Phish

SXSW's 2013 Panels: EDM, Nashville, and Tony Bennett's Headphones

Since 2010 or so, while I am at SXSW in Austin I have started to make the panels during the day a priority for my time at the conference. The trick is waking up by 10 a.m. most days. They are usually filled with industry celebs I can geek out on (like singer-songwriter Paul Williams) and almost al ... More >>

Artists Who Need Their Own Sirius/XM Channel Already

I've had satellite radio in my life since Christmas. Nothing is better than falling asleep on the couch on a Saturday afternoon after a big fat lunch with Willie's Roadhouse playing; waking up every few hours to piss during a Ray Price cut and then falling back to sleep. What I love the most, besi ... More >>

Tenacious D Debut Album Getting Deluxe Reissue Treatment

Tenacious D's self-titled 2001 effort, the album that soundtracked a million bong sessions and made Dio cool all over again, is getting the deluxe reissue treatment on vinyl on March 5. The comedy duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass brought in a star-studded team for their first album, building on the ... More >>

Music That Will Officially Be Old In 2013

One of my favorite pastimes is reminding my friends how old we are all getting, partly because I am cruel, and probably because even I am astounded that actor Steve Guttenberg is now three years older than Wilford Brimley was when they filmed Cocoon together in 1985. We can all think of things tha ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Phish Phans Revolt

We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning or afternoon from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula i ... More >>

10 Things We're Probably Doing At ACL This Year

villagevoice.comBjork at ACL '07, when part of her staging caught fire.​This is the Rocks Off team's (well, Craig Hlavaty and Chris Gray) fifth year covering the Austin City Limits Music Festival. The first year this smart guy wore black jeans and a black shirt to try to look cool, which made ... More >>

Who Are You? Songs Commonly Attributed To The Wrong Artists

​Last week, after the tragic, alcohol-fueled passing of Jackass hero Ryan Dunn, Rocks Off at Taco Cabana wearing a promotional shirt for The Hangover II that we stole borrowed from the office here at the Press. As we were loading our hands with condiment containers, a guy came up to us and sai ... More >>

Shot In The Dark: The Ones Who Got Away (So Far)

UPDATE (3:23 p.m.): Promotional video by Monica Fuentes added after the jump. Jay LeeLittle Joe Washington at the Continental Club's 10th anniversary, July 2010​Slowly but surely, Rocks Off has been getting ready for our "Shot In the Dark" photo exhibition at Warehouse Live's Studio next Thur ... More >>

Yonder Mountain String Band

For The Final Four: 9 Musicians Who Love College Sports

​After weeks of anticipation and preemptory hand-wringing over where we're going to park on Washington Ave. this weekend, the Final Four is Finally here. As with any other time a marquee sporting event comes to Houston, you can count on some familiar themes in media coverage: Where to party, w ... More >>

SXSW Panel: "Juggalos To Phish-Heads"

Craig Hlavaty​This is the first year we are attempting to forgo the day parties, full of free booze and music, to take in some of the informative panels offered by SXSW in the Austin Convention Center. It's not easy walking past day parties foisting beer and burritos on you, but we are doing i ... More >>

Live From The Austin City Limits Festival, Day 3

Marco TorresTrombone Shorty​Craig Hlavaty: News coming out of the media tent: Don Henley of the Eagles had a stent put in his heart this past week. He will be singing and possibly playing guitar, but not exerting himself on drums. This could very well be the last Eagles show for a while - if e ... More >>

Live From The Austin City Limits Festival, Day 1

Brittanie SheyThe Ettes​Brittanie Shey: Things seem incredibly crowded, and hotter than Houston, if that's even possible. The dust is already flying. Some of us here braved the bro-crowd at the Black Keys (see jump) but some of us, seeing the mile of bodies wobbling before the stage, decided t ... More >>

ACL: What Could Possibly Be Worse Than Last Year's Mudbath?

Mark C. AustinCan't WAIT to go back!​In exactly one week, Rocks Off will be broadcasting live from the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin's Zilker Park. This will be our fourth spin around the grounds since 2007, and every year we swear we won't fall in love with a bartender in the me ... More >>

Musicians Who Will Fetch The Least In TwitChange Auction

​TwitChange, a charity organization dedicated to helping Haiti led by the only Desperate Housewife who doesn't look at least partially mummified, Eva Longoria, is having an auction that will change the very nature of self-obsession as we know it. Several celebrities have gotten together and ag ... More >>

Dave Matthews Band's Seven Best Covers

Craig Hlavaty​Tonight the Dave Matthews Band hits the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion with Austin's Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears as their supporting act. Now into their second decade of massive touring schedules, the DMB is now a cash machine on wheels - a sort of cleaner and less hairy Gr ... More >>

FAIL: Courtney Love, Joe Jackson, Gravity

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Courtney Love Is Not Having an Easy Time of It: First, the lawsuit involving Courtney's share of Nirvana's musical rights was settled, most likely for less than she wanted. We have a hard time mustering up any sympathy there, but even we get uncomfortab ... More >>

ACL Fest Releases Schedule; Adds Black Lips, Silversun Pickups

black-lips.com via FlickrBrand-new ACL 2010 adds The Black Lips​The Austin City Limits Music Festival released the schedule grid for this year's gathering in Zilker Park Oct. 7-9. The festival also added several bands, including Atlanta garage-punks (and recovering exhibitionists) the Black Li ... More >>

2010 ACL Line-Up Goes Live And (Early) By Surprise

The line-up for the 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival went live at the fest's website at midnight this morning while the rest of the world was snoozing. Luckily we are up and stirring to bring it to you. No Pavement and no Soundgarden, but we do have the Strokes down. More commentary coming in ... More >>

Persian Cats, 3-D Phish And Houston Zydeco

​No One Knows About Persian Cats, the pseudo-documentary about the underground music scene in Tehran that Rocks Off first told you about in January, opens in wide release today and is now screening at the Landmark River Oaks Theatre. The film was featured at the MFAH earlier this year as part of t ... More >>

Dear Better Business Bureau: I Got Ripped Off For $1.07 On My Blunt Wrap

​Oh, weed: Will your users never fail to entertain?The Greater Houston & South Texas Better Business Bureau has received the following complaint, about Pokey's Planet in Weslaco.It begins: I walked into Pokeys planet dec. 9th to purchase a blunt wrap. i bought a blunt wrap for 1.07 there w ... More >>

Next Time You're Bored at a Party, Amuse Yourself With Some "Musical Profiling"

​ Recently, Rocks Off found ourselves skulking around the edges of a birthday party wondering what the hell we were doing there. The week had brutally kicked our ass, and the only place we really wanted to be at that juncture was sitting on our couch watching the Syfy channel with a very strong dr ... More >>

StubHub: Houston Is More "Rockin'" Than Vegas, Less So Than Hartford and Milwaukee

Craig HlavatyThe Phish of the Southwest and king of Houston's summer concert hill: George Strait​Online ticket broker StubHub.com released its annual list of America's Top 20 "Most Rockin' Cities" Friday, with Houston holding steady at No. 17 for the second year in a row. We probably would have be ... More >>

HPMA Aftermath: Glenna Bell, Beetle, Fat Tony, Free Radicals and Plump

Photos by Brandon K. Hernsberger​ A good way to kick off the HPMAs is to see a musician who makes you daydream about cheese grits on a holiday, preferably one that takes place in wintertime. Or reminds you of riding a horse at sunrise alongside your best friend John Denver. Glenna Bell, you made i ... More >>

ZZ Top's Dusty Hill is 60 Today

You didn't think we'd get out of here without wishing happy birthday to Houston's own Dusty Hill, the ZZ Top bassist who turns 60 today, did you? Hell no! To celebrate - and give any neophytes an idea of just how widely loved the Top really is - here's a pair of covers from about as far apart as you ... More >>

If You're Paying Four Bucks For A Brownie And You're Not In A Starbucks, Watch Out

Four bucks for a brownie? Unless you're getting a mocha cappacrappachino with soy and no foam, chances are there might be something suspicious going on.Five students from Ball High in Galveston found that out when they got sick after buying pot-laced brownies from another student yesterday.Three of ... More >>

It’s Time to Grow Up, I Think

Last Night: GZA in Austin (Cuz We Missed Him in Houston)

Do Make Say Think

You, You're a History in Rust

Hot Buttered Rum

Hot Buttered Rum performs Sunday, February 25, at the Last Concert Café, 1403 Nance Street, 713-226-8563.

Phried Phish

Tea Leaf Green

Rock 'n' Roll Band

The Clientele

Friday, August 11, at Walter's on Washington, 4215 Washington Avenue, 713-862-2513

Something Phishy

No Phishing

Pretty Girls Make Saves

As video games go indie, Wack imagines a few likely pairings

Wheel Good Time

Zilla

Saturday, January 28, at Last Concert Cafe, 1403 Nance, 713-226-8563.

The Radiators

Saturday, April 16, at Fitzgerald's, 2706 White Oak Drive, 713-862-3838.

Playbill

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Best Local TV Commercial

Hilton Furniture

Cross Canadian Ragweed

Friday, February 1

New Orleans Juice

Saturday, July 14, Last Concert Cafe, 1403 Nance

Playbill

Medeski, Martin and Wood

Soular Slide

Too Tasty for Color TV (Soular Slide)

Deadheads Redux

moe. picks up where Garcia and Co. left off

Rotation

Phish Bait

Big Band Bayou?

Blue thoughts for BCT, and the Karankawas are hungry again