Ken Spivey

Sadly, your dedicated fanboy has no more episodes of Doctor Who to watch until the 50th anniversary in November, though I am very much looking forward to seeing Frazer Hines this weekend at Comicpalooza. In an effort to stave off the madness of a Who-less existence, today I want to talk to you about trock, or Time Lord Rock, which is music inspired by Doctor Who.

It's like Harry Potter Wizard Rock, except it's not universally awful.

Before we begin, there is a person you need to know the name of. It's Delia Derbyshire, and she was literally doing every cool ambient-electronica bit you love way back before it was cool. It was her that turned Ron Grainer's score for Doctor Who into that iconic synthesized arrangement that has become so influential, an arrangement that was so brilliant Grainer himself said, 'Did I write that?"

The BBC screwed her out of co-composer credits, though we'll at least see an homage to her in the upcoming docudrama An Adventure In Space and Time where she's played by Sarah Winter.

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Kanye West performing "New Slaves" on Saturday Night Live

It's probably fair to guess just about everyone under the Sun has seen Kanye West's performance on Saturday Night Live's season finale at this point. Or maybe they caught the video for Yeezy's new song "New Slaves" playing on the side of a building somewhere around the world. Or maybe they've seen the man himself perform live recently.

Whichever way you heard it, most people are quickly becoming familiar with the new, darker, rawer Kanye presented on the songs "Black Skinhead" and "New Slaves." Opinions vary, of course, which is predictable any time an artist steps outside the boundaries of his or her most predictable sound. But the truth is, Kanye's new sound may be the most exciting, original thing to come out all year so far. Here's why.

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Welcome to Ask Willie D, Rocks Off's advice column where the Geto Boys MC answers reader questions about matters, in his own words, "funny, serious or unpredictable." Something on your mind? Ask Willie D!

Photo courtesy of Peter Beste

LOVING ORANGE COUNTY

Dear Willie D:

I'm a newly single divorcée with lots of time and money on my hands. After dating and catering to the same man for two years and being married to him for five years, now it's all about me.

I got to keep the house. Because it's so extravagant and spacious it's perfect for parties, and I host some of the best parties in town. Sometimes my events can get a little wild. At my last party my sister-in-law and I got into a big fight because I was in my room kissing a guy friend of mine. She took exception to me having just divorced her brother and kissing my friend in the same room that I once shared with her brother.

I don't understand, since she has never liked me she should be grateful that I've moved on. A mutual friend of ours is hosting an annual event in a few days and I'm thinking about crashing it with another guy who I know will make her skin crawl. He is a real stud. What are your thoughts on my plans? Do you think I'm being childish?

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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.

Photos courtesy of Giant Battle Monster

Who? Giant Battle Monster, we're fairly certain, is the first Rocks Off 100 inductee to have recruited someone to deliver aborted chicken meat from under his dress live onstage. Delightfully weird, a little disturbing, GMB's aggressive math-rock veers from raunchy death-metal to trippy prog-rock to outre sci-fi sountrack stuff in the course of the group's most recent album, February's Giant Battle Monster Vs. the Subterranean Antler Man.

The four-piece Houston band is the brainchild of possible evil genius Chris Gerhardt, who founded GBM at age 19. "I prefer not to sit still, focus on a single thing or sleep, really," he says.

Gerhart has a music degree and has also trained as an electrical engineer, and says today he works with small radio transmitters ("and pretty soon I'm gonna quit"). With GBM, he's recorded two albums he didn't have to pay for and once covered 25 percent of the country on a 32-date tour with local instro-metal group Cavernous and the now-defunct Barkus, Sly and the Golden Egg.

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Photo by Mary Bruton Keating/ Courtesy of New West Records

Glen Clark (left) and Delbert McClinton

At 72, Delbert McClinton has been about everywhere and done about everything you can do: hung out with the Beatles; worked as a sideman for Bruce Channel where he played harmonica on a national hit, "Hey, Baby;" wrote a No. 1 hit for Emmylou Harris, "Two More Bottles of Wine"; dropped four albums that made it to No. 1 on the blues charts; had hits in both country, pop, and blues charts; and operates the highly successful annual Sandy Beaches blues cruises.

But when you get him on the phone, he's still that Lubbock-raised, Fort Worth-seasoned good old boy he's always been. Here's more of our conversation with him about his career and (drum roll) Houston women.

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Photo by Austin Miller

Godsmack's Sully Erna

It's 2:45 in the morning and you're stumbling to the bar. You've had a few to drink, and you just got your face rocked off by your favorite rock band in the universe. It's time to have one for the road and then get on home (responsibly, in a cab or on a bus, of course).

You look up to order and think, "What do I even want? There's too much to choose from." Suddenly, Sully Erna, lead singer of Godsmack, walks up to you. He says, "friend, never feel like you have to stand alone again. Here, try my tequila."

This is a fictional story, but it could happen to you this Friday night. From 6 to 8 p.m., Sully Erna, who also happens to be the President and CEO of the 8:15 Pura Vida Shot Club, will be appearing at the downtown location of Spec's (2410 Smith) to sign bottles of Pura Vida Tequila, a tequila that truly stands alone in taste.

In the spirit (ugh) of the occasion, here's five musicians who have dipped their toes (hopefully not literally) into the business of alcoholic drinks.

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Maybe the band should have expected strange things to happen when they headed out on tour with Hollywood Undead. Considering their own name, American Fangs, this couldn't have come as a complete shock. Because it sounds more like something that would happen in an episode of HBO's True Blood.

Last week the Houston alt-rockers were winding their way through the upper Midwest with masked L.A. men Hollywood Undead when several members of their five-piece band were involved in an altercation with a fan outside the La Crosse Center in western Wisconsin. According to the La Crosse Tribune, a 23-year-old man assaulted a guitarist for Hollywood Undead after throwing a barricade through the window of that band's tour bus. Fangs guitarist Nik Slimp was roughed up in the ensuing scuffle, and wound up chipping a tooth.

Oh, and one more thing. The alleged assailant, one Scott Mehtala, reportedly told police he was a vampire and asked to see one sympathetic-looking officer's tattoo. Perhaps more pertinently, Mehtala told police he was high on heroin and had a blood-alcohol content of .12, the Tribune said.

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Graphic by Monica Fuentes

Rocks Off is not going to make this long, because we don't have much to say. But it's important.

If you haven't filled in your choices for this year's Houston Press Music Awards, you don't have much time. The nominations are still open at our handy little HPMA poll page, but it closes at midnight. So if you go there at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, as in tomorrow, you'll be too late. Remember one nomination ballot per person, please.

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Splash's cast, season one

As often as I've been complemented on my taste in music, I've been ridiculed for the horrible television programs I sometimes watch. Case in point: my DVR's arteries were recently clogged with episodes of the ABC celebrity competition, Splash.

For those who may have missed it, Splash was a taped and televised diving contest between B-listers like Nickelodeon child star Drake Bell and Baywatch actress Nicole Eggert. In all, ten people were invited to dive weekly (11 counting Brandi Chastain, the U.S. Women's Soccer player who replaced Chelsea Lately's Chuy Bravo after he was injured before the competition ever started).

Two diving experts scored their efforts, which ranged from "not bad" to "ohmygod, did he or she survive that?" True to the format of these shows, every week one person would be eliminated until a champion was crowned. The season ended with extreme sports-personality Rory Bushfield winning the title.

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Photos courtesy of New West Records

It's noon, and 72-year-old Delbert McClinton sounds like he's just woken up and maybe had the first cigarette of the day. But he's a pro and is ready to talk about his career, his forthcoming New West Records album with old running buddy Glen Clark, Blind, Crippled & Crazy, and his experiences in Houston.

Rocks Off: You've been at this a long time now. Has there ever been a moment when you thought you'd just hang it up, try something else?

Delbert McClinton: Nah, not even once. I was lucky enough to get a little taste of success early on, and I just kept showing up. It's a cliché, but I really wouldn't trade what I do for anything.

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