San Marcos

Last Night: The Houston Press Music Awards Showcase

Weekend Music: Skyrocket!’s in Flight

Slideshow: Snakes on an Album

One of the songs slithering around Rocks Off's head lately is "Snake Farm," the title track to grizzled Hill Country troubador Ray Wylie Hubbard's 2006 album, where the singer and a comely employee of the ramshackle reptile house between San Marcos and New Braunfels get it on amongst the other&n ... More >>

Tight, Shiny and Abrasive

One of the songs slithering around Rocks Off's head lately is "Snake Farm," the title track to grizzled Hill Country troubador Ray Wylie Hubbard's 2006 album, where the singer and a comely employee of the ramshackle reptile house between San Marcos and New Braunfels get it on amongst the other&n ... More >>

Not the Sahm Old Thing

One of the songs slithering around Rocks Off's head lately is "Snake Farm," the title track to grizzled Hill Country troubador Ray Wylie Hubbard's 2006 album, where the singer and a comely employee of the ramshackle reptile house between San Marcos and New Braunfels get it on amongst the other&n ... More >>

Armadillo World Headquarters

The Goode family's shrine to all things Texas could use a shootout or two.

Hardball

How softball coach Holly Nuber won the state championship -- and lost her job

Terrible News For Lovers Of Texas History, Or Just Biography In General

Anyone who considers themselves a Texan -- one that likes to read, at any rate -- should be federally mandated to read the three volumes in which Robert Caro traces the life of Lyndon Johnson.The first book, Path to Power, is a fascinating primer on the Hill Country, on Sam Rayburn, on farm life in ... More >>

Rotation

Anyone who considers themselves a Texan -- one that likes to read, at any rate -- should be federally mandated to read the three volumes in which Robert Caro traces the life of Lyndon Johnson.The first book, Path to Power, is a fascinating primer on the Hill Country, on Sam Rayburn, on farm life in ... More >>

Well-Raised and Confused

Mood rockers Blue October struggle after life's answers

A Practical Angel

Mood rockers Blue October struggle after life's answers

Full Contact Paddling

Safari tests brains, strength, endurance and the willpower to persevere when you're puking out of your boat. And pissing in it.

Family Style

Breedlove fishes in the Vaughan gene pool for a little added talent

Bob Log III, Scott H. Biram, Possessed by Paul James

Breedlove fishes in the Vaughan gene pool for a little added talent

This Will Destroy You, Unwed Sailor

Ambient and/or progressive fans will find plenty to like with these two instrumental groups

Sayonara , Matt Sonzala

Talking SXSW and rap's current malaise with a soon-to-be ex-Houstonian

Houston's Very Best Songs Ever

...otherwise known as the H-Town 20

Screw October

Justin Furstenfeld orders us to hate him. We obey.

Scars and Bars

Hell-raiser and one-man band Scott H. Biram lays the hammer down

A Wunderkind Looks at 40

Todd Snider is still talking the blues after all these years

Jazz Show

David McGee's works riff on one another, like a certain musical genre

Colorado River Blues

For New Mexico-bred singer-songwriter Eric Hisaw, the move to Austin is just starting to pay

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

For New Mexico-bred singer-songwriter Eric Hisaw, the move to Austin is just starting to pay

Scar Wars

Austin's Vallejo performs at Whiskey Blues

Kung Fu Fighting

Catfish shares his arsenal

Small Wonder

The Hyde Park Miniature Museum has been dredged out of mothballs, but will it find a permanent home before time runs out?

Birth of a Texas Bar Band

Named after a beer, Honeybrowne strives to be more

Racket

In his first 24 years of life, Brad Turcotte has already become a music-business veteran

A River Ran Through It

A historic Hill Country road brought Texans to the Blanco. Then came John O'Quinn.

Wandering Son

Carlton Pride, son of Charley, opted not to take any country roads

Street-Fighting Man

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

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

Texas Blind Salamander Blues

Photo by Robb Walsh​The Texas blind salamander lives in a dark cave in San Marcos and doesn't see very well, hence the blues-guitarist moniker. It's also an endangered species. Blind Salamander Pale Ale from Rahr Brewery in Fort Worth is the first of a new series called "Rare Breed" beers. Eac ... More >>

Road Trippin': A West Texas/Big Bend Playlist

​ Right after Christmas, Rocks Off hopped into our car and headed straight for the bowels of West Texas. It's a long drive to Big Bend, mostly through the middle of nowhere, huge swaths of land where even AM radio can't reach. Twelve hours in the car demands a certain kind of playlist that, like a ... More >>

Nothing's Wrong

Scott H. Biram cuts back on the craziness...just not in his music.

Mex on the Beach

The wild tropical seafood restaurant Yelapa Playa Mexicana was named for a beach on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

South Bayou: Where And When Houston Artists Are Playing In Austin This Week

​Monday afternoon, when Rocks Off was scouring our email, MySpace, Facebook and various other Web sites for the following information, this thought occurred to us more than once: "Why are we wasting our time telling Houstonians where to go see people during SXSW who they can see practically anytim ... More >>

Houston Locals Musicians Film Video With Dallas Native, Head to Austin for Release

• Fat Tony, Tom Nguyen from The Ton Tons and Kyle Vento from Simple Success teamed up with director Tedric Huff to play the backing band for Dallas artist Angela Carter in the new video for her song "Love Anymore." It looks like they had tons of fun. • Roky Erickson spent about 30 minutes las ... More >>

Piranha

An indie legend's Texas-filmed first feature

Guru Prakashanand Saraswati, 82, Accused of 20 Counts of Molesting Young Girls

Guru Prakashanand Saraswati is accused of sexual indecency with a minor.​Respected guru Prakashanand Saraswati is going to trial today in a San Marcos courtroom after being slapped with 20 counts of sexual indecency with a child. The 82-year-old guru, also known as Shree Swamiji, is the founde ... More >>

Eirin Ann Hicks: Texas State Student Killed by One-Story Jump

Texas StateEirin Ann Hicks: Killed by first-floor jump​If you're a parent who wonders why you worry about your kid, fresh evidence today that you need to: A Texas State student has died by jumping out of a first-floor window. Eirin Ann Hicks, 24 and from Temple, was taken off life support ye ... More >>

Broken System

A lawsuit alleges that 12,000 kids trapped in foster care with little chance of getting out are being exposed to abuse and neglect, shuttled around the state and denied health services.

Little Smoke

Texas post-rockers This Will Destroy You take a dark turn

Eirin Hicks: Misdemeanor Charges Filed In Death of Texas State Woman Who Fell to Death

TABCEirin Hicks: Dead from a fall out a window​The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and Texas State University police announced a handful of charges stemming from the death of Eirin Ann Hicks, a student who fell to her death from an elevated first-story dorm room last month. The charges ar ... More >>

Top 6 Ways To Piss Off A Musician At A Gig

Brian Jackson/Bloodshot RecordsDoes this look like someone YOU'D want to antagonize?​Rocks Off first stumbled onto Scott H. Biram about 10 years ago at the Parlor, Austin's recently closed, extremely cramped "punk rock pizza" joint on North Loop, where patrons scarfed their pies while murals o ... More >>

Members Only

Is Simone on Sunset the best bar in West U...already?

George Strait's Top 20 Songs Of All Time: Nos. 20-16

​Tuesday, George Strait released Here For a Good Time, by our count his 39th album overall. Some may call that the Madness of King George, but Rocks Off the Elder and Younger have both heard Good Time; we both think it's one of his stronger sets, continuing the bout of second wind (Third? Four ... More >>

Fast Times: Fajitas Puebla Tacos At Taco Cabana

Don't gotta tell me twice. ​Oh, Taco C, how I love thee. Maybe it's because I lived off Taco Cabana tortillas and queso in college; every great night at the square or float down the river in San Marcos ended with a trip to TC. Drunk, sober or hungover, it hits the spot. So when I saw an ad f ... More >>

Gene Kurtz, "Treat Her Right" Co-Writer, Passes Away

Photo by Winker​Bassist Gene Kurtz, who co-wrote Roy Head's 1965 hit "Treat Her Right" and went on to play with a wide range of artists across rock, R&B, jazz and country, passed away Sunday night, according to a post on his Facebook page. Kurtz had just celebrated his 69th birthday last week. ... More >>

Roy Head Remembers Gene Kurtz & "Treat Her Right"

credGene Kurtz (left) and Roy Head wrote "Treat Her Right" in 10 minutes on a roll of toilet paper.​"I guarantee you one thing, Gene Kurtz is playing bass in the best band in heaven tonight," says Roy Head. Head co-wrote "Treat Her Right," one of the truly legendary Texas hits, with Kurtz, the ... More >>