Houston Music Blog

​Rocks Off is here to help. That's why we keep an eye out for stories that, while they may not have anything to do with Houston per se, can still provide a valuable lesson. So as much as we delight in poking fun at Austin, the recent plight of the Cactus Cafe - the on-campus acoustic venue that has been invaluable to the careers of onetime Houstonians like Lyle Lovett, Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen, Nanci Griffith, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell - is no time for schadenfreude.

Less than two weeks ago, the University of Texas, via the board of directors of on-campus student center the Texas Union, announced it would close the Cactus, a beloved (and blessedly quiet) music venue in Austin for more than 30 years, this coming August and, perhaps, make it available to whatever student group was willing to rent it.

Blame Rick Perry if you must: According to The New York Times, the governor asked the University to identify 5 percent of its $2 billion budget it might be willing to part with; the Cactus costs UT a whopping $66,000 per year. The Cactus was an easy target, university officials said, because - despite demonstrable evidence to the contrary - it's primarily used by non-students.

Austin, as you might imagine, went ballistic. And in so doing, the capital city provided three important tips on what to do should something like this happen a little closer to home.

Far be it from Rocks Off to rain on anyone's Super Bowl parade, but are we the only ones bothered by this massive, conveniently timed outpouring of love and affection for New Orleans? It started right after the Saints beat the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship Game, when admitting you were rooting for the Indianapolis Colts was tantamount to saying you wanted Russia to whip the U.S. in that 1980 Olympic hockey match, or hell, you had Hurricane Katrina and the points as it battered and bruised our I-10 neighbors to the east.

Everyone from President Barack Obama on down, it seemed, was cheering for New Orleans not because of any real interest in the football team itself, but "because the city has been through so much." It sure would be interesting to see how many of these late-blooming Saints fans laid down actual money on the black and gold, considering they were universal underdogs right up until opening the second half with that brilliantly executed onside kick. (And make no mistake, the team that played the better game won Sunday.)

Rocks Off will give Houstonians a pass, we guess, because the Saints have been a lot of people around here's NFC club of choice for a long time; i.e. Cowboys suck! But all the rest of you, this sudden love for New Orleans feels more like you're patting yourselves on the back than either the Saints or the city.

Are you READY for Rocks Off's Washington Shore party this Thursday? If not, this video of Jersey Shore's Snooki interviewing Phoenix on MTV will melt your brain.

If you read even one Houston-based music Web site, you probably already know that a petition is circulating to show support for the closure of Westheimer as a way to bring back the Westheimer Street Festival (or Westfest, if ya nastay). Mayor Annise Parker gushed all about her love for The Montrose in a documentary that aired recently on HoustonPBS, and she supposedly verbally committed to Free Press Houston's Omar Afra to help bring Westfest back to Houston, so go sign the petition and put the ball in her court.

mliu92 via houstontomorrow.org

​Of all the things you don't want to see in a rearview mirror, a marauding police car ranks pretty high. Especially if you have had a little too much to drink, which is something that Rocks Off knows just a little about. For our Washington Shore party Thursday night, here are some helpful suggestions of how to make the night a little easier on you, your liver, and possibly your criminal record.

Parking on or off Washington is not a fun-filled adventure. Tow trucks loom like hungry sharks, and the Houston Police Department has taken quite a strong stance lately on drunk driving up and down the street (as well they should). You don't want a night out with friends to turn into a drunk-driving charge. A few bucks spent on a cab is a pretty good investment compared to a few years in jail and/or court and lawyer fees.

The Washington Avenue Drinkery will give out taxi vouchers to folks at the Washington Shore party if they need a safe ride home. They will also call a cab for you if you do not want to use a voucher. The management of the Drinkery wants you to have a good time, but also wants you to be able to come back to the bar in one piece.

Houston native Frank Liddell, whose Nashville production credits include roots-rocker Chris Knight, Texas music phenom Jack Ingram, budding megastar Miranda Lambert, and his wife Lee Ann Womack, has a surprising set of early music impressions. "I can't remember the first one but there were a lot of odd ones," says Liddell: "'You Get A Line And I'll Get A Pole,' 'The Erie Canal,' and one of my favorites if not my favorite was '500 Miles Away From Home' - the folk song, not the Bobby Bare song. I'm sure I learned some of those at school.

"Dad had these singing parties and I enjoyed them, all the usuals, some Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow, Hank Sr., pop standards of his generation, Ink Spots ('Java Jive'), songs like 'Greensleeves,' 'Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain' (before Willie!), 'Gold In The Morning Sun.' There were a ton."

The hip-hop world is a less than sensible place - lots of times, you're even required to clarify when bad means bad and when bad means good - so once a week we're going to get with a rapper and ask them to explain things. Have something you always wanted to ask a rapper? Email it to introducingliston@gmail.com.

Tosin (behind the Dub) and Trae tha Truth

​Note:Tosin is not a rapper, but he is a staple in the underground rap scene in the Southern U. S. He founded The Screw Shop, has worked with everyone from The Boxx to Chamillionaire, and has sponsored/released about a million mixtapes and DVDs.

We first met him in person in Austin several months ago at a car show. He was, as they say, "gone off that lean" and thought it humorous to pose for serious pictures while wearing a foam hand that made the shape of the Westside "W." We liked him immediately.

This Week's Rapper Rap-Related Hustler: Tosin the Dot Com Don

This Week's Subject(s): Clichéd sayings that aren't really cliched Ask A Rap-Related Hustler: How about we start with you letting everyone know exactly what it is that you do within the rap world.

Tosin: I'm just a fan of music and specifically Southern music. Like most adults my age, I grew up around music, from my parents playing records all day to my older brother break dancing and rapping.

I grew up on Screw music and once I left to go to college I really didn't have a connection to what was going on back in Texas since the Internet wasn't what it is today. I started to make my own connections and built a fan site for DJ Screw, Screw music and Texas Rap music in general.

​As more people were able to get on the Internet and became comfortable ordering online, I started to move in to retail with an online store selling CDs from the likes of Beltway 8, Freestyle Kings, DSR, SLAB and more. With the popularity of the site, I was able to do promotions for major and indie labels, both online and street promotions. Other artists, labels and radio stations commissioned me to develop an online presence for them.

I've done sites for Wreckshop Records, Jam Down/Reliant Ent, 97.9 FM The Boxx, Agonylife, Botany Boys, Beat Box Records, Paul Wall, Grit Boys, Guerilla Maab, Trae, Mddl Fngz & Bun B, Tow Down, Showtyme, Point Blank and so many more. Once I built those relationships I was able to release my own brand of mixtapes, compilations and DVDs. That just moved in to print design such as album covers, flyers, van wraps, etc. It all comes from a base to promote artists and make fans aware of past, current and future projects.

Photos by Adam P. Newton

Tools of the trade, at rest

​ We regularly stand in awe of just how involved Lance Higdon is in the general Houston music scene. His industriousness might not be as well-recognized as that of Robert Ellis or Geoffrey Mueller, but Higdon simply doesn't know how to sit still when it comes to making and promoting music in this city.

He plays drums for Tambersauro and Golden Cities, leads an art-noise outfit called Wall With One Side and helps run Esotype Records. To top it off, he's been organizing a regular series of experimental, avant-garde get-togethers under the moniker of Resonant Interval Sound Series. Rocks Off has been talking up this series to others for weeks now, but we've been unable to make it out ourselves until this past Friday, and it seems we couldn't have selected a better evening.

Roomies!

​The night kicked off around 9 with Roomies!, performing trippy, spaced-out tunes on guitar and upright bass. For 30 minutes, the assembled crowd of about 35 enjoyed music that struck a fine balance between delicate, avant-garde pop and dissonant, melancholy free jazz, right down to waves of powerful, droning feedback.

Whether plucked or bowed, the bass lines typically served as the group's primary voice, while the guitarist created dense layers of fuzz and feedback with either his E-bow or by plucking notes high up on the fretboard. The effect was quite meditative in tone and mood, and the night was off to a great start.

​"The Festival At The Mink" With White Rhino, Alkari, The Manichean, Flowers To Hide, The Sour Notes, Giant Battle Monster, Gretchen Schmaltz: Sat., Feb. 27, 6 p.m., $8. The Mink.

Asleep At The Wheel: Fri., April 30. Dosey Doe Coffee Company.

B L A C K I E, Rapeworm, Wife: Thu., March 4. Indie Houston Space.

Black Congress, This Moment In Black History, Sun God, SexyCrimes: Wed., March 17. Mango's.

The Business, The Hollowpoints: Sat., May 8. Walter's on Washington.

Cobra Starship, 3OH!3: Sat., June 5. Verizon Wireless Theater.

Daniel Kramer

Wrecks Bell onstage at the Old Quarter, shortly before Hurricane Ike

​Rocks Off got an eyebrow-raising email this morning from Rex "Wrecks" Bell, owner of Galveston's Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, the Island's successor to the fabled downtown venue made famous by Townes Van Zandt and so many others. (Read John Nova Lomax's September 2008 cover story on Bell here.)

The email was titled "OQAC - Retiring," which of course instantly set off Rocks Off's - or is that "Wrocks Off's"? - internal alarm bells. "I turned 65 last year and I think it's time I announced my official retirement," Bell's missive began. "I gave myself a golden para-shoes."

Now we were really worried, so we sent Mr. Golden Para-Shoes an email asking what was up. Naturally, for someone so closely associated with the late Van Zandt, we didn't even have to ask if they were golden "Flyin' Shoes."

This past weekend, we took our esteemed new intern out on Washington Avenue to take some video of the area's native wildlife at night. We hope the video gives you a little taste of our "Washington Shore" party at the Washington Avenue Drinkery this coming Thursday at 8 p.m.. It's a free party, by the way.

What we captured on Saturday night was stunning, hilarious and, at some points, twisted. Somehow everyone managed to make sense of the avenue, if not condone it outright. We spoke with a mother out on the town with her daughter's bachelorette party, Walter's On Washington bartender Roy Mata, and a teary-eyed Nebraskan who hit the nail on the head with a biting "o'errated" indictment of the avenue. Just watch the video.

To give that last line a little more context, she had just gotten done fighting with her equally drunk fiancé/husband on the corner.