Houston Music Blog

​Looks like Rocks Off better get out of here pretty quick and take a nap, because it appears we'll be overindulging at Mango's for two nights in a row. We might be able to dance off some of those beers this time though, because on his way to Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, former Houstonian Jonathan Toubin steers his New York Night Train into Mango's for the traveling edition of his wildly popular monthly Soul Clap DJ night.

Toubin, a familiar face to those who hung around the Axiom and Pik N' Pak, will delve deep into his finely honed collection of '50s and '60s soul and R&B - the grittier, the better - to help you get over the hump by shaking your rump. Then, at midnight, Toubin and a select panel of judges - Tex and Erica from Indian Jewelry, Big Star Bar owner Brad Moore, recent nonvoter Rad Rich, sometime Rocks Off contributor Dusti Rhodes and Beaver's Ice House Chef JJ will determine who's got the moves that groove in an old-fashioned dance-off.

Rocks Off urges only the sexy people to enter and the rest of you not to block our view. The prize is $100 or, as we like to call it, a hundy. Mango's is hot and sweaty on a slow night, so no telling what it's going to be like this evening. We have a few ideas - Lord help us.

Poster by Uncle Charlie

What's the secret of a good burlesque dance? Well, choreography, costumes, agility, flexibility and old-fashioned seductiveness all have their place, of course, but it would be a poor burlesque show indeed without the proper strip-worthy tunes.

Perhaps you can pick up a few pointers from tonight's featured performer Cardinal Cyn, said to be the finest burlesque dancer in the rootin'-tootin' town of Austin, Texas. Other than that, Rocks Off reached out to our buddy and tonight's DJ, Brett Koshkin - one of the men behind Boondocks' monthly Dirty Honey night - for his choice of tunes to lower your inhibitions and raise your blood pressure.

Bobby Blue Bland,
"St. James Infirmary"

"Not a Bland original (no pun intended) but an American standard that's been covered by everyone under the sun. A man walks into a bar, and while swilling hooch he tells the barkeep his story of finding his baby dead at the hospital. The difference with Bland's take is the key element of whiskey-doused sleaze - the song pretty much exudes everything a Burlesque dancer could ever need, and during the trombone solo, you can almost see the tassels swinging in your mind."

Continue reading " Tonight: Original Sin Burlesque at"...

Allison & South Funk Blvd., "Turn On With Music"

Sometimes history is a funny thing. You look back and all of a sudden there’s something in the past you don’t remember happening. One case in point would be this Allison & South Funk Blvd. single.

When the TSU Toronadoes finally reached their breaking point in the early '70s, the group split into two factions. Half the group, including Leroy Lewis, Nelson Mills and Jerry Jenkins, formed South Funk Boulevard, while Cal Thomas took the Toronados name and briefly attempted to keep things going. (Last fall, Chris Gray and I managed to track down and interview numerous members of both groups and Ovide label owner, Skipper Lee Frazier.)

When we asked, “Did Allison & South Funk Blvd. ever record anything for Ovide?”, everyone soundly answered with a simple 'no.' So a few weeks ago while hunting for records at Sound Exchange, imagine my surprise when store owner Kevin Bakos offered this gem up for sale - a record that, according to band members and the label owner alike, doesn’t exist.

Memories can falter over time, of course, or maybe this was an odd promo-only thing. There doesn't seem to be a simple answer to why this single exists, but I’m damn glad I own it now.

Allison & South Funk Blvd. recorded a few other singles throughout the '70s. They signed to with Huey Meaux, who ended sitting on their recordings while they were under contract. In the late '70s, Meaux released a compiled album of the group's previous works as a tax scam along with tons of other local artists on his Crazy Cajun label.

The Americans of ’71, “The Cancer Stick, Part 1”

And you thought it was only in the ‘80s when people got all self-conscious and started with the anti-smoking rhetoric - but Houston’s the Americans of ’71 were doing it back in, well, 1971. This talented local group probably had the most interesting naming scheme in Houston; as the years changed, so did its name.

They began as the Americans of ’68 with “Baby Baby Baby” (Ovide) and became the Americans of ’70 for “Toe Hold” (Libra). Far and away, the Americans have to be the most frustrating band to research, ever.

“Cancer Stick” tells the tale of their aptly-named drummer Sugar Bear who just won’t stop puffing away at his cigarettes, complete with repeated fake coughing. The song was soon picked up for national and international distribution by the Bell label, and came complete with a picture sleeve of a cigarette in an ashtray sporting a picture of a crab – for Cancer, of course.

But by the time Bell picked up the single, it was already 1972, so for the second pressing, the Americans thus became the Americans of ’72.

Mark Putney, "Today’s Man"

Every now and then you stumble onto a song that blows your mind. That was the case when I first heard “Today’s Man,” and unfortunately all my hopes of discovering other 45s by Putney were squashed when I learned this was his solitary release as a solo artist.

“Today’s Man” is the perfect mix of the incredible, though shamefully uncredited TSU Toronadoes and Putney’s passionate vocal stylings. With the primitive-sounding vibes and horn blasts, it sounds more Motown than distinctly Houstonian.

Putney spent most his time just out of the spotlight instead of in it - early on he was one of Archie Bell’s Drells, though how long remains unclear. Just goes to show, even though “Today’s Man” may be one of the finest soul singles to ever come out of Houston, sometimes good records aren’t enough in the music business.

Leon Mitchison, “Street Scene”

Most Houstonians and (many others around the globe) have heard of the legendary Kashmere Stage Band. If not, get your Google on, but few realize how these young high-schoolers got their start playing music.

Enter one Leon Mitchison. The Fifth Ward native was the music teacher at Isaac Elementary School, where he taught young, impressionable kids how to hold trumpets and hit drums; Isaac was zoned so it eventually fed these soon-to-be musical prodigies into Kashmere.

Mitchison remained close with some of his former students, drafting bassist Gerald Calhoun, guitarist Earl Spiller and an animal of a drummer named Craig Green for his group, the Eastex Freeway Band. “Street Scene” is exactly that, a political song about the hardships of the streets, particularly those of Fifth Ward.

From time to time, a beautiful blending of cultures happened in Houston. When soul groups found inspiration in the guitar-driven sounds of rock music, leading to some of the most unique compositions imaginable. If only for a brief moment, a few local groups traded in their blow-out combs for distortion pedals and acid. Here are three of Houston’s best examples of psychedelic soul.

Masters of Soul, "(I Hate You) In the Daytime and Love You at Night"

Masters of Soul took a long, winding path through Houston’s music. After starting out as a doo-wop group in the late '50s called the Royal Masters, the group soon transformed to the Masters of Houston. After a single release on the Copa label, the Masters jumped ship to join Skipper Lee Frazier’s Ovide Records, where, they changed their name a third and final time, allegedly forced to do so due to a contract dispute with their former label.

Once at Ovide, the group became a local powerhouse - Houston’s answer to the Temptations, except the Masters of Soul played all their own instruments to boot, and the group's handful of singles runs the gamut from sweet soul to wah-wah funk workouts. In the Masters' sunset year of 1972, they ventured over to Don Robey’s Duke label for one last 45, a smoking black rock number about the trials and tribulations of relationships in the daytime and night.

[Ed. Note: Welcome to our new feature spotlighting rare grooves and funky tracks from Houston's lush musical past, courtesy of the bottomless archives of Music Listings Editor Brett Koshkin.]

Acres of Grass, "Football" - I spent a long time wondering who Acres of Grass was, until Ovide owner Skipper Lee Frazier told me last year the group was in fact Houston legends TSU Toronadoes plus or minus a few players. Former Toronadoes drummer Dwight Burns claims the group was pulled together by guitarist Michael Spencer, not in the group, who studied under the tutelage of late Kashmere Stage Band Director Conrad Johnson. Unfortunately, like many details from this era, the exact name seems to escape the written record. Nevertheless, this gritty guitar-led instrumental (except a few shouts about doing the football, baby) is one hell of a 45.

James Young and the House Wreckers, "Barkin’ Up the Wrong Tree" - Possibly one of the meanest and shortest funk workouts to ever come out of the Bayou City. Bandleader and sax player Young got his start in Beaumont in the fifties, performing under the moniker Big Sambo. His song "The Rains Came" (later covered by Sir Douglas Quintet) charted, reportedly selling a half-million singles. With such exposure, the NAACP took notice and politely asked him to change his name, noting Big Sambo isn’t exactly the most politically correct moniker.