Photo by Lynne Hawrelko

Gurf Morlix

​Part of a storied singer-songwriter scene, former Houstonians Gurf Morlix and Blaze Foley were living in Montrose during the Urban Cowboy craze but were not impressed. In fact, according to Morlix, they worked so much they "hardly ever had a night off, and if we did we certainly weren't going to drive out to Pasadena to some fake cowboy joint." Somewhat ironically, we had just interviewed Mickey Gilley moments before calling Morlix to discuss his gig and the showing of the documentary Blaze Foley: The Duct Tape Messiah at Anderson Fair Friday night. Morlix, who released an entire album of Foley covers last year, Blaze Foley's 113th Wet Dream, spent all of 2011 traveling with the film, usually performing a set of Foley songs after each showing. We caught up with the Grammy winner at his studio in Austin.

Rocks Off: Is the Blaze Foley phase winding down for you or does it have more legs?

Gurf Morlix: I think I'm about done with it. I devoted all of 2011 to Blaze and the film and my album, but I've got other stuff to do this year.

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Photos by Matthew Keever

​Praia Urbana
Last Concert Cafe
June 18, 2011

Saturday, the all-day electronic music festival Praia Urbana was held at Last Concert Café. From what Aftermath saw while we were there, it was pretty much a packed house.

Due to a previous commitment, we got there two hours before the party came to a close. Many people were winding down, but just as many were still going strong on the dance floors, while a few were recharging their batteries with cold beverages on the patio tables.

When we first walked in, Aftermath kind of thought it was a rave. Which, we suppose, it kind of was... minus some of raves' more unpleasant aspects and for a pretty steep $35 ticket.

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​It's no secret that Arnold Schwarzenegger, the onetime Mr. Universe, former California governor, and action hero has found himself in the ultimate life pickle. A failed marriage and 10-year-old love child with a family maid are straining at the image that we all had of the gentle actor and (sometime) conservative politician.

Amongst all this we found Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Body Workout, on Rdio. It's a workout album from 1983 featuring earnest coaching from Arnie dubbed on top of hits from Eddie Money, Journey, and Blue Oyster Cult among other hit-makers from the era.

And yes, it's weird as hell, and we can't stop listening. What is this now, our fourth spin?

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​Rocks Off has spent more time at Numbers than is probably wise to admit, and through those hazy, vodka-clouded years we have always thoroughly enjoyed the main dance floor DJ sets of DJ Mina, DJ Nick Night, and all the other darkwave masters of spin who ensure the pale gyrations at the monthly Underworld events.

As we've gotten older, and more and more deaf, we've started spending an increasing amount of time in Lloyd's side bar, or in the upstairs lounge. We like the main floor's music, but Kompressor does not dance, so no loss there.

It's sitting off to the side that we've become really enamored with The Dead Bang, a group that started a kind of pirate DJ set upstairs at Underworld about six years ago. Rather than the music designed only to dance to, Ms. Fluzee and the other Dead Bang DJs play post-punk, death-rock, EBM and eccentric '80s tracks.

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Marc Brubaker

Privilege: Late to the Party?

​Today the Rocks Off team unveils our newest cover feature, "Getting Past The Bouncer" (or, in print, "Bar Codes"), in which we investigate more in-depth December's "Hydeout at Hudson" controversy, and examined the door policies at some of the other nicer watering holes in town.

It brought to mind the last time Rocks Off covered a bar scene.

About a year ago, I went into the breach of Washington Avenue, which at the time was the hottest thing going in the Houston drinking scene. There were jitneys trolling up and down the street, most notably the Washington Wave, and sites like Yelp were hopping with new additions.

There were pretty girls running around tight-fitting dresses, some puking, a lot of giggling, and guys in sport coats and nice shoes helping them along. In my capacity as bar listings editor, I could hardly keep up. I had only known the street by going to shows at Walter's on Washington or the random birthday party I attended.

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