Paging Rev. Gibbons...
It's not entirely unwarranted - something about Wall Street being in free fall - but outside the Houston area, our recovery from Ike is rapidly receding from the headlines. Before it gets buried any further, Rocks Off would like to take this opportunity to point out he hasn't heard word one about any sort of relief concert for our millions of displaced and/or generally beleaguered friends and neighbors.
That ends here. Rocks Off would like to urge Live Nation, the Messina Group and anyone else with a stake in Houston's musical economy to pool their resources and booking muscle to put on the Ike relief benefit concert Houston deserves. Maybe each performer could do one Ike & Tina Turner song. What about an all-star blowout at Toyota Center co-headlined by George Strait (or Willie Nelson), ZZ Top and Beyonce? You know if this were New Orleans, people would be tripping over themselves to stage a show like this. Why should we be any different?
This goes double for the smaller rooms and local bands as well. How about an Ike & Tina/Dwight Yoakam/Isaac Hayes Hootenanny at the Mink? A Born Liars/Something Fierce/Bring Back the Guns/Fatal Flying Guilloteens/Spain Colored Orange/Indian Jewelry mega-benefit at Rudyard's or Walter's? Or a Los Skarnales/Jesse Dayton/Sideshow Tramps/Miss Leslie barn dance at the Continental? Certainly Rocks Off will help any way I can, and hopefully can convince the Press to kick in some sponsorship consideration as well. Let's work together, people, and get after it. - Chris Gray
