Houston Music Blog

​Come on Houston, start your Halloween week off right with us, the mighty he-men of Rocks Off and Beatles Rock Band. Yes, it's been just over a month and a half since we saw all of your faces at Coffee Groundz (2503 Bagby) playing our newish toy, and we miss you so very much. Seriously, no kidding, you all smell better than most of the folks we usually hang out with, and that's saying something.

The fun starts at 7 p.m. and runs till 11 p.m. when the venue closes. It's also a costume-friendly event, so bring on as many slutty Dorothy Gales and zombie Billy Mays as you can. There will be limited edition Rocks Off T-shirts available, only at this event. We heard somewhere that they are how you say, sexy?

Either way, we need you all there to validate our existence and to see us one last time before we commit unspeakable acts before the Pogues concert on Thursday night. Hopefully in the meantime you have been practicing the art of smoking a cigarette while drumming and drinking in between guitar parts like we have been. We have melted way to many plastic guitars to admit.

See you guys in a few hours at Coffee Groundz, and don't forget to tip your bartenders and baristas!

[Note: Read Part 1 of the interview here.]

​RO: What is your favorite John Williams movement from the soundtracks?

AD: Curiously, it's one from The Phantom Menace, and I know some will be surprised by that. There's a wonderful Egyptian-type march before one of Anakin's pod races. It's got a great Egyptian, eastern and slightly discordant, very much written in their notation and scale. It's very exciting with lots of brass. Oh, and of course the piece with Darth Maul, the guy with the red horns. His is such an exciting and violently threatening piece. But thinking back, there's actually nothing I don't like.

RO: What has been your most rewarding interaction with fans over the past 32 years?

AD: When a parent comes up with a child, and says "Can you do the voice?" The kids don't believe you are C-3PO, then I go (drops into the signature voice) "Hello, I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations!" You see the kid digest the sounds, and you see the smile recognition. That in its simplest way is hugely rewarding. Even though I am not always in costume, there are elements in my performance and the script that make it very clear who I have been for thirty-something years.

A few weeks back, Rocks Off had the pleasure of speaking with actor Anthony Daniels, the man in the golden suit and the physical embodiment of one of the most iconic characters in popular science fiction. Since production began in 1976 on A New Hope, better known of course as Star Wars, Daniels has been C-3PO for better or worse, through sand and sweat, through near amputation by Jawas to probable immolation at the hand of the Ewoks. His character has been in all six Star Wars films and continues to be seen today on the computer-animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars series on the Cartoon Network.

​On tour with the Star Wars: In Concert roadshow, Daniels acts as the emcee of the evening and narrates the action onscreen as John Williams' score is performed by an orchestra led by conductor Dirk Brosse. The saga of the six films has been re-cut and told in a more linear format, telling the story of Anakin Skywalker and his extended family and the personal tragedies he encounters.

At its heart, the new tale is very much about a man and his journey through life and all the choices he has to make and the repercussions of each. The tour's multi-million dollar sound and screen set-up is just icing on the cake for fans of the two trilogies, all of whom would no doubt follow this content anywhere and to any venue.

Daniels spoke with us about the rigors of the tour, his favorite selections from John Williams' epic scores, life as the golden Threepio, and gave us a glimpse into his private home life in rural France.

​"For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times... before the Empire." - Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars

Sounds pretty impressive, doesn't it? Almost like there somebody had put together a detailed, well thought-out story arc and not, as it happens, a bunch of half-formed plotlines and misfires that would tarnish the legacy of the first two movies and make the name "George Lucas" synonymous with "directorial overindulgence."

Still, there's no denying the cultural impact of the Star Wars films, or the popularity of the Jedi, the ancient order of warriors charged with upholding galactic order but who still managed to collapse like the Chicago Cubs at the end of the Clone Wars (hell, you can even join the Jedi Order yourself). And Sunday's performance of Star Wars: The Concert at the Toyota Center provides us with the perfect excuse to examine the Jedi's influence on modern music.

If naming your band after a Star Wars character isn't enough nerd cachet, just try writing music referencing the film series or covering music from the canon of work surrounding it. Anyone SW fan worth his or her (mainly his, because dudes are more apt to be nerds) should be able to bang out an ode to stormtroopers or the Force. Yes, the Force is capitalized because it is a valid religion in some circles.

We tracked down a handful of songs encompassing all facets of the Star Wars experience, from the beauty of Princess Leia, to all manner of "Cantina Theme" worship. Hell, you can dial that up on YouTube and find untold dozens of variations of the song originally performed by the Max Rebo Band. Meco most famously recorded the main theme as a space disco romp in 1977 at the early height of Star Wars mania. Space disco is a genre which is big enough to rightfully have its very own Wiki entry.

www.flickr.com/photos/fuzzcat/

And you thought your office was annoying.

​

Jar Jar Binks, Pratfalling Mongoloid

Looking like some kind of unholy cross-breed between a frog and a duck, Jar Jar was the earliest indication that The Phantom Menace was not going to be up to snuff. The Gungan's antics were undoubtedly supposed to be whimsical and charming, but simply came off as a crude, slightly racist caricature of the mentally disabled. From fart jokes to stepping in shit, no other character showed how out of touch George Lucas had become in his off-time than Jar Jar.

Theme Song: El Chombo, "Chacarron Macarron"