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Photos by Rosa Guerrero

Rosa Guerrero walks up to where I’m sitting at Under the Volcano. “Stick out your hand,” she says. I palm up to her demands, and she sinks a heavy single-lens reflex with flash into my hand. “That’s what I carry around every night,” says the photographer known as rosaposer to any Hands Up Houston message-board regular.

Admittedly, I used to truck around a SLR of my own, but the reminder was pretty, well, heavy - these days I usually tote a small, light digital camera.

Guerrero is somewhat a staple in the local scene. Her small frame is often seen weaving through the crowds to get the perfect shot - sometimes for the Press, but more often for her own 'zine/blog, Ditchwater.

“Generally you feel a crescendo – wherever you are – like something’s about to happen and the moment I raise my [camera] is when I feel like that crescendo is about to come,” she says.

Photos by Chris Gray

King's X has to be one of the great mysteries of rock music from the past two decades or so. Caught in the teeth of the social transition between hair-metal and grunge, the Houston trio - the same lineup of Doug Pinnick (bass/vocals), Ty Tabor (guitar) and Jerry Gaskill (drums) that moved here from Missouri around 1980 - has never had a problem impressing cognoscenti from both camps, but has never come close to reaching the same level of widespread recognition and commercial success as admirers like Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament (who once said "King's X invented grunge").

After a stiff dose of AC/DC's Back In Black, the stock pre-show music for seemingly every show this summer (see also: Journey, Kid Rock), the trio came onstage about 9:25 p.m. to a heroes' welcome. Meridian's main room was nearly full when King's X strode out, and considerably less so when Boston not-so-bad boys Extreme were doling out their Aerosmith-meets-Godsmack hardness (much more than "More than Words," I will say) a couple hours later.

Fairly or not, when a band loses a charismatic frontman, they’re left with a hole that’s both more obvious and difficult to fill than, say, keyboardist or drummer. Rock history has shown that bands can actually become more popular (AC/DC, Van Halen) or spend the rest of their careers hoping audiences will forget the old guy… at least until the eventual “reunion” tour (Judas Priest, Journey, Deep Purple, Styx).

So when a drug-addled Ozzy Osbourne was ejected from Black Sabbath in 1979, remaining members Tony Iommi (guitar), Geezer Butler (bass) and Bill Ward (drums) tapped a guy who already came with built-in name recognition - lead Rainbow belter Ronnie James Dio.

What Dio brought to Sabbath's pentagram-shaped table was a fiery new energy, a strong work ethic, solid songwriting and, with Iommi, a faster overall sound that was more shredding than sludgy.

Though this version of the band was relatively short, interest in this Black Sabbath 3.0 (now with Vinny Appice on drums) has never been higher. The four regrouped as “Heaven and Hell” in 2006 - partly to free themselves from playing Ozzy-era material, partly to avoid the wrath of the proprietary Sharon Osbourne - for a tour to support a compilation featuring surprisingly strong new tracks.

That popularity has extended into a live CD and DVD, more touring and even a new studio album set for release early next year. The reissue masters at Rhino have also just released Black Sabbath: The Rules of Hell, a box set compiling the Dio-fronted Sabbath’s canon, remastered with new liner notes (though, sadly, no bonus tracks or alternate takes). Here’s a rundown:

S.J. and the Crossroads, “Get Out of My Life Woman”

The history of white garage rockers influenced by black soul screamers and blues guitarists is as deep as the ocean: Elvis, the Rolling Stones, Zeppelin all made their mountains of cash off of black music, and most of them laid down tons of cover versions of the best songs they could find. Allen Toussaint’s “Get Out of My Life Woman,” about ending things with his devil-woman ladyfriend may be one the best examples.

Originally written and recorded by Toussaint, Lee Dorsey also had a hit with it, and garage groups like the Leaves and S.J. and the Crossroads loved to cover it. Still, Crossroads take on this tune has always stood out to me. No other version I know has the same piss and fire you might expect to hear in a song about telling your lady to hit the road.

The Crossroads were based in Beaumont, where they stayed busy playing around the Golden Triangle area and got regular local radio play. They became a mainstay at many local clubs and school dances and recorded six singles; 1968’s “Get Out of My Life” was their last. After numerous lineup shifts and draft card numbers being called, the Crossroads called it quits.

Don't be too surprised if Phil "Sussudio" Collins heads into the stu-stu-studio to make a new album soon - maybe another Disney soundtrack a la Tarzan - or calls up his old Genesis mates for an encore to last year's "farewell" tour. Its 13-date North American leg skipped Houston anyway, so that would be cool - I always did like "Land of Confusion."

Collins, 57, has agreed to pay third wife Orianne Cevey £25 million - or around $46 million - in what UK Web site Digital Spy calls Britain's biggest-ever celebrity divorce settlement: "He is now estimated to be paying nearly a third of his rumored £140 million fortune ($260 million) to his former partners." The couple married in 1999 and have two children.

Genesis, "Land of Confusion" - this freaks me out every time I watch it.

Collins agreed to a £17 million ($31 million, using the current exchange rate) settlement with second wife Jill Tavelman in 1994. Rocks Off did a little digging and found some more rock-star divorce dirt after the jump.

Yes, THAT Extreme. That King's X too, for that matter. - CG

I realize it's almost actually time for the show - well, sort of (10 p.m.) - but this poster is so cool I had to post it anyway. - CG

Here's "Viviendo," the latest video from Houston's Karina Nistal & Rebel Crew, which recently premiered (inter)nationally on Spanish-language music channel MUN2:

Taken from Nistal's previous album, Nistyle, "Viviendo" was made completely in-house and on the cheap, Nistal says. "We used resources our friends provided us - their time, cameras, locations, etc.," she says. "JoeB and Lovesun from Rebel Crew directed it. It took 2-3 days shooting; the last day was about 5-6 hours at the Texas Beat Warehouse on Canal - thanks to our boy Krunk on the location."

"It was basically a video to introduce me, my label Starlight Beats, and let people see some of my silly personality," Nistal adds. "We're getting a lot of good response."

Nistal says she and Rebel Crew are about to head back into the studio to continue working on Nistyle follow-up Nistalgia. "The album is coming along slowly," she allows. "I recently had some inquiries on my music from Univision's West Coast market. I'm really excited to hear their plans." - Chris Gray

Photos by Matt Smith

Per our recent blog pondering the slow death of honky tonk and the wisdom of pursuing that genre as a career path, after Heybale!’s masterful show at the Continental Club I think it’s safe to assume that honky-tonk is still alive, even if only as a few enclaves among the barren desert of pop-country and so-called Texas music crapola.

Anyhow, whatever the state honky-tonk may be, there's probably no question of the men in Heybale! giving it up. These guys have been doing honky-tonk so long they’ll probably die of it.

The beauty of Heybale! is that, like Mike Henderson’s Blue Mondays in Nashville, it's an all-star side project that's lived long enough to take on a life of its own. So much so, in fact, that the band has become a Sunday-night institution at Austin's Continental Club, where two-step belt polishing is still practiced with vigor and abandon.

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won’t rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies.

Single of the Week

Nosaprise (above), “All In The Family”

Wire to Wire

Trae > Mike Jones

Slim Thug and Devin the Dude are back, bitch.

DJ Vlad is suing Rick Ross for beating him up at the Ozone Awards, but c’mon, can you really blame Ross for wanting to?

Turns out, according to the Westboro Baptist Church, God hated Bernie Mac.

The Source will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a re-launch. That’s cute. Remember when the magazine was relevant?

Photos by Mark C. Austin

Let’s get the obvious complaints out of the way. At 43, Trent Reznor has been selling angst since the late 1980s. It’s not exactly a revolutionary formula, and there probably were probably some original fans in the audience; think over-the-hill Goths wearing 20-year-old tour T-shirts. That said, Saturday night Nine Inch Nails delivered a damn good show with possibly the most innovative lighting design in the business.

Brooklyn-based openers A Place to Bury Strangers, kicked off the evening with their self-described “total sonic annihilation”. The three-piece took the opportunity to memorably assault listeners with about five minutes of pure, atonal distortion at the end of their set.

Is pain-punk a genre? If not, APTBS may have just created it. Frontman/guitarist Oliver Ackermann concluded with an exclamation point: ripping the strings out of his guitar and slinging it around before exiting the stage.

At that point, the Toyota Center looked only half full. As the tech crew revealed an elaborate wall of lights, a small cheer arose from the audience. Sometime during this transition, the crowd doubled. Perhaps the latecomers were getting “primed” outside.

On this day 31 years ago, Elvis Presley's heart gave out in the throne room of the King's Memphis mansion, Graceland. A moment of silence, then, for the hips that once shook the world. Thankyaverrahmuch...

Elvis has trouble remembering the lyrics...

"The Elvis Files" investigates the King's "alleged" death...

Lots more Elvis, including choice covers by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Guns 'N' Roses, the Flaming Lips and Norah Jones, still to come...

Bow down to Nine Inch Nails at Toyota Center tonight with A Place to Bury Strangers. You're going to get what you deserve...

Nine Inch Nails, "Dead Souls" (Joy Division cover), live at Woodstock '94

Austin rootsmiths the Gougers fire up the forge at the Mucky Duck...

The Gougers, "To Mock a Killing Bird"

Lots more still to come...