kings of Hip Hop, Compiled and Mixed by DJ Premier and Mr. Thing

  June 23, 2005

• Hot Shows

  Summertime concerts that will leave you sweating

  May 26, 2005

• Greg Trooper

  Saturday, April 30, at McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, 713-528-5999.

  April 28, 2005

• Mystery Bopping

  Racket searches for the hoppingest grocery store in town

  September 16, 2004

• Letters

  August 26, 2004

• Playbill

  August 19, 2004

• Teenage Wasteland

  Two artists ask how boys become men in a videocracy

  March 11, 2004

• Banjos and Body Piercings

  William Elliott Whitmore brings old-school bluegrass to the punk underworld

  November 20, 2003

• Combat Rock

  Near-brawls, bribery allegations and personal insults -- welcome to battle-of-the-bands land

  December 12, 2002

• Freddy Fender / Doug Sahm

  Exitos en Español: The Spanish Side of Freddy Fender (Music Club) /The Roots of Doug Sahm, Son of San Antonio (Music Club)

  September 6, 2001

• Vanity Affair

  Everybody's Famous! effectively zings our shallow fascination with fame

  July 26, 2001

• Aim to Please

  Luther and his Healers know the cure for what ails most local bands

  July 19, 2001

• Street-Fighting Man

  Roy Head used to love to mix it up. Now the blue-eyed soul man fights to keep his career alive.

  December 28, 2000

• Silver and Gold (and Green)

  Some artists make holiday records for the beauty, not the bucks

  December 23, 1999

• Soul Nite

  From Motown to the Orange Show, that’s quite a trip

  April 30, 2009

• Ten Cover Songs So Bad They'll Shrivel Your Soul

  Two nights ago, while carelessly patrolling the back alleys of the internet, Rocks Off stumbled across Hilary Duff's execrable cover of The Who's "My Generation". Well, what did you think, YouTube commenters? ​ You sure you're not being too harsh? ​ Yeah... ours too. Someday, when we are in our twilight years, we will think wistfully back to how we lived as teenagers, how we lived as college students, how freely we loved our first loves... and tearfully, we will remember the peop

  September 17, 2009

• ACL 2009 Day Three: Everybody Knows What Black Joe Lewis' Name Is Now

  Photo by Katharine Shilcutt​It was almost like being back in Houston: Sunday was sticky and steamy as Rocks Off arrived at Zilker Park around noon, and the only way we knew we could make it through was with a stiff straight shot of Southern soul. Luckily, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears were first up on the AMD stage.Complete with coordinated choreography, Lewis and the Honeybears came out with guitars and horns blazing, updating Clifton Chenier by way of Sonny Boy Williamson on "Big Boot

  October 4, 2009

• "Day of the Dead Rock Stars"

  October 29, 2009

• Inquiring Minds: Lucero's Ben Nichols Explains Why Stax Soul The Replacements' Pleased to Meet Me = His Band

  Lucero "Sixes and Sevens" from Lucero on Vimeo.​A decade and six albums into their career, Memphis country-punks Lucero made the leap late last year from their own indie label, Liberty & Lament, onto Universal/Republic Records. The band's rabid, boozy following may have been hesitant at the time of the signing, fearing a dilution of the band's sound at the hands of corporate handlers. But anyone who has given last month's 1372 Overton Park a spin will instead hear Lucero venturing into str

  November 5, 2009

• Aftermath: Lucero's Iron-Plated Soul and Douchebag Fisticuffs at Meridian

  Photos by Eric Sauseda​ As we enter the second-to-last month of what was been an alternately amazing and confounding year for music, Aftermath has been thinking a lot about recurring themes we have encountered over the past twelve months. Seeing a rock and roll show every other night isn't always some sort magical boozical tour, because the sad part of it is that you start getting complacent - or worse, you become super-hard to impress. You also pick up vibes from crowd to crowd that most folk

  November 10, 2009

• Sinking Ship

  November 12, 2009