Shea Serrano

Antiquated Music Things Kids These Days Will Never Have to Deal With

Some weeks back, while doing Christmas shopping for younger relatives, I realized just how different the musical world looks to someone who is, say, just now reaching ten years old. I discovered this when I realized that things like vinyl, cassettes, and even compact discs aren't coveted items to mo ... More >>

Happy New Year: Rocks Off's Personal Resolutions for 2013

Recently Rocks Off challenged our writers to make a personal New Year's resolution as a music fan for 2013. These brave souls actually did. Alexa Crenshaw: I should build a solid record collection, and not just let the few albums I own remain in decoration collecting dust. I also should cut back on ... More >>

Serrano's Rap Coloring Book to Become Actual Book

Some weeks ago, Rocks Off told you that one of our writers, Shea Serrano, had constructed a Tumblr featuring his drawings of various rappers and curated by the King of the Trill, Bun B, called the "Rap Coloring Book." We were proud of him then (we always are), but we're even more proud of Shea now. ... More >>

Look at What One of Our Writers Has Gone and Done

Provided they're not making us wish them bodily harm (kidding), Rocks Off is proud of each and every one of our writers. But sometimes one of them up and does something that makes us give them an extra pat on the head and a biscuit to go along with it. Like right now. The writer in question is our ... More >>

HPMA 2012 Showcase

One night. 11 venues. 55 minutes.

New Album GEN Makes B L A C K I E a Capital-A Artist

GEN is the name of B L A C K I E's newest album, a disc which is by far one of the most artistically groundbreaking and emotionally raw releases to come from anyone in any art medium this year in Houston. GEN doesn't prove that B L A C K I E is gifted; no, he did that a long time ago with hundreds ... More >>

The Houston Press Needs A New Nightfly

Like to go out? Want to get paid for it? Of course it's not quite that simple. But the Houston Press has an opening for a bar/nightclub columnist effective immediately. As of this week's column, our now-former Nightfly, Shea Serrano, is moving on to greener pastures and better hours. And another ki ... More >>

Rocks Off Resolutions: How We Hope to Improve in 2012

It seems like every year around this time, we start with the, "God, I need to lose weight" or "stop smoking" or "exercise more" or "stop murdering babies." It never seems to work and by March, we are back to our old, fat, smokey, lazy, baby murdering ways. It's a shame, really. This year, Rocks Off ... More >>

BestFest: Bun B, Rap God; Toadies Close Out With A Shred

Photos by Marc BrubakerYou know who this is.​It's hard to write about Bun B objectively anymore. Really, it is. He has ascended to where ever it is that people who are hard to write about objectively ascend to. It feels like, if he just did it with conviction, he could walk out on stage, take ... More >>

We Caved: Join Rocks Off On Turntable.fm All Day

​If you are lucky enough to have already gotten a Turntable.fm invite, and you work somewhere that is down with your listening to streaming jams, then right now you could be listening to the Stone Roses and Stereo MC's in Rocks Off's new Houston Press Rocks Off Spin Off on the social DJ site. ... More >>

Houston Rap, In The Most Graphic Possible Terms

Graphics by Shea Serrano​Here at Rocks Off, we have some very talented writers who think so far outside the box it's more like a Palma Square lidded wicker basket from Crate & Barrel. One of these is Shea Serrano, whose unorthodox interviewing style has caused many an Artist of the Week design ... More >>

The Astros Suck. Is It Their Music?

Marco TorresHunter Pence, Buzz listener?​Wandy Rodriguez is Rocks Off's new favorite Astro. ​Not because the Domincan southpaw has actually posted decent numbers for Houston's hometown cellar-dwellers this year (3-3 W-L, 3.41 ERA, 53 strikeouts), but because Rodriguez has one of the few ... More >>

More Local Music News Than Angry Easter Bunnies

Good Friday? How about great Friday? Here at Rocks Off we try to ensure that each and every Friday our readers get a full and healthy dose of local music news set to tide them over until we return. So without further ado, we present the newest installment of Magnolia City Mixtape. ​The soundt ... More >>

Behind That Door

Readers share stories of barroom discrimination.

Getting Past the Bouncer

Local nightclub door policies aren't always black and white

Bars, Racism & Dress Codes: A Report

​In this weeks cover feature, "Getting Past The Bouncer," by Chris Gray, Shea Serrano and myself, we investigated more in-depth the Hudson Lounge Hydeout controversy from back in December, plus the other door policies at some of the nicer watering holes in town that came to light in the wake o ... More >>

The Worst Music Trends Of 2010

​Editor's Pick: Shit. I spent my whole year either avoiding or ignoring trends. No reason to change now. Marc Brubaker: Many a person instructed me to place Ke(Dollar Sign)ha in this spot, but she's become so ubiquitous that I can't help but laugh when I hear her now. No, fine sirs, this awa ... More >>

Wu-Tang Clan's Best Pop-Culture References

​Rocks Off can't rightfully remember the last time the whole Wu-Tang Clan was ever in Houston, if they ever have been. For some reason, we keep wanting to think they came once with Rage Against The Machine around 1997. In 2007, they came to Dallas on the Rock The Bells summer tour with Nas, Ta ... More >>

Screwed Up Click

Which Texas Rapper Would Make The Best Governor?

​In many ways, rappers are akin to politicians. They possess oratorical skills, walk around with a posse, and always say things they don't mean. With the 2010 gubernatorial elections little more than a month away, Rocks Off wondered which rapper might be best suited to lead the great state of ... More >>

Rocks Off Requests Trae On The Box

​At this morning's press conference announcing Trae the Truth's civil lawsuit against 97.9 The Box and its parent company Radio One (see previous entry), community activist Deric Muhammad asked the media present to call the station and request Trae's music. Rocks Off asked our rap writer Shea Serr ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind, August: Weezy, Blondie, Depeche Mode, JoBros, Katy Perry, Mos Def, De La Soul, Blue October, Green Day and an Audience With King George

Shea Serrano​ Asher Roth, Kid Cudi, House of Blues, August 1: "[Cudi has] tapped John Goldstein, Kanye's famed stage light guy, to help him create an actual feel to his show. Hipster rappers get derided a lot as not being "real rappers," but they put on a hell of a show. The crowd is already his." ... More >>

2009 Concert Rewind: The 2009 Houston Press Music Awards Showcase and Ceremony

Showcase Sunday, Part 1 Shea SerranoRunaway Sun​ Dominique: "We guess critics would call her style 'neo-soul,' but it didn't seem very 'neo' to me, more like 'jazzy soul.' She fronted a piano-led trio with two backing vocalists and from the first sultry Fender Rhodes groove to the final explosive ... More >>

Rocks Off Is Not Going Dark Over Thanksgiving, Turkeys

​Once you shake yourself out of that Tryptophan coma tomorrow, Rocks Off would like to invite all of you over to our own Thanksgiving buffet. Craig Hlavaty and Brittanie Shey go toe to toe over the songs they're least thankful for, yours truly will have a report from tonight's Raphael Saadiq show ... More >>

HPMA Aftermath: Heptic Skeptic, Runaway Sun, the McKenzies, B L A C K I E, the Tontons and Spain Colored Orange

Photos by Shea Serrano​ 5:08 p.m.: About two weeks ago, vocalist Kammera Franklin broke her ankle. It has not stopped her hustle. Sunday, she sang for Heptic Skeptic, Umbrella Man and every single other band on the HPMA schedule. 5:27 p.m.: The Skeptics, who have always been a little more soulful ... More >>

52 Pick-Up

Your guide to the 2009 Houston Press Music Awards showcase

The TSU Trae Day Shootings: A Near-Eyewitness Account

Rocks Off just got off the phone with our man Shea Serrano, reporting from the Trae Day afterparty at Galleria-area nightclub the Roxy. He found an eyewitness - or at least someone who was close enough to the action Wednesday to have the living shit scared out of him - to Wednesday evening's shootin ... More >>

(A Few) More Details in the TSU Trae Day Shootings

Slowly, sketchily, we are finding out more about what happened surrounding the shootings at the conclusion of TSU's Trae Day concert and festival that sent several people to the hospital Wednesday evening. Happily, from what we have been able to piece together so far, no one seems to have been kille ... More >>

The TSU Shootings in Twitterese: "Stay Classy, Houston"

Video by nosvideocrew Looks like things in the Trae Day shootings are about where they were last night. The Houston Police Department's homicide unit is involved - although no one was killed - but letting TSU detectives handle the investigation. Rocks Off's Shea Serrano spoke with an official at TS ... More >>

The TSU Shootings in Twitterese: "Stay Classy, Houston"

Video by nosvideocrew Looks like things in the Trae Day shootings are about where they were last night. The Houston Police Department's homicide unit is involved -- although no one was killed -- but letting TSU detectives handle the investigation. Hair Ball's Shea Serrano spoke with an official at ... More >>

Slide Show: Trae Day at TSU Stadium

Shea Serrano  Once upon a time, before it was a shooting gallery, national news and the talk of Twitter, the first annual Trae Day celebration was just a rap concert and family festival. Bun B, Rick Ross, a newly shorn Slim Thug and Houston mayoral candidate Peter Brown all came out to salute t ... More >>

Please Add to Our F*** List

Life is hard; we understand that all too well. Some days, the whole thing just seems meaningless and trite, not unlike like so many new American Idol runners-up who are being foisted upon the general public as if they are the second coming of Freddie Mercury, when they are in all actuality just a du ... More >>

Oh, Christ: Original Limp Bizkit Lineup to Reunite

Because things aren't already bad enough out there right now, the original lineup of crotch-rocking mooks Limp Bizkit annouced today they are reuniting. Here, according to a joint statement by the band's Fred Durst and Wes Borland, is their reasoning: "We decided we were more disgusted and b ... More >>

Restitution, Mental Illness, DNA Evidence, Oysters and White People

Turning the Screw: Dustin Prestige, Lupe Fiasco, Katy Perry/Travis McCoy, Dr. Dre, DJ AM, Lil' Kim, Damon Dash/Jay-Z, Talib Kweli and More

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: "Funny Valentine," Dustin Prestige Wire To Wire Lupe Fiasco, whom you'll remember recently announ ... More >>

Merry Christmas from the Rocks Off Family

...and so say all of us! - Chris Gray, Craig Hlavaty, Dusti Rhodes, Keith Plocek, William Michael Smith, Bob Ruggiero, John Nova Lomax, Ernest Barteldes, Brandon K. Hernsberger, Jef With One F, Michael Arceneaux, Linda Leseman, kris ex, Kathy F. Mahdoubi, Rosa Guerrero, Nick DiFonzo, Jason Fergus ... More >>

Turning the Screw: B L A C K I E, Dizzee Rascal, X-Clan & Bun B, Eminem, Pitbull, T.I., Common, Snoop Dogg and More

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: B L A C K I E, "I Write On Money" Wire To Wire Dizzee Rascal was released from custody following ... More >>

Five Spot: The FBI Gets at DMX

Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and list five reasons why it's either brilliant or dumb-assed. Send tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. ] As we reported in Monday's Turning the Screw, yet another arrest warrant was issued for star-crossed hard ... More >>

Turning the Screw: T-Pain & Friends, Pimp C, Asher Roth, Kanye vs. Colbert, Q-Tip, Suge Knight, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Young Jeezy, Paul Wall and More

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies.   Single of the Week: "Chopped and Screwed" Lil' O, T-Pain and Ludacris Wire To Wire Matt Sonzala et al. paid tribute ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Von Won, Lil O, Ludacris, Flo Rida, the Roots, Suge Knight, Too $hort, The Kanye, Ghostface Killah and More

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies.       (Churchy) Single of the Week:  "I Love You," Von Won     Wire To Wire     ... More >>

Q-Tip: The Renaissance

Turning the Screw: Fela Kuti, Jay-Z, Left Eye, Lil Wayne, Ed McMahon, Ciara, DMX and More

Turning The Screw: Crew54, DJ AM & Travis Barker, G- Unit, Pharrell, Eminem, Nate Dogg, Kanye, Wu-Tang vs. UFC and More

Turning the Screw: Hollywood F.L.O.S.S., LL Cool J, The Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, Russell Crowe (!?), MF Doom, Beyonce and More

Turning the Screw: TxHustla, Beanie Sigel, Lil' Wayne, Ciara, Kanye, Tupac, Akon, Usher and More

Turning the Screw: Lower Life Form, Slim Thug, R.I.P. Bernie Mac, Chris Brown & T.I. Team Up, Master P and More

Recession Thursday at Numbers Tonight; MP3s from Arthur Yoria and Woozyhelmet

Movie Pirates

Scene Stealers

Over the Weekend: Texas Hip-Hop, Drinking, Billy Joel and Sage Rosenfels

Slideshow: Howl at the Moon