Warren Zevon

Greg Abbott's Awful "Gun 'n' Bible" Ad Gets an F in Grammar

What was that old Warren Zevon song? "Send Bibles, Guns and Grammar"? No? Well, that or something along the lines of it should be sent to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who caused a few jaws to drop with an ad he put on his Facebook page. The ad is mostly evidence that today's Web allows anyo ... More >>

10 Great Versions of "Wild Thing"

"Wild Thing" may not be most-recorded song in history, but it's got to be up there. (It's not even in the Top 10, though, according to the UK's The Independent.) But when the version by the Troggs, whose singer Reg Presley died of cancer late Monday night, became a hit on both sides of the Atlantic ... More >>

Last Night: The Gourds at Discovery Green

The Gourds Discovery Green June 14, 2012 I have lost count of how many Gourds shows I have seen over the years. I doubt I have seen any other band live more times than this one. But I never realized how much children loved the Gourds until Thursday at Discovery Green. Man, these kids loved the Gou ... More >>

Father John Misty

No Surprises: Rock Hall Set To Induct Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys

Photo By Marco TorresGuns N' Roses are Rock Hall bound, but which version of GNR will show up? ​This morning (well, it leaked last night) the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced their 2012 class of inductees. Included on the list are Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Bo ... More >>

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Snubs Rush...Again

Photo by Jeff Balke​A couple years ago, I was sitting on the back porch at the Continental Club talking music with a fairly well known music writer who seemed to believe that anything with a big hook or the slightest inkling of musicianship beyond the garage band aesthetic was utter garbage. I ... More >>

Peter Frampton's Bassist "Comes Alive" Again

Stanley Sheldon​Classic Rock Corner was emailing recently with Andy Sharp (aka "Buffalo Speedway"), guitarist for the Austin-based Thin Lizzy tribute band Think Lizzy. He told us a story about talking music with his actual physician -- also a guitar nut -- who asked Sharp if he'd ever heard a ... More >>

Top 5 Musicians Whose Art Trumps Their Politics

Once again we have yet another example that if a musician opens his or her mouth without the benefit of a guitar or piano close by, trouble is usually not far behind. In this case it's Rockin' Randall Hank Williams Jr., who compared this year's Obama/John Boehner "golf summit" to Adolf Hitler hittin ... More >>

G N' R, The Cure & Chili Peppers Could Be Hall Of Famers Next Year

Oh, this will be a fun induction ceremony...​This morning, The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland announced the list of nominees for its Class of 2012: The Small Faces & The Faces, Freddie King, The Cure, Guns 'N Roses, Heart, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Spinners, War, Joan Jett and the Bl ... More >>

Top Five Cannibal Country Songs

​Songs about singers and other songs has long been one of Rocks Off's favorite fields of study within the wide-ranging curriculum of popular music. Off the very tippy-top of our heads, ABC's "When Smokey Sings," the Replacements' "Alex Chilton" and the Pogues' "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda ... More >>

Dear Penis: 20 Songs About The Tube Snake Boogie

prince.orgGuess who turns 53 today?​Good Lord, what would we do if not for Weinergate? It's hot as hell outside, the Astros are terrible and Rick Perry might run for president next year. But as long as there are congressmen tweeting pictures of their junk to women they barely know, Rocks Off h ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Bye Bye, Chicago Code -- Fox's Greatest Crimes Against TV

Fox you, "Code" fans.​The fall network TV schedules aren't set to be released until next week, but the bad news has already leaked for fans of Fox's The Chicago Code, which was not renewed for a second season in spite of a mostly positive critical reception: Answering questions from disappoin ... More >>

Shot In The Dark: How The Whole Mess Started

Mark C. AustinKings of Leon at Verizon Wireless Theater, October 2008​Just a couple of days now before Rocks Off - the person and the blog - proudly presents Shot In the Dark: Houston Press Concert Photography, our first-ever exhibit of live pics we've collected in about three and a half years ... More >>

You Talkin' to Me? Seven Musical Moments in Martin Scorsese Films

​We scoured the Internet, like we do for at least nine hours a day, for an excuse to embed Scorsese clips into one, organized blog post. Lucky for us, we found that timeliness was applicable: the 35th anniversary edition of Taxi Driver is out on Blu-Ray! We'll probably stick to our used copy t ... More >>

Last Night: Kid Rock At RodeoHouston

Photos by Marco Torres​Kid Rock Reliant Stadium March 14, 2011 First things first: Yes, Aftermath got to Reliant Stadium with plenty of time to spare Monday. One embarrassing screw-up per Rodeo season is more than enough, thank you very much. Besides, no way were we gonna miss Kid Rock's Rod ... More >>

A Rock in a Hard Place

The sweet smell of secession​In five years, we will mark the 150th anniversary of the end of the bloodiest war in U.S. history, and yet a stupefying number of people still don't comprehend how flying a flag associated with treason and -- more to the point -- racism might not be the best idea: ... More >>

Adios "Age Of Aquarius": A Zodiac Realignment Playlist

​If Twitter is good for one thing, it's the immediate and rapid dispersal of breaking news. If Twitter is good for two things, it's that, plus the immediate and rapid dispersal of whatever trumped-up rumor, lie, or fakery that manages to draw the ire of the millions of poor saps reading along ... More >>

In The Jailhouse Now: Tom DeLay's Prison Soundtrack

​Tom DeLay is, in Lonesome, Onry and Mean's opinion, one of the lowest, vilest, most divisive, scum-sucking snake oil salesmen ever to enter politics. Now DeLay is heading to the pokey to serve time for his money laundering activities (pending his appeal, of course). We don't recall another H ... More >>

More Like "Hall Of Lame," Am I Right?

​Ladies and gentlemen, your 2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is ready to admit a new class: Alice Cooper, Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, Darlene Love and Dr. John have all been inducted for 2011, the foundation announced Wednesday. With the exception of Wai ... More >>

Cage Match: Werewolf Of London Vs. Purple People Eater

​Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a while since we had a Cage Match. Our apologies, we couldn't find a band willing to take on Nickelback - really. Be that as it may, get yourselves ready for a special Halloween edition as two of the greatest monsters in song take on each other. You gotta ask ... More >>

Before Ray & Dave, Noel & Liam, There Was Don & Phil...

The Everly Brothers Reunion Concert: Live at the Royal Albert Hall Eagle Vision, 120 minutes, $11.98. ​Long before the professional pairings of the Robinsons, Gallaghers, Davies or even the Righteous, (and just after the Burnettes), there was the early rock and roll fraternal act of the Everl ... More >>

Saturday Night: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes at Warehouse Live

Photos by Groovehouse​Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes Warehouse Live October 9, 2010 Oh crap, Aftermath thought shortly after Edward Sharpe struck up the Magnetic Zeroes Saturday night, it's the Polyphonic Spree all over again. Unless we are having an especially bad day, Aftermath is no ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Men Are Pigs, Film At 11

With apologies to Warren Zevon: Keep on riding, riding, ridingTiger and Jesse JamesKeep on riding, riding, ridingAll those tattooed dames 2010 is already proving to be a banner year in celebrity implosion. The continuing saga of serial philanderer Tiger Woods was good enough, but then the news bro ... More >>

Five Great Examples Of Scorsese Using Rock Music, And A Chance to Win Free Shutter Island Passes

Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island opens next week -- check at the end of this item for a chance to win preview passes -- and the question is, what's the soundtrack gonna be?If there's one guy who knows how to blend classic rock into a movie, it's Scorsese. Shutter Island, of course, looks to be more ... More >>

Hit the Road, Jack: 10 More Notable Musical Deaths From the Past Decade

​ Looking back, this past decade wasn't too kind to rock and roll as a whole. We lost plenty of people who weren't exactly disgustingly huge as Michael Jackson or as monolithic as Johnny Cash. This decade took its share of people who were massively influential and iconic, but not on the grand worl ... More >>

Aftermath: Jackson Browne Doesn't Do "Rehab Versions," Does Do "Free Bird" at Verizon

Photos by Jay Lee​ Aftermath is a child of the 70's, graduating from high school during our country's bicentennial year. The last half of that decade, our patron saint of teen angst was Jackson Browne - even in our punk-rock heyday, Jackson was our go-to guy when we really wanted to brood. His fir ... More >>

Send Lawyers, Guns & Money: Nine Non-Boring Songs About the Work Attorneys Do

Rocks Off's local watering hole is frequented by a lawyer named Eugene Lawley, whom we always refer to as our Walker Percy. Lawley has more than a small literary bent - we hardly ever mention a book he hasn't read - and has a fine ear for song lyrics. His sister wrote themes for television and movi ... More >>

Aftermath: Feels Like the First Time With Widespread Panic and the Allman Brothers at the Woodlands

Photos by Kim Douglass​ There are few experiences in life that act as true rites of passage: Learning to ride a bicycle or drive a car, or that first kiss with that special post-pubescent someone. Then there's virginity, both the kind that gets lost in between the sheets and the kind that takes pl ... More >>

Ghosts of Washington Avenue

Noise goes whistling through the scenester artery's music venue graveyard.

Lonesome Onry and Mean: "OD'd In Denver" and Other Drug-Addled Americana Songs

A group of us were sitting at our regular table at the bar the other night when one of our number reported that he had to fly to Denver the next day. LOM never hears the word "Denver" that we don't think of Hank Williams Jr.'s "OD'd in Denver." We wonder if Sarah Palin, whom Bocephus schlepped for ... More >>

Aftermath: Tremoloco at Under the Volcano

Photos by Vera Mitchell  Los Angeles roots band Tremoloco brought Doug Sahm-type Mexican soul to an enthusiastic audience Wednesday night at Under the Volcano. After warming up with a brand-new song called "Old Man," the band sucked the eager crowd in with a stellar country version of Warren Ze ... More >>

The Wayback Machine: 5, 10 and 15 Years Ago in Houston Music

Dizzy Pilot: Shit Out the Bones

Get Lit: I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon, by Crystal Zevon

West Side Rain

Jello Shots for Uncle Sam

Explain Your Most Played

Get Busy Living

The moans on Dylan's latest aren't exactly of the morbid death-rattle variety

Take Me Out...

...to the ball game. Lauding baseball-in-rock's finest moments.

I'll Sleep When I'm Bored

Mike Hodges follows up Croupier with a somnambulistic crime drama

Always Darkest Before the Dawn

Trotting out the clichés for a year-ender piece

Reconsider Him

At the end, Warren Zevon's past is finally unearthed

Dem Blues

The left, turning right, was plain wrong to attack pop culture

Jesse Dayton

Hey Nashvegas! (Stag)

Shelf Life

Long after Britney Oops her way to obscurity, these releases will continue to sing

Night & Day

April 2-8, 1998

All the Wilder

Splendid Isolation

For Warren Zevon, it's all about how he looks in the hat

Rotation

Mr. Bad Example

For 20 years, Warren Zevon has danced with madmen and outlaws

Rotation