Houston Music Blog

​Rocks Off is here to help. That's why we keep an eye out for stories that, while they may not have anything to do with Houston per se, can still provide a valuable lesson. So as much as we delight in poking fun at Austin, the recent plight of the Cactus Cafe - the on-campus acoustic venue that has been invaluable to the careers of onetime Houstonians like Lyle Lovett, Townes Van Zandt, Robert Earl Keen, Nanci Griffith, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle and Rodney Crowell - is no time for schadenfreude.

Less than two weeks ago, the University of Texas, via the board of directors of on-campus student center the Texas Union, announced it would close the Cactus, a beloved (and blessedly quiet) music venue in Austin for more than 30 years, this coming August and, perhaps, make it available to whatever student group was willing to rent it.

Blame Rick Perry if you must: According to The New York Times, the governor asked the University to identify 5 percent of its $2 billion budget it might be willing to part with; the Cactus costs UT a whopping $66,000 per year. The Cactus was an easy target, university officials said, because - despite demonstrable evidence to the contrary - it's primarily used by non-students.

Austin, as you might imagine, went ballistic. And in so doing, the capital city provided three important tips on what to do should something like this happen a little closer to home.

Are you READY for Rocks Off's Washington Shore party this Thursday? If not, this video of Jersey Shore's Snooki interviewing Phoenix on MTV will melt your brain.

If you read even one Houston-based music Web site, you probably already know that a petition is circulating to show support for the closure of Westheimer as a way to bring back the Westheimer Street Festival (or Westfest, if ya nastay). Mayor Annise Parker gushed all about her love for The Montrose in a documentary that aired recently on HoustonPBS, and she supposedly verbally committed to Free Press Houston's Omar Afra to help bring Westfest back to Houston, so go sign the petition and put the ball in her court.

​"The Festival At The Mink" With White Rhino, Alkari, The Manichean, Flowers To Hide, The Sour Notes, Giant Battle Monster, Gretchen Schmaltz: Sat., Feb. 27, 6 p.m., $8. The Mink.

Asleep At The Wheel: Fri., April 30. Dosey Doe Coffee Company.

B L A C K I E, Rapeworm, Wife: Thu., March 4. Indie Houston Space.

Black Congress, This Moment In Black History, Sun God, SexyCrimes: Wed., March 17. Mango's.

The Business, The Hollowpoints: Sat., May 8. Walter's on Washington.

Cobra Starship, 3OH!3: Sat., June 5. Verizon Wireless Theater.

Daniel Kramer

Wrecks Bell onstage at the Old Quarter, shortly before Hurricane Ike

​Rocks Off got an eyebrow-raising email this morning from Rex "Wrecks" Bell, owner of Galveston's Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe, the Island's successor to the fabled downtown venue made famous by Townes Van Zandt and so many others. (Read John Nova Lomax's September 2008 cover story on Bell here.)

The email was titled "OQAC - Retiring," which of course instantly set off Rocks Off's - or is that "Wrocks Off's"? - internal alarm bells. "I turned 65 last year and I think it's time I announced my official retirement," Bell's missive began. "I gave myself a golden para-shoes."

Now we were really worried, so we sent Mr. Golden Para-Shoes an email asking what was up. Naturally, for someone so closely associated with the late Van Zandt, we didn't even have to ask if they were golden "Flyin' Shoes."

Hey, you ever seen Craigslist's Missed Connections? It's for people who saw someone who intrigued them on the street yet, for whatever reason, they didn't go over and say "hi" and are now looking to correct that mistake. It is filled with solid gold every single day, like this 24-karat ad here. Rocks Off recently decided we want some of that sweet action. Here are the submissions we've received thus far.

Daughter of Rock Messiah, Train Wreck Seeks Random Assortment for Musical Debut

​Many of you haven't even met me, but you'd know my parents. My Dad killed himself when I was just a baby, and my Mom is a deranged skag-beast who finally lost custody of me last December. You are a side project of some sort, and I'd like to link up with you for my recording debut. You contain one emo superstar, one parody musician and one dude obsessed with partying.

I bring more to the table than my famous pedigree; I am eager to prove myself and start making a reputation of my own. A little bit of money wouldn't hurt either, since it looks like most of my inheritance is going towards settling lawsuits and abusing prescription medication. Contact me at my grandmother's place and let's get this show on the road!

Chris Gray

​This past week we found ourselves at Walter's On Washington about three times for various shows, amateur boxing matches and the random drink (or five). The club's rumored move has been Internet and scene fodder since word of its then-imminent change of location came to light last fall.

It's now sort of a parlor game at local bars, guessing when and where the club will go. Right up there with 9/11 and the JFK Assassination, you can now find people making guesses, educated and otherwise, on the future location where they can score one of bartender Roy Mata's Creeper shots. Rocks Off sat down with Walter's staffer Eric Dean this week and asked him about the area surrounding the venue, the hazards of Washington and the future move.

RO: What's it like to be right in the middle of this new Washington scene?

Eric Dean: Walter's is Walter's. Now we just have more turnarounds. When people walk up and see they have to pay a cover, they leave. People sometimes get irate and try to say that because they are there, they shouldn't have to pay a cover. As if their very presence will elevate Walter's. "Man, we're gonna buy a lot of alcohol!" They say that since they are only there only to drink and not watch the band, they shouldn't have to pay.

But bands still need to get paid right? At the Lucero show a while back, a group of dude bros came and just cut ahead of the line and told me that they were just drinking and didn't need to wait in line. Then when I tell them no, they call the place a shithole.

This past week a few Houston musicians began getting their dreaded SXSW rejection notices; most notably we heard that Robert Ellis' entry was not accepted. That's a tough bullet to take, considering how well his band does on Wednesday night at Mango's and the quality of his solo album. Either way Ellis still our boy, and this industry festival doesn't guarantee anyone happiness or a big break.

Just yesterday we also received our first issue of SXSW's SXSWORLD magazine, which is always a bellwether of what's to come. Once we get that in the mail, it starts to feel real. For the past month the list of showcasing bands on the official Web site has been, shall we say, a little light on the marquee names that we have been expecting. Inside, we did see that long lost proto-punk band DEATH will be making their way to Austin. Canadian metal band Voivod will be playing a Relapse Records showcase with Kill the Client and Tombs, hosted by comedian Brian Posehn.

Once we realized what she was singing, Rocks Off was hoping Beyonce would include the "Would she go down on you in a theater?" line when the six-time winner sang Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know" at Sunday night's Grammys. She didn't, and she didn't drop the f-bomb either (though she came pretty close), but it was still a great performance. Also, congratulations to Steve Earle and SugarHill engineer Christensen for their Best Contemporary Folk Grammy for last year's Townes.

It's probably every local band's dream - jammin' with the big guns. After Yo La Tengo and Times New Viking played Houston Thursday night, TNV got on stage and tooled around with members of the Allen Oldies Band, for an audience of basically... themselves. It sounded pretty epic, especially since after covering The Kinks in their own show, Yo La Tengo covered The Troggs with our local heroes.

Can't wait for the Balaclavas record release party on the 13th? Their label, Dull Knife, has posted a few news songs, "Night Worship" and "True Believers," on their MySpace page. "Night Worship" features Dead Roses' Ralf Armin on saxomophone.

​Dave Matthews Band, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears: Fri., Sept. 10. Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.

The Dead Weather: Sat., May 1. House of Blues.

Dillinger Escape Plan, Darkest Hour, Iwrestledabearonce, Animals As Leaders: Sun., March 21, 6:30 p.m. Meridian.

Dollyrockers, Mooseknuckle, Dead End Cowboys: Fri., Feb. 26. Mango's.

Evergreen Terrace, Death Before Dishonor: Tue., March 16. The Junction.

Frightened Rabbit: Wed., April 21. Walter's on Washington.

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Yes, you read that headline correctly. Today the Texas Historical Commission announced that Eric Davis' petition to honor Houston blues icon Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins with an official state historical marker has been approved. Along with 243 others. Took them long enough.

"I am completely thrilled," says Davis. "I felt really good about its chances to be awarded, but you have to wait to be sure."

As a reward for his efforts, now Davis gets to wait some more. The historical commission now has to review and approve the text he submitted for the marker, which he hopes will be erected on the property of Project Row Houses in Third Ward - and near one of Hopkins' favorite bus stops - as soon as September.

Village Voice Media, the Houston Press' daddy company, has announced the line-up for this year's SXSW day party at La Zona Rosa, set for March 19 at noon. The show hasn't disappointed since Rocks Off has been aboard, with 2008 bringing the Black Keys, HEALTH and ...Trail Of Dead and last year the Crystal Antlers, M. Ward, Cursive and Gomez enlivening our five-hour event.

This year's line-up is just as striking as the previous two, with current indie darlings and Rocks Off faves Surfer Blood, The xx, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and the legendary Superchunk rounding out our bill. We told you we know how to stack the deck, kids.

Surfer Blood came through Houston in November, and Rocks Off did a quick Listology and Aftermath on their well-received Mango's gig. The xx have never made it to Houston, but the Brit-mopers' 2009 debut has been making regular appearances on our daily playlists. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are a sweet little indie operation from New York City, reminiscent of Elvis Costello with tag-team male/female vocals.

Selena Quintanilla Perez, as most Texans know, was gunned down by her former fan-club president Yolanda Saldivar in a Corpus Christi motel in March 1995, just as the Tejano superstar was crossing over into English-language pop with her album Dreaming of You and its title-track single. She remains one of the most popular entertainers to ever come out of the Lone Star State.

And now, 15 years after her death, Selena is also an author. Or a co-author anyway, at least according to her former publicist.

Latino pop-culture/media blog Guanabee reported this morning that Cristina Castrellón had a little help in writing her new book Selena: Su Vida Después De Su Muerte (Selena: Her Life After Death); namely from Selena herself via a psychic who told Castrellón a long-haired dark woman in a red dress was following her around. Guess who that turned out to be?

Rocks Off is pleased as punch to announce that Houston mash-up maestro Dave Wrangler will be providing the tunes for our douche-tastic "Washington Shore" party at the Washington Avenue Drinkery on February 11. Wrangler also agreed to craft some custom Washington Shore mash-ups we'll be bringing you as the gelfest gets closer; we have no idea what he might be cooking up for that, except that it probably involves a whole lotta Jovi.

In the meantime, Wrangler has been plenty busy. He's got another album of mix-and-match tracks, Under the Influence, scheduled to drop February 1, and has already put this remix of SXSW '10 must-sees the xx's "Stars" up for download via his Soundcloud page. Or perhaps sir or madame would prefer something from his recent N.A.S.A. vs. YACHT EP (which is included on Influence). We like "The Mayor," which loops Scarface, Ghostface Killah and the Cool Kids, but if your tastes run more toward The Kanye or David Byrne vs. Chuck D, Wrangler's gotcha covered there too.

Rocks Off got word today that Meridian (1503 Chartres) is going through a hefty remodeling and restructuring project. Sometime next week, the Warehouse District venue will be rechristened Wired Live, with all-new signage and from talking to manager and booker Mike Kelley, a whole new attitude and business model.

Meridian has undergone a myriad of changes in the past two years. First, previous operator Bob Fuldauer began trying to utilize the venue's wasted space on the first and second floors. An art gallery and tattoo shop opened up, and plans were made for a bowling alley and massive sports bar on the ground floor.

Those plans were scuttled and what Meridian ended up doing was creating a smaller sports bar in one part of the second floor and moving the venue's main entrance to the Chartres side instead of on the north and south sides of the building. This created some confusion at first, but was quickly sorted out.

Last summer, Fuldauer left the venue, citing health problems; many of the operation's longtime associates, including John Escamilla, D'Neta Cavazos and Jill McKee, left for other musical ventures soon after. Kelley, previously from Northside metal/emo venue Java Jazz, began managing and booking the venue. He brought most of his steadily touring stable along with him, a change that allowed for better value and a wider variety of bills.

photine, via Flickr

Miller Outdoor Theatre, pre-makeover

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Miller Outdoor Theatre has been busy lining up part of its spring schedule. During the winter downtime, the theater has been undergoing a $1.5 million upgrade of its sound system. When the new system is installed, there will no longer be any speakers on the stage. Operations Manager Reg Burns expects the system to be ready for a trial run around March 13.

Miller will formally kick off the spring season March 23 with a Guthrie Family Reunion. Arlo Guthrie and his musical cousins like the Austin ladies in Folk Uke will gather to recall and celebrate the work of family patriarch and world-famous Depression-era folk singer Woodie Guthrie as well as perform their own works. Burns noted that there will also be a multimedia presentation running on the screen behind the performers.

Craig Hlavaty

​ In news that is sure to send shockwaves of joy, relief and fear through most Montrose-area bars, Rocks Off's favorite minors 10th Grade Cutie are turning legal drinking age this winter. Last night we stopped by Super Happy Fun Land to give special salutations to the birthday boy, 10GC guitarist Lil' Blaine. Out in the parking lot, the party was already in full swing. Blaine said the first thing he bought as a legal drinker was a six pack of Red Stripe. He was not carded.

Would be nice, wouldn't it?

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...or did they? Rocks Off has the slightest feeling Omar Afra and friends might be messing with us. But who knows? We bet they're right about Geoffrey Muller's bands, though.

Well, the Justice Department has approved the Live Nation/Ticketmaster monopoly merger. What does this mean for you, the average concertgoer? Well, even more inflation on the already-ridiculous $6 Lone Stars at House of Blues. Free Press Houston had a well-written cover story last spring about the other possible pitfalls of the deal.

New music videos from local artists abound. Here's Flowers to Hide, Benjamin Wesley and Peekaboo Theory (loves it). Muhammad Ali wants to see you nekkid for theirs, and Hell City Kings' video should be out soon.

​Blue October: Sat., May 15. The Showgrounds @ Sam Houston Race Park.

"Choo-Choo Soul" With Genevieve: Sat., April 24. Verizon Wireless Theater.

Cody Kouba: Thu., March 18. The Firehouse Saloon.

Dale Watson: Wed., March 10. The Hideout @ Reliant Stadium.

"Dirty Honey" With DJ Brett Koshkin, Ceeplus Bad Knives: Sat., Feb. 6. Boondocks.

Eleven Hundred Springs: Fri., March 19. The Hideout @ Reliant Stadium.

Felix Da Housecat: Sat., Feb. 27. Meridian.

[UPDATED to include AEG President and CEO Timothy J. Leiwecke's statement about the merger.] ​

Via CNBC, businessinsider.com reported Monday morning that the U.S. Justice Department has approved the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster into a multi-platform entertainment corporation that can do everything but wash your car and walk your dog (and may even do that). First announced last February and approved by both companies' shareholders earlier this month, the merger is expected to take effect immediately.

The deal comes after the United Kingdom's Competition Commission approved the merger after determining it would not have an adverse effect on Blighty's retail ticket pricing "or in any other market," writes businessinsider's Gillian Reagan. (Read the full text of the CC's report here.)

The New York Times' DealBook blog picked up a New York Post report last week that Live Nation's chief U.S. concert-promotion rival, the Anschutz Entertainment Group - better known around Houston as Warehouse Live owner/promoter The Messina Group's parent company - agreed to drop its opposition to the merger in exchange for Live Nation agreeing to sell some of its venues to AEG "on favorable terms."

Live Nation's Southern regional headquarters are located in Houston, and the company currently owns area venues House of Blues and Verizon Wireless Theater and also promotes shows at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion and Toyota Center.

Between fighting crime, reducing global warming, mending our socks and, you know, everything else Rocks Off does when we're away from the office, we caught a good bit of Friday evening's "Hope for Haiti" telethon. We didn't have much choice, because the George Clooney-organized, celebrity-packed fundraiser was on every single TV network not in the ESPN family, and we only care about college basketball once the NCAA tournament starts. (It makes a perfect diversion from that other March Madness, SXSW.)

​The performances we saw did not include Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, the Bono/Edge/Jay-Z/Rihanna collab "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour) or Wyclef Jean's "By the Waters of Babylon" finale, which had to go down easier than the former Fugee's story about carrying bodies through the rubble of Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.

The ones we did, we thought, ranged from excellent (Mary J. Blige's stirring Stephen Foster standard "Hard Times"; Christina Aguilera's exalted "Lift Me Up"; Sting's Afro-funky "Driven to Tears") to a little over-the-top (Stevie Wonder's "Bridge Over Troubled Water") to somewhere in the middle (Shakira's "I'll Stand By You"; Kid Rock, Keith Urban and Sheryl Crow on "Lean On Me").

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​The latest release out of Red Tree Studios is a nine-song pop package by a slacker named James Caronna, Everybody Wants to Be in Love. If you were to put James Blunt and Jason Mraz in the telepod in David Cronenberg's The Fly, James Caronna is exactly what you would come out with. Alternating between Mraz's boppy guitar and Blunt's melancholy piano stylings, Caronna hits all the high notes with a dedication to the kind of self-deprecating wordsmithery that makes up so much mainstream music these days.

The production, as per Red Tree's usual, is slicker than slick, and truly radio-ready. Indeed, the concept of "radio-ready" is both the album's greatest strength and biggest detraction. On the one, very positive, hand is the soft appeal of tracks like "I'm Not Crazy," with its groove and stream-of-consciousness defense of the guitar-guy lifestyle. Or take the title track. It's a sweet Matthew Sweet plea to the heart of us all yearning for a bit of affection set to a solid bite of blues.

If you want to play an album in the car on a first date that says, "Hey Baby, I'm the nice guy you've been going through all those dirtbags to get to," then you be hard-pressed to find a better one than Everybody Wants to Be In Love.

This week Rocks Off is pleased to announce that Houston pop kids Wild Moccasins will be playing the Houston Press' SXSW showcase. So you guys can now mark the Moccs down as another local band set to bear down on Austin in March. We will have the names of the other performers coming by next week or so. Congrats to the Moccs, who have also been logging time at Sugar Hill Studios working on their LP.

In other SXSW news, word came that the White Stripes will be premiering their first tour documentary, Under Great White Northern Lights, during the film side of the festival that precedes the more hectic music side. That now makes two rock docs that Rocks Off really, really wants to see with the other being the Lemmy Kilmister chronicle, Lemmy.

No word yet if both Stripes and Lemmy will be on hand for the respective premieres, but we wouldn't rule anything out. They are both two of the loudest bands we have ever seen in our short lives, so we would welcome more hearing damage.

All right, this is what we have been waiting for: cool videos from Houston artists. Hell, we have enough cats here with state-of-the-art equipment and skills, it seems silly to let it all go to waste on insurance company commercials and that dude who will pay you in $2 bills.

A few weeks back we brought a new Benjamin Wesley video, and today we've got a new one from the rapidly rising Peekaboo Theory. The clip, directed by John Hale, is for the track "Immediate Hesitation" from their 2009's strong debut album Sy~3nc3 & Pr( )gr@m5. It's a creepy, dream-like vid alternately between the band playing out in a grassy expanse to a tense chase scene through Houston.

Even though it misrepresents a bunch of funky Australian pub-rockers as a New Wave band, "Don't Change," from 1982's Shabooh Shoobah, broke INXS on U.S. college radio long before "What You Need" or "Need You Tonight." It's always been one of Rocks Off's favorites, from a group that has given us many. ("Original Sin," anyone? "Beautiful Girl"?)

In honor of late singer Michael Hutchence's 50th birthday, which would have been this Friday, fans in several countries have started a campaign to push "Don't Change" to No. 1. INXS is donating the sales proceeds to the Red Cross' Haitian relief efforts.

Lise Liddell

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Lonesome Onry and Mean has been holding his breath for a few days, keeping a secret. We've been waiting on one last signature on the contracts before announcing one of the biggest shows ever at Conroe's Sounds of Texas music series. But Wednesday night we got an email from Mark Germino confirming that all the dots were in place and all the Ts crossed on a deal that will bring Nashville songwriting vet Tony Arata, Germino, and Vince Gill to the Crighton Theater in Conroe August 21 for a two-hour acoustic writers-in-the-round.

LOM's significant other saw a similar program during one of her forays to Nashville two years back. Nashville songwriting genius John Scott Sherrill was also on that bill. She phoned LOM when the show was over and we thought she might be in need of smelling salts at any moment. She had watched the spectacle from a front table with Germino's family.

"It was great," she said. "And Vince Gill was so cool. I was standing in line for my ticket and he just drove up in this beat-up old car, got his guitar out of the back seat and walked in just like he was going to an open mic night or something. The damn guy's in the Country Music Hall of Fame, but he was totally unpretentious."

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On the heels of Bun B's all-star (if borderline interminable) "Houston 4 Haiti" relief concert at Warehouse Live Monday night that reportedly raised in the neighborhood of $10,000, the venue will open its doors - albeit in the smaller studio room - for another benefit Friday night starring four local bands. Specifically, that's ska-punks The Failed Attempt, positive-minded alt-rockers Versecity, Bob Marley acolytes Shark Attacks and Manchester-esque The Factory Party. DJs Sun, Kung Fu Pimp, Brad Slack and Chris Costello will mind the decks between sets. Doors open at 6 p.m.

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Eric Davis, whose application to erect a state historical marker for iconic Texas bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins was approved by the Harris County Historical Commission in November, said today his campaign to raise money to pay for the marker reached its goal of $1,800 dollars last month.

"I'm just really pleased, and grateful, to everyone for helping me make this possible," Davis told Rocks Off via email earlier today, singling out the Houston Blues Society, Jack Henderson and Dr. Roger Wood for their contributions. "Without very generous donations from them, it would have taken much longer to raise the necessary funds."

Davis says he will find out February 1 if the Texas State Historical Commission has approved his application, but people who raise the necessary funds "stand a much better chance" of success. Nearly 300 historical markers will be awarded this year, he added.

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• Ever wish you had a pen pal like Hollywood F.L.O.S.S. when you were a kid? He's been sending out a mixtape called Art-or-Fiscal Intelligence to various bloggers around the U.S. You can listen online or download here, and read some of the props he's been getting.
• Austinites Okkervil River recently announced what may be the most diabolically awesome collaboration of 2010 (depends on how that Thurston Moore/Jandek show goes in April) - they're recording an album with legendary '60s psych rocker and fellow Texan Roky Erickson, which is said to feature found records from Erickson's time in a mental hospital.

Surprise. But the headliner is married to one.