Photos By Craig Hlavaty

​A few weeks back I went on a Mid-South trip through Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and sadly, Arkansas. Along the way I followed the Mississippi Blues Trail as much as I could, before hitting Memphis and Sun Studios and Graceland, and moving on to Nashville for a whole new set of museums and attractions.

What stuck out to me the most, besides standing inside the Sun live room where Johnny Cash and the rest recorded, was Elvis Presley's Graceland. Now it sounds corny, visiting this house full of gaudy decorations and vintage baubles, the final resting place of the King. Years of Generation X cynicism and revisionist history has worn down some folks down into hating the man. I don't hate Presley, I take him as a fallible human, who had an addiction problem.

This weekend, Presley would have turned 77 years old. In the past I have written about what might have been had he lived, where he would have taken his career. The Aging Troubadour, Reality TV Star and Plastic Surgery Joke, The Movie Star and Occasional Musician. Last year we asked the Rocks Off staff what he meant to the world in the 21st century, and their answers didn't deviate much from "Yes!"

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Stryper and their custom Econoline... we call it the "God-mobile"

​We learned today about this unfortunate development:

This week Ford Motor Co. said it is ramping up development and production of its Transit commercial van to make it into a truly global vehicle. The plan includes building the van in the U.S. by 2013, for which the company is revamping the Kansas City assembly plant where it currently builds the F-150 pickup truck.

While the Transit has been a top seller in Europe for years, the company's latest move marks its commitment to lighter, more fuel-efficient commercial haulers here. It also marks the end of the line for the Econoline series of large vans that Ford has been building here for decades.

You probably are thinking, "Why the hell does anyone care about this? It's just a van." Just a van? Ok, maybe it is, but that "just a van" has been the touring vehicle of choice for bands for decades. It is practically an industry standard and completely different from the Volkswagon van popularized by hippies and the Chevy van that lured the ladies in the '70s -- just ask Sammy Johns. No doubt some extra curricular activity took place in many an Econoline, but this was a van for people who worked for a living, musicians.

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Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), Wodie, George, Chad and Nate, just finished traveling the country as part of the Smoker's Club Tour, headlined by Method Man, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. The Smoker's Club tour was at Warehouse Live November 11 (read the review), and Marcus agreed to check in with Rocks Off once a week to let us know how it's going.

We are finally at the end of the tour. Its been CRAZZZZZYYYY!!! Last time i checked in we were in Atlanta at Magic City. They showed AMG all kinds of love and they played my music all night. I never seen so many girls in my life!

We hit up the Velvet Room and the Gold Room the next day with my AMG family and my bro, Ken Hamlin. It was poppin'. From there, we went to Charleston and Charlotte. A damn cold front came through and got me sick as shit. My boy, Mike Goodson from the Carolina Panthers, came to the show to rock with me.

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Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), Wodie, George, Chad and Nate, are currently traveling the country as part of the Smoker's Club Tour, headlined by Method Man, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. The Smoker's Club tour was at Warehouse Live November 11 (read the review), and Marcus agreed to check in with Rocks Off once a week to let us know how it's going.

​Wus goooooood!!!!

Man, so much has gone on since the last time I holla'd at y'all. We done been through Sacramento, San Francisco, Hollywood, Vegas, Dallas, Austin, Houston and Atlanta. Cali showed so much love and they got the best weed; can't even lie. We was high as shit and the crowd was crazy.

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Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), George, Chad and Nate, are currently traveling the country as part of the Smoker's Club Tour, headlined by Method Man, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. The Smoker's Club tour comes to Warehouse Live November 11, and Marcus agreed to check in with Rocks Off once a week to let us know how it's going.

Courtesy AMG

​WHAT IT DO!!

Last time we kicked it I was leaving the midwest headed to the West Coast. I gotta say, Cali got the best weed. My folks in Sacramento and San Francisco treated me right. Crowd showed a lotta love. In between shows you know I had to show Sheist, Smoke DZA and Dutch what it is on this NBA 2K12.

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Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), George, Chad and Wodie, are currently traveling the country as part of the Smoker's Club Tour, headlined by Method Man, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. The Smoker's Club tour comes to Warehouse Live November 11, and Marcus agreed to check in with Rocks Off once a week to let us know how it's going.

Yoooooo what it do? Last time we left off I was in Toronto. The show was live but that border patrol is some bullshit. They held up the tour bus that we were on with Currensy & the Jets for like 6 hours. George got everybody's phone took up because he wanna film the officer like that shit was gone fly.

After they finally let us go, we headed to Detroit. Show was crazy as usual. We stopped thru Coverdale, Indiana on out way to Indianapolis to grab some food and end up doin' a free show in KFC. It was a tough crowd tho. lol. We some idiots for that shit.

We performed in St. Louis -- Chicago last night. We are on the way to Minneapolis right now. Bouta kill this shit tonight. Y'all stay tuned for more of the Fast Food tour footage! LOL!

Photo by OrbitDidIt/Smoker's Club Tour

​Hopefully you've been keeping up with the exploits of Patron-loving Houston MC Marcus Manchild as he winds his way toward Warehouse Live with Method Man, Big K.R.I.T. and a bunch of others on the Smoker's Club 2011 tour. Marcus will be filing his usual report Monday, but this was just too good to wait until then.

This week Marcus and his Authentik Music Group companions peeled off the Smoker's Club to bring their tour within a tour, "Fast Food Tour 2K11" (#FF2K11) to Cloverdale, Indiana. Population about 2,200, Cloverdale is what you'll see if you look up "middle of nowhere" in the dictionary. (Actually, it's about 40 miles west of Indianapolis.)

After "pregaming" in their tour van, Marcus and his pal Boston George hit up a local KFC for an impromptu performance. The God-fearing, chicken-loving people of Cloverdale are... shall we say... a little surprised. The real fun starts at about 1:18. Just watch.

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Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), George, Chad and Nate, are currently traveling the country as part of the Smoker's Club Tour, headlined by Method Man, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. The Smoker's Club tour comes to Warehouse Live November 11, and Marcus agreed to check in with Rocks Off once a week to let us know how it's going. See how it went in Philly in last week's entry.

Photos by OrbitDidIt/Smoker's Club Tour

​Since the last time we talked, I been to Times Square and performed at the Best Buy Theatre; Rhode Island; Vermont; Clifton Park, New York; New Jersey, and Montreal, Canada.

Before the show in Times Square, we went to this Brazilian spot across from my hotel and got some Chicken Stroganoff for the first time; shit was stupid good, by the way.

After that, I hit the room to get on Skype with a few ladies before getting ready for the show. We start on the Patron, which is what we drink before each and every show, and roll up some of that loud (lol).

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Houston rapper Marcus Manchild and his label partners at AMG (Authentik Music Group), George, Chad and Nate, are currently traveling the country as part of the Smoker's Club Tour, headlined by Method Man, Curren$y and Big K.R.I.T. The Smoker's Club tour comes to Warehouse Live November 11, and Marcus agreed to check in with Rocks Off once a week to let us know how it's going.

First off me and George only got their passport but because they flirted with the the lady at the airport counter we almost missed the Canadian dates. Meanwhile, Chad and our driver drove from Houston to Connecticut with all of our AMG merchandise.

It was supposed to take them 20 hours, but since the driver couldn't go more than three hours without getting sleepy the trip took them three days, lol. All of the artists on the tour are laid-back, cool type of people. My type of folks.

Me and Big K.R.I.T. had already done a couple tracks together before the tour, so he was already tha homie. S/O Big K.R.I.T. "S/O" = "shout-out" - Ed.

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Photos by Jason Wolter

Wild Moccasins at BestFest, September 25

​Still younger than springtime, the Wild Moccasins are getting to be old hands at this touring thing. (If you missed their set at BestFest - it was way early - you missed something special.) Lately it seems like the sunny Houston five-piece is either just getting off the road or about to go back on. That's the case Saturday, when the group headlines another tour kickoff show at Fitz before heading east to the Athens Pop Festival in Georgia and New York City's famous discoveries-in-waiting CMJ bonanza.

Now with several tours under their belt, the Moccasins know by now what traveling musicians should never go without on the road and what to leave at home. We asked the group to each pick a couple of essential touring items, and for good measure, to give us a couple of artists that, in a perfect world, they'd like to support.

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