The Doors

The Rocks Off 100: Robin Kirby, Silk and Sandpaper Songwriter

Welcome to the Rocks Off 100, our portrait gallery of the most compelling profiles and personalities in the far-flung Houston music community -- a lot more than just musicians, but of course they're in there too. See the entire Rocks Off 100 at this link. Who? Singer-Songwriter Robin Kirby entered ... More >>

Negative Utopia Gets All Self-Determinist Up In Here

It's a well-known fact that most band names are essentially gobbledygook, but here at Rocks Off we're working hard to find meaning in the oddest monikers. Negative Utopia is only six months old as a band, so I'm not sure exactly what they'll be when they grow up. Their sound has some cowpunk influe ... More >>

That's a Big Twinkie: A Soundtrack to the Apocalypse

The last shipment of Hostess Twinkies was supposedly delivered last Tuesday, as Hostess indeed filed for bankruptcy. Twinkies were also linked to great destructive forces in the movie Ghostbusters. This all falls very close to December 21, which marks the end of the Mayan Mesoamerican Long Count C ... More >>

The Rocks Off 100: Willow Villarreal, Hatetank Maniac

If you are under 30 in Houston and grew up going to punk or hardcore shows off Washington Avenue -- when it was still scary for the right reasons -- you were probably there because Willow Villarreal of Hatetank Productions booked the gig. His booking and promoting work helped bring tons of nationa ... More >>

Is There Any Chance the New Thin Lizzy Album Won't Suck?

This week, Rolling Stone and NME got wind of the fact that '70s hard-rock heroes Thin Lizzy will hit the studio this fall to record their first new album since band founder/leader/icon Phil Lynott's death 26 years ago. The news was actually broken by HotPress.com last week, but it took a while for w ... More >>

Explaining Classic Rock Bands to Kids

This past Sunday, The New York Times ran a piece by Paul Greenberg where the author explained how important the Beatles were to music and pop culture to his five-year old son. The child didn't know that the band had albums, but only knew the Fab Four from iTunes playlists. "When the Beatles record ... More >>

Mail Dump: Janis, Little Richard, dBs, Donovan, Etc.

The mailbox has been truly kind the past several weeks. Sure, there are still piles of useless dreck to wade through/past/over. But those all get to go to the big box in the dark closet and await the apocalypse. But there are standouts and surprises almost daily. Let's begin with three important re ... More >>

REDCAT Film Festival: Fire and Ice: New Animation from Russia

Ulver: Murder In "Magic Hollow"

Norwegian black metal band Ulver has a very interesting record coming up. Childhood's End will be a cover album focusing on classic and obscure psychedelic songs from the '60s. Such tunes have always been a fetish for vocalist Kristoffer Rygg, who recently told Kscope Magazine, "My feeling is that ... More >>

30 Seconds with Benjamin Wesley

Benjamin Wesley is one of Houston's greatest talents, and his new album Think/Thoughts completely redefined what I thought musicians were capable of in the realm of songwriting. I fired off an e-mail to my new audio-crush to see what I could learn and discern about his bearded majesty in 30 seconds. ... More >>

Musical "Holograms" We Don't Want To See Anytime Soon (OK, Yes We Do)

A lot has been made about the Tupac "hologram" at Coachella. First off, it's not really a hologram as much as it is CGI "magic" and it's nothing new, seeing that they have been doing it Japan for a few years now. But they do lots of things in Japan. It's even to get swept up in the madness because ... More >>

Re:Generation: New Film Makes Airtight Case That DJs Are Musicians

Directed by Amir Bar Lev and produced in association with the Grammys, Re:Generation is a documentary that explores the process behind making music as a DJ and producer through an experiment that sends five DJs on a quest to work in a specific genre outside their normal output. It sounds like somet ... More >>

The Best LP Side Ones Ever

Spurred on by the realization that both David Bowie's commercial breakthrough Let's Dance and Queen's News of the World had solid, sturdy side ones on their vinyl releases, I then began the hunt for other great vinyl slabs with amazing side ones. Of course, the idea is that this could only include ... More >>

Low Down: Do Bands Need Bass Players Any More?

Growing up in the '80s, there was a concern on the part of drummers that they would be replaced by drum machines. No one thought that every drummer in every band would be swapped out with a box, but spots in all sorts of projects normally reserved for a guy with sticks were being handed over to prog ... More >>

Top 5 Songs About Whiskey

Whether it's rye or bourbon, straight or blended, Irish, Scotch or Canadian, rock, country or classical, whiskey and warblers go way back. Even Stravinsky was quoted as saying "My God, so much I like to drink Scotch that sometimes I think my name is Igor Stra-whiskey." In whiskey-related weird news ... More >>

Ray Manzarek & Robby Krieger of The Doors

Top 5 Musical Ed Sullivan Show Controversies

theselvedgeyard.wordpress.com"You want me to sing WHAT now?"​To the right-wing conservatives, religious groups, and self-proclaimed family organizations raising hell over Chaz Bono's "assault on family values" as the first transgender contestant on Dancing With the Stars, Rocks Off asks the q ... More >>

Apocalypse Now: 2 DJs' Playlists For The End Of Days

Lee E. Wright/Sweaty. Sultry. Sandy.​Sand, surf, carnival - and the apocalypse. It sounds like a lead-in to "One of These Things is Not Like the Others" (although probably a little heavy for the Sesame Street crowd), but that was the theme of Sweaty. Sultry. Sandy., an art/fashion show held ov ... More >>

25 Essential Eponymous Albums

​Eponymous: (of a literary work, film, etc) named after its central character or creator: The Stooges' eponymous debut album. On this day in 1983, a young woman from Michigan who had recently given up on a career as a hard-rock singer released her first album of electronic dance-pop, an album ... More >>

Out Today: Bon Iver's Bandwagon Bait, Weird Al Goes Gaga

Greetings From Bon Iver Land! Now, grab a rifle. It's almost dinner time.​In the next few weeks, you may be reading about the new Robert Ellis album, Photographs, so we are just giving you fair warning. It's a stunner through and through, and goes nicely with early morning traffic. Have you ev ... More >>

Zoo Station: A Noah's Ark Of 75 Animal Songs

And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee ... More >>

Beyonce's 4 & 11 Other Numerical Album Titles

​Beyonce is not the first artist to title her album after a number. Here are 11 more - one of which B may have to unseat from the top of the charts when her fourth solo album, 4, is released next month. Chicago, Chicago III-Twenty 1 (1971-91): Chicago had a simple formula for naming albums: ... More >>

Save Ferris: Pop-Culture Origins Of 16 Famous Band Names

Groovehouse​This one's for the pop-culture junkies. For those who, like us, are tickled by all forms of pop media, whether it be literature, film or music... this list encompasses them all. A surprisingly high quantity of bands have named themselves after books, songs, and films; some are obvi ... More >>

Garage Sale Cowboy: Rod McKuen's The Sea

​Today Rod McKuen, poet, composer, and sometime singer, turns 77 years old. Most people do not remember McKuen - at least nobody born after 1980 - but for one summer he was the strangest thing to come into Rocks Off's record collection, and remains one of our favorites. It would have been th ... More >>

Last Night: Grace Potter & The Nocturnals At House Of Blues

Photos by Groovehouse​Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights House of Blues February 17, 2011 For more totally tasteful pictures from Thursday, see our slideshow here. Ooh la la. Aftermath is going to be real up front here. We did not know a whole lot about Grac ... More >>

Top 10 Musician Movie Cameos

Rocks Off has no idea why Mick Jagger might prefer Performance to Ned Kelly.​Over recent years, Rocks Off has been repeatedly surprised by the quality performances of musicians in films. Naturally, there are some duds in the mix; even Mick Jagger himself, who starred in 1970's Ned Kelly, disow ... More >>

What Is Classic Rock Today?

​What is classic rock in 2010? 15 years ago, it was was the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, anything Eric Clapton touched and every band your dad played in his car while he was making out with the girls he met before your mom. That's how we know classic rock: Big riffs, big voices, in ... More >>

Five Great Moments In Indecent Exposure

​Recently, Florida's lame-duck governor Charlie Crist has said he's considering pardoning Jim Morrison for his 1969 indecent exposure charge, stemming from The Doors' notorious Miami concert in which a drunken Lizard King swore numerous times and proceeded to whip it out onstage. Of course, Mo ... More >>

Three Songs, No Flash: Mark C. Austin's Life In The Pit

All photos by Mark C. AustinGwen Stefani of No Doubt in The Woodlands, May 2009​This evening, local rock photographer Mark C. Austin unveils his first exhibit of his work since he began shooting bands almost five years ago. Austin's work has appeared in print and online for the Houston Press a ... More >>

The Top Five Overexposed Classical Works In The Movies

​ Have you heard of the Wilhelm Scream? Basically, it was a one-second sound bite from a bit character in a 1951 movie that somehow made its way into Warner Brothers Studios' collection of sound effects. It has since been used as a special effect in hundreds - maybe thousands - of films, from ... More >>

"Summertime" From Beyond The Grave

​Today marks the 44th anniversary of Janis Joplin's first gig with Big Brother and the Holding Company. One of rock's most staggering vocalists, Joplin became another star who left us too soon on October 4, 1970, when she overdosed on heroin while recording Pearl. George Gershwin's "Summertime" wa ... More >>

Give Me No Man's Land: 5 Songs For The Fallen

​Today is Memorial Day, and Rocks Off would like to honor our brave and beloved dead as we honor everything - through music. At no time in American history have there not been men and women in life-threatening danger trying to protect us, whether it was a declared war or not. This is a sacrifice w ... More >>

Summertime Blues: Songs As Sad As The Season

"The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose..." ​So reads the prologue to Ernest Hemingway's 1926 treatise on the horrors of existential dread. In the book, Jake Barnes and a band of entirely unlikeable expat misfits flit around the globe, from Paris to P ... More >>

Van Morrison

Godsmacked: 27 Years Of Mouthwash Buzz And Birthday Shame

​This coming Monday, Craig's Hlist enters his 27th year of decadence and shame. One year closer to 30, with no signs of getting wiser or smarter. This year we have no clue as to what to do or where to go, other than see live music and drink too much. But that's a typical weekend anyway and will mo ... More >>

Cross-Dressing In The Women's Room? You'll Need These Songs

​ God-fearing men of Houston: Mayor Annise Parker wants to banish your micturitions back to the Stone Age: "Houston's first openly gay mayor is now being accused of opening up the women's restroom to cross-dressing men. On Tuesday morning, the Houston Area Pastors Council issued a blistering ... More >>

He Said She Said: Fire In The Earhole!, Part 2

​To be honest, She Said can't really remember the last time she stepped foot inside Mai's. It was definitely several years ago, before she left Houston and then came back again, and it was probably with this guy, probably after a show. She Said probably had some Thai curry and hot tea, but she can ... More >>

Are "Folsom Prison Blues" and Jane's Addiction's "Summertime Rolls" Appropriate Lullabys for Children?

​ Despite our collective knowledge of many arcane forms of music here at Rocks Off, we have noticed that we are remarkably deficient when it comes to lullabies. This deficiency which has been compounded by our complete and utter refusal to succumb to the twisted evil that is most children's music ... More >>

Lone Star Scorecard: "God Blessed Texas," "Dracula From Houston" and "The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)"

​ You know the drill: every week we sift through several thousand songs (mostly) extolling the virtues of the Great State of Texas to bring you three that still manage to screw it up. And whether written by native sons or godless Yankee heathens, mistakes abound. Little Texas, "God Blessed Texas" ... More >>

Maybe Miley Would Be Better Off Dead Like Selena, Kurt and These Others...

In case you missed it - and if you value your immortal soul, we're sure you did - Hannah Montana star/future tell-all memoir author Miley Cyrus unveiled a newer, more "mature" look last weekend at the only venue appropriate for such things: the Teen Choice Awards. Nothing says "successful transitio ... More >>

Keiji Haino

A Japanese psychedelic rocker makes his debut performance in Texas

Jason Ward's Matagorda Island Discs

Get Lit: The Act You’ve Known for All These Years: A Year in the Life of Sgt. Pepper and Friends, by Clinton Heylin

Local Motion

Our top DVD picks for the week of December 14

Old School

MU330 makes ska as it was intended

Drunk, But Not Disorderly

Meg Ryan battles the curse of cuteness