Rocks Off

Art Rock: The Jerry Lightfoot Festival, In Memory of Rory Miggins, at the Continental Club

2009-11-20 16:30:00

...

Continue reading "Art Rock: The Jerry Lightfoot Festival, In Memory of Rory Miggins, at the Continental Club" >

Coma White: A Sampling of Songs About the JFK Assassination

2009-11-20 15:30:00

Warning: Some of these videos contain very graphic images. Anyone who knows Rocks Off, even in passing, knows of his fierce JFK assassination obsession. The theories, the scientific data, the ...

Continue reading "Coma White: A Sampling of Songs About the JFK Assassination" >

Inquiring Minds: Elizabeth Cook on Rodney Crowell, Florida Folk and "Apron Strings"

2009-11-20 14:30:00

Most mornings, Rocks Off wakes up to Elizabeth Cook's country-as-cornbread drawl on her Outlaw Country satellite-radio program, "Apron Strings" (Sirius 63, XM 13, 5-9 a.m. Mondays). On her 2007 L...

Continue reading "Inquiring Minds: Elizabeth Cook on Rodney Crowell, Florida Folk and "Apron Strings"" >

Inquiring Minds: Deer Tick's Front Man Goes for That Chased-by-Alligators Sound

2009-11-20 13:30:00

Providence, R.I., band Deer Tick may hail from "Up North" but their sound is purely steeped in grungey folk and rockabilly yelp. They, in fact, hear this description so much that the band has sta...

Continue reading "Inquiring Minds: Deer Tick's Front Man Goes for That Chased-by-Alligators Sound" >

Three Bassoons Walk Into a Bar...: The Near-Classical "Noncert" at Under the Volcano

2009-11-20 12:33:10

Under the Volcano does not feel like Under the Volcano. The TVs are off, so no more NBA on ESPN. Hayes Carll's Trouble In Mind has come and gone - in its entirety - on the jukebox, taking its b...

Continue reading "Three Bassoons Walk Into a Bar...: The Near-Classical "Noncert" at Under the Volcano" >

Friday Night Noise: Dangerous Live Tracks from Richard Ramirez and Dead Machines

2009-11-20 11:30:00

Richard Ramirez, "Removal Off...(Live)" Now this is the sort of noise that plasters a big dumb 'ol smile on Friday Night Noise's normally dour mug. How can you hate this sort of stuff, this all-o...

Continue reading "Friday Night Noise: Dangerous Live Tracks from Richard Ramirez and Dead Machines" >

The Music of True Blood, Episode 1.6: Cobra Verde Helps Sookie "Play With Fire"

2009-11-20 10:15:00

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swa...

Continue reading "The Music of True Blood, Episode 1.6: Cobra Verde Helps Sookie "Play With Fire"" >

Five Spot: Inside E.S.G.'s Everyday Street Gangsta

2009-11-20 09:00:00

Welcome back to Five Spot. Every Friday, we'll examine a recent bit of music news and, sometimes awkwardly, tie it to a bit of Houston rap. It's five videos and occasional cussing. Send tips to in...

Continue reading "Five Spot: Inside E.S.G.'s Everyday Street Gangsta" >

He Said She Said: Songs That Remind Us of Our Exes, Part 2

2009-11-20 07:30:00

Oh lord. This could get ugly. Sorry, mom. When it comes to - ahem - unresolved issues in a relationship, almost nothing is better to help us commiserate, haterate and self-medicate than music. S...

Continue reading "He Said She Said: Songs That Remind Us of Our Exes, Part 2" >

The Proper Methods of Mixing a Musical Anger-Release Cocktail

2009-11-19 17:30:00

One of the typical byproducts of getting older is that, by and large, you don't tend to get as angry anymore. Not necessarily the "If you're not angry, you're not paying attention" social-awarenes...

Continue reading "The Proper Methods of Mixing a Musical Anger-Release Cocktail" >

For World Toilet Day, the Most Creative Lyrical Uses of the S-Word

2009-11-19 16:30:00

According to an email Rocks Off received from none other than the World Toilet Organization, today is World Toilet Day. We're told it's an "internationally recognized" occasion for drawing attent...

Continue reading "For World Toilet Day, the Most Creative Lyrical Uses of the S-Word" >

"Buddha Bubba": Billy Gibbons and Bill Narum's Fellow Artists Comment on the ZZ Top Graphic Designer's Passing

2009-11-19 15:38:40

When Rocks Off learned that Texas countercultural icon and longtime ZZ Top graphic designer Bill Narum passed away Wednesday night, one of the first things we did was reach out to the ZZ camp for ...

Continue reading ""Buddha Bubba": Billy Gibbons and Bill Narum's Fellow Artists Comment on the ZZ Top Graphic Designer's Passing" >

Lonesome Onry and Mean: Remembering Doug Sahm - 10 Years Gone Already?

2009-11-19 14:40:57

"You just can't live in Texas if you don't have a lot of soul" - Doug Sahm, "At the Crossroads" If the Texas music scene ever had a soul, it belonged to Doug Sahm, the leader of the Sir Douglas...

Continue reading "Lonesome Onry and Mean: Remembering Doug Sahm - 10 Years Gone Already?" >

He Said She Said: Songs That Remind Us of Our Exes

2009-11-19 13:31:55

One thing that struck He Said while we were making this list was the lack of metal and/or punk rock associated with the women in our past. It's kind of odd that someone so dirty and haggard never...

Continue reading "He Said She Said: Songs That Remind Us of Our Exes" >

R.I.P. Bill Narum, KLOL Co-Founder, Leading Texas Counterculture Artist and ZZ Top Stage Designer

2009-11-19 11:52:11

Bill Narum, a key figure in Houston's counterculture in the late 1960s and early '70s, passed away Wednesday night at his home in Austin. The cause of death was an "apparent heart attack or somet...

Continue reading "R.I.P. Bill Narum, KLOL Co-Founder, Leading Texas Counterculture Artist and ZZ Top Stage Designer" >