Timothy Norris

Drum roll, please...

Individual results may vary.

We've just rolled out a new and improved calendar of Houston concerts.

Our online music listings are now sortable by artist, venue and price. We've also got a raw, unadulterated, alphabetical list of upcoming shows in the drop-down menus on the right-hand side of that page.

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Photo by Marco Torres

Boondocks owner Shawn Bermudez was arrested and booked at the central jail Saturday night when Houston Police Department officers responded to another noise complaint at the popular Montrose nightspot.

Tuesday afternoon, Houston Police Department Public Information Officer Jodi Silva confirmed to Rocks Off that Bermudez had been arrested and was processed at the downtown jail for a Class C misdemeanor.

According to frequent Rocks Off photographer and contributor Marco Torres, who was at Boondocks Saturday to hear legendary New York City turntablist DJ Spinna, who had been brought down by Red Bull for the event, Boondocks' managers and DJs had been warned during an HPD stop at the club February 17 on a previous noise violation complaint that "next time someone would be arrested."

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Happy Fat Tuesday, y'all!

Rocks Off mentioned in a previous post, about rappers and Houston restaurants, that some of the best artists are "Big" and "Fat": Big Pokey, Fat Pat, Big Moe, etc. Every day is Fat Tuesday for these rappers. They're all about overindulgence and that's why we love them.

Fat Tuesday is essentially a one-day holiday of indulgence in preparation for the long, depressing season of Lent (from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday). Basically, for Christians, Lent consists of 40 days of repentance, self-denial and penance. And hella boring and somber church music. The idea is to get in as much sin as you can before your 40 days of penitential preparation.

In honor of this sinful celebration, we gathered together some tunes from a few recognizably "Fat" rappers. Ironically, most hip-hop artists from Louisiana are Lil'.

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Photo and video by Marco Torres

Sunday afternoon, Rocks Off ventured over to Roosevelt Lounge (5219 Washington) to witness what we expected to be a protest organized by Quanell X, leader of the local chapter of the New Black Panther Party. This event was in direct response to the club's alleged racist door policies that led to the arrests of two Houston Dynamo players on Feb. 4.

X states that the club owner has agreed to sit down with him sometime this week to discuss the incident and hopefully come to some sort of a compromise that will be in the best interest for both sides of the dispute, as well as for the community. He also noted that the initiation of a formal protest of the club will depend on the outcome of this meeting.

Nancy Shaddock, board member of Dynamo Charities, was also on hand to express her disappointment with Roosevelt Lounge and said she hopes to assist in creating a solution to this case.

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ANOTHER UPDATE: Read about two eyewitness accounts of the incident, as told to Rocks Off's Shea Serrano Wednesday.

UPDATE: Activist Quannell X is organizing a protest in front of Roosevelt at 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon, Fox's Isiah Carey reports.

Two apparently unrelated incidents at Roosevelt Lounge over the weekend have the Washington Avenue nightclub Roosevelt Lounge back in hot water for allegedly discriminating against minorities.

Almost a year ago - a year ago from tomorrow, in fact - the Houston Press ran the cover story "Getting Past the Bouncer," in which local party planner Imani Rose told us about getting turned away from the tony club at 5219 Washington, once with an all-female party, and another time with a group of mixed gender.

After the African-American Rose and her friends were denied entry, she said they watched the doormen let Caucasian after Caucasian into the Roosevelt. "It was awful and blatant discrimination," she said.

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courtesy of Carolyn Farb

Little Jewford, Kinky Friedman, Ted Swindley plotting "Becoming Kinky: The World According To Kinky Friedman"

The one-liners come out of Kinky Friedman's mouth so fast you need a protective shield.

"The only thing Rick Perry managed to do with his Presidential campaign was to make George W. look like Thomas 'Fucking' Jefferson."

"Real people don't get into politics. The only people who get into politics today are the bad people, the ones who were hall monitors in school."

"Choosing between the Democrats and the Republicans is like choosing between the Bloods and the Crips."

And on and on it goes at warp speed.

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Nutty Jerry's in Winnie has been doing a great job bringing in legacy acts like Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Guess Who, Mickey Gilley, Ronnie Dunn, and Blood, Sweat and Tears. But the club really got our blood pumping when they booked the Cajun wildman, Jo-El Sonnier, who plays the club Saturday night.

Sonnier, who had been playing and recording since he was 13 years old, burst upon the national scene in the early 1980s with "No More One More Time" and the rocking cover of Richard Thompson's "Tear Stained Letter." Both singles reached the Top Ten on the country music chart.

Born to French-speaking sharecroppers in Rayne, Louisiana, today Sonnier, who last released an album in 2008, lives in Lake Charles. We spoke to him at his home Thursday afternoon and found him as perky and full of fire as ever.

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Delicate Cutters

We received the new Delicate Cutters 2011 album Some Creatures on the same day that we received the new Dead Fingers album from one of our favorite labels, Big Legal Mess, the offshoot successor to Fat Possum. Too bad for Dead Fingers.

The oeuvre of both bands is a mix of folksy indie rock from much the same musical realm as local favorites Literary Greats. But where Dead Fingers sounds contrived, over-thought and lyrically trite (and their vocals made us want to buy stock in companies that manufacture ear plugs), Some Creatures is quite listenable and interesting.

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Have a G.G. Allin and bring in the New Year indecently!

Everything is more exciting, sometimes even redeeming, when it has a cool name: Sexual acts, alcoholic beverages, movies, albums, etc. OK, maybe just sexual acts and drinks.

Since there are thousands of sites that have the former covered, Rocks Off decided to do some New Years cocktail taxonomy. We put together a list of cocktails and named them after famous musicians. Each music-themed nomenclature is based on the liquor, other ingredients, and how they relate to which artist.

So, without further adieu-here's a short collection of drinks we've named after some famous musicians to keep the New Years party going... or stopping before the clock strikes midnight.

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photo by Marco Torres

Having a great time? Probably thanks to this guy.

Remember that one awesome party, the invite-only one with the open bar that was sponsored by a liquor company, where everyone was beautiful and hip, and you got to mingle with Big Boi or Pharrell Williams or Bun B? Either you do remember, because you wish that every party you attended was half as amazing, or you don't, because you drank way too much.

The man behind many of these events in Houston is 31-year-old David Anderson III, who through his 713Vip machine is able to bring top notch parties, events, and celebrities to the city he calls home. He recalls throwing his first party as a fundraiser for his church's youth group while still a teenager, as hasn't looked back since. Fast forward to the present, and David is now the ambassador for Ciroc Vodka here in Texas, and the go-to guy for all things trendy in the world of events, music, and entertainment.

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