Please, Rick Rubin: Leave Metal Bands Alone

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Photo courtesy of MSO PR
Unless you live under a rock, you've probably heard that Black Sabbath recently released their long awaited comeback album, 13. It's their first with Ozzy Osbourne on vocals since 1978's Never Say Die, and riding high at No. 1 on the UK Charts, their first No. 1 hit since 1970's Paranoid. So: comeback successful, right?

Well, pretty much. The record itself is better written and performed than anyone could have possibly expected from Sabbath at this stage in their career. Their songs still have a lot of the power they once had, and even reality TV hasn't diminished the effectiveness of Ozzy's evil wail. There's really just one big problem with this record: producer Rick Rubin.


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I Tried to Explain Transgender Doom Metal to My Three-Year-Old

Categories: Mostly Metal

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I wasn't really in a very good mood on Sunday. Taking the Daughter With One F out of the house so the wife can study for nursing school is my task every weekend, and though my daughter is an angel, I would remind you that so was Lucifer.

It's too hot to play outside except to swim, and the rain derailed that activity. I'm still mad at the Children's Museum for not letting her in the toddler area anymore, so we spent the day amongst the dinosaurs and the new mummies at the Museum of Natural Science. That was the plan, anyway. Instead, it was endless treks trough the gemstone hall because for some reason she thinks shiny rocks are more impressive than thunder lizards and pharaohs.

By the time we drove home, I was out of sorts and insisted on listening to my iPhone library rather than her requests to hear her endless playlist of Doctor Who musical tributes on YouTube. Yes, I was exasperated enough at a three-year-old girl to purposely not to watch music videos about my favorite show. I'm not proud, OK? I'm just tired.

Shuffle brought me to "Fallow Fields" from the Project Armageddon's Tides of Doom. Nine minutes of droning bass lines and vocals about the end of the world seemed just the thing to perk me back up. About halfway through the song, I addressed my offspring.


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Music's 10 Biggest Tools Right Now

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Creative Commons
Let's just jump right on in to this one, shall we? Blogs about musicians exhibiting extreme tool-like behavior don't need much of an introduction.

A lot of musicians opt out of behaving like normal, rational adults, and we like to rag on them a bit, especially when they're misbehaving on some ridiculously naughty levels. These are those musicians, in list form.

From epic Twitter breakdowns, racist comments and calling folks chickenshits to stomping all over the American flag and (allegedly) hiring a hitman to off the ol' ball and chain, the artists below really need to learn a lesson on when to say when.


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Five Waylon Jennings Albums You Should Own

Categories: Texas Me

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"Ladies love outlaws," Waylon Jennings once sang, and well knew. Yes they do, and so do plenty of fellers, who may love the late Littlefield-born musician -- who was a losing coin flip away from being on Buddy Holly's doomed plane in February 1959 -- even more.

Jennings would have been 76 this past Saturday, but instead passed away in February 2002. He was gruff but sensitive, a ladies' man and family man who lived as hard as he played and let absolutely no one (except maybe wife Jessi, once he settled down) tell him what to do. He certainly had no problem whatsoever telling his bosses at various labels exactly what they could do with their ideas about his music. Waylon went through a lot of record labels there for a while.


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Upcoming: Atlas Genius, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Franz Ferdinand, Rancid, etc.

Categories: This Just In

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ADLER: Featuring Steven Adler of Guns N' Roses., Wed., July 24, 7 p.m., $15. House of Blues-- Bronze Peacock Room, 1204 Caroline, Houston, 888-402-5837.

Andrew Stockdale: Sun., July 28, 7 p.m., $17. House of Blues-- Bronze Peacock Room, 1204 Caroline, Houston, 888-402-5837.

Atlas Genius: Tue., Oct. 22, 7 p.m., $22.50 to $42.50. House of Blues, 1204 Caroline, Houston, 888-402-5837.

Bob Schneider: Sun., June 23, 4 p.m., Free. Proof Bar + Patio, 2600 Travis St., Houston, 832-767-0513.


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Free Press Summer Fest Announces July 4 Free Geto Boys Makeup Show

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Photo by Marc Brubaker
The Geto Boys' Willie D (left) and Scarface at Free Press Summer Fest earlier this month
After the much-anticipated Geto Boys reunion at this month's Free Press Summer Fest went off at only two-thirds strengh, resulting in thousands of disappointed fans, FPSF has announced a free makeup show scheduled for July 4 at House of Blues.

The Boys' set in the high afternoon heat was delayed about 20 minutes before Scarface and then Willie D emerged to perform many of the groundbreaking Houston rap trio's most popular songs, including "Mind Playin' Tricks on Me" and "Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta." But Bushwick Bill, the third Geto Boy, never materialized. Willie D, whose advice column Ask Willie D appears on Rocks Off Thursday mornings, told us Bill was traveling to Houston from Atlanta and simply didn't make it in time.


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Das Boot: Austin Band Films Video In Galveston Submarine

Categories: 1-2-3-4!

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Think you're claustrophobic? Imagine spending three hours trying to record a song and music video in a decommissioned WWII-era submarine. That's what the Austin-based Royal Forest recently did for their single "Everyone Who Knows You."


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Rockshow: Paul McCartney's First Marathon, But Not His Last

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Rockshow
Paul McCartney and Wings
Eagle Vision, 139 mins., $29.98 DVD/$34.98 Blu-ray

According to rollingstone.com, the act that owned last weekend's Bonnaroo Festival was not some hirsute jam band, plaintive female singer-songwriter, or preppy indie-rockers, but a guy that much of the world has loved all of his career and even when he turned 64...seven years ago on June 18.

Yes, it was Paul McCartney's Herculean two-and-a-half-hour set of nearly 40 songs, made up mostly of Beatles material, that electrified festivalgoer, according to the review. But this was hardly Macca's first shot at a lengthy concert, as this DVD proves.

Shot over four night in three cities on the 1975/76 "Wings Over the World" tour -- which also spawned the recently reissued triple-LP Wings Over America set -- Rockshow did not see the light of day until 1980, and then only in movie theatres. Except for a short Betamax release in 1981, this is the first time it's been available since then.

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The Rocks Off 100: Shane Tuttle, Updog Owner and Album-Cover Designer

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.

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Who? Shane Tuttle discovered a talent for graphic design while working on his high-school newspaper and yearbook, and was sent, almost against his will, to the Al Collins School of Graphic Design. Now he runs his own T-shirt print shop, Updog, out of his home. He's specialized in direct-to-garment technology that allows artists to get small numbers of shirts printed without all that screen-printing hassle. From their, he'll either send you the shirts of sell them for you on his site.

But his other talent has been designing album covers. He's done covers for Dog Fashion Disco, Polkadot Cadaver, El Creepo, Salting Jobe, and Vampire Moose. His simple, eye-catching style tends towards street art mixed with early-'00s Cartoon Network. If you want someone to craft you a swift elbow to the eye-sockets, Tuttle is your man.


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Good Neighbors: A Look Inside Houston's House-Show Circuit

Categories: Local Motion

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Photo by Tyler Lopez
Valhalla String Band at DownTogether House
House party or house show... which are you at?

There's a difference, just as there's a difference between the Grand Canyon and a chuckhole. One inspires awe, creativity and a sense of oneness with humankind. The other is just a chuckhole.

If Kid N' Play is around, you're at the former and also, quite possibly, in a time warp. To determine if you're at the latter, look for: free-roaming dogs; tattooed chain-smokers; fire-twirlers; vegan food; activists; the police (only at certain intervals in the evening); naked models covered in body paint waiting in line to use a bathroom with no toilet paper (and maybe no running water, either); and, of course, bands on hand to set the evening's captivating events to music.


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