Rocks Off Has Some Issues This Morning, But Not as Many as This Guy

Chris Gray January 11, 2010 9:15AM

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Rocks Off came into the office this morning to discover we had been beset by a bad case of the gremlins. One of our photographers' Web site was down, there was another mix-up with the Willie Nelson photos from Saturday night (which has since been fixed) and... well, it's just a Monday.

However, we did find this article from the Houston Music Examiner that makes us feel a little better. Written by one "Henry von Wolff," it's another in the ongoing series of "Why does Houston suck for touring bands?" except there are a few things we need to discuss with Mr. von Wolff.

First of all, he writes, "Lightnin' Hopkins has resided here since the 1940s." Which is true enough... or was right up until the day Hopkins died in January 1982.

Also, the three groups he cites in the article as examples of bands supposedly soured on Houston by poor audience behavior, police raids or what have you - Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails and Two Gallants - have all returned to the city since those unfortunate shows (the first two many times). We're not necessarily excusing what happened at those shows; just about everyone at Rocks Off has mentioned how awful Houston crowds can be a time or two, and it's about to happen all over again with our Willie Nelson review.

But if Houston is being skipped over, if it is true, no one has yet to prove to us it has anything to do with anything other than geography and the fact that talent buyers in Austin and Dallas may be a little more on the ball - or simply have more resources (as in available venues and cash on hand) to work with - than the ones here. We think the fact that those artists all came back ought to be proof enough of that, and an upcoming roadshow calendar of everyone from Norah Jones, Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson to Yo La Tengo, Rogue Wave and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Somebody email Jenny Lewis and see what she thinks. We have a feeling this discussion may continue for a while.