More SXSW Speculation: Perhaps a Visit from the Plastic Ono Band?

​We haven't even passed MLK Day, and already Rocks Off is spinning our collective wheels about SXSW. Hell, we haven't even covered RodeoHouston, and we have already begun talking about where we are going to crash every morning at dawn. Rocks Off would like to admit that even on the way home from Austin City Limits in October he was already plotting who he wanted to see six months on.

We are sick and need help.

A while back, SXSW gave Rocks Off a list of local artists who have applied to play the festival so we could help pick a few to play the Press' showcase. The list is only comprised of the bands from Houston who have the highest ratings with the organizers, but nonetheless it is a Rogue's Gallery of some our heaviest-hitting cats. If everyone on it gets in (or even half), Houston is going to slay everyone else who dares set foot on 6th Street. (Surprise: Hip-hop and indie-rock acts make up the majority of the list.) The media hasn't been given the final picks, but Tuesday night on Twitter we did hear in a roundabout way that Wild Moccasins will be there.

Staring at the list of the roughly 850 bands that have been accepted from all over the world is like looking at a never-ending menu at your favorite restaurant that doesn't tell you what each dish tastes like, only what funny name the chef has come up for it. Today we discovered the Smith Westerns from Chicago and their slow-motion, lo-fi, Ramonesy glam-rock.

Not too bad, and it proves that it pays to just follow a link sometimes. The same goes for Bastard Child Death Cult, whose patches and name we will no doubt we will be stitching on our jean jacket by the end of the year. If you sound like Black Flag and Discharge, Rocks Off can use ya.

We are going to make an educated guess that we may be standing in front of Yoko Ono at some point as well. John Lennon's widow released an album this past fall under the Plastic Ono Band moniker with son Sean Lennon at the helm, and the POB has just announced a one-off show in Brooklyn featuring John's old buddy and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" soloist Eric Clapton, members of Sonic Youth and... Bette Midler.

Rocks Off will follow the trail on this one for sure, in addition to our usual diet of Midler torch songs.