Houston Blog

A pacer by nature, Rocks Off is already so excited about Sunday's AC/DC show he can hardly sit down long enough to type a complete sentence. So imagine how difficult it was to sit at the keyboard while listening to a solid hour of Sirius/XM's "AC/DC Radio" channel. Or don't, actually, because there's no way he's sitting down for a second when the Aussies' rock and roll train pulls into Toyota Center Sunday night. Anchors aweigh!

3:09 p.m.: The very end of "T.N.T.," Angus Young shredding away. This is gonna be fun.

3:10 p.m.: "Shake Your Foundations": From 1985's Fly on the Wall, more or less the midpoint between T. Rex and the Cult. The main idea of this song seems to be that the band plans to do some serious demolition. Hope Toyota Center called some structural engineers in this week. Oh, wait, you mean it's not about building safety?

"She had the sugar and I had the wine/ Took my hand, shook me to the core/ I told her not to touch, but she was coming back for more/ You know what for." Rocks Off thinks he knows. These guys are poets. 

Little Jimmy Dickens

As the Willie Nelson-quoting Don Merideth used to sing on Monday Night Football, turn out the lights, the party's over. While last night's electoral bloodbath isn't the end of the Republican Party - particularly way down Texas way - the GOP is in shambles, and Barack Obama's hold on the popular imagination is only bound to increase in the weeks before he assumes the presidency. Where do the elephants go from here? Rocks Off thought he'd tune in - what else? - XM classic-country channel America and read some musical tea leaves.

Moe Bandy, “Honky Tonk Amnesia”: It’s a pretty safe bet the GOP would just as soon pretend like last night ever happened. Now they know how the rest of us feel about the past eight years.

Restless Heart, “Fast Moving Train”: “I’ve been hit by a fast moving train.” Since his Straight Talk Express was derailed by Obama’s midnight special – though it was closer to 10 p.m. - John McCain can no doubt relate.

Sisters of Mercy

After seven solid nights of mostly incredible shows, Tina Turner through Los Skarnales, on the eighth Rocks Off rested. I even bought a freakin' bottle of milk. As it so often is, the XM receiver at Rocks Off HQ is tuned to Fred, so the Cure have been by several times. Morrissey, XTC, U2 and the Jesus and Mary Chain have all checked in. Ditto OMD, Iggy, the Replacements, Berlin and Bowie.

One hour before Election Day is officially, finally here - it already is, back East - the Call is urging "Let the Day Begin." Not so fast. For 60 more minutes, Fred is a sanctuary from Sarah Palin Prank Calls, not to mention the sobering realization that in 24 short hours, one way or the other, history as we know it will have changed. Utterly and irrevocably.

The Clash, "Spanish Bombs" (London Calling, 1979): One of the band's best revolution rockers, and irrefutable evidence of the impact their Lubbock pal Joe Ely - and Buddy Holly, for that matter - had on them. Oh, my corazon.

Problem children of XM Nation, unite! All month long, to mark the release of AC/DC's 15th studio album Black Ice - due October 20, and available offline exclusively at Walmart - XM has turned its channel 53 into "AC/DC Radio." Just like the satellite-radio provider did with Led Zeppelin, George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Coldplay and Metallica earlier this year, XM 53 is all-AC/DC, all day long, all month long. Yes, it's every bit as awesome as you imagine.

Of course, that means plenty of "Hell's Bells," "Back In Black," "For Those About to Rock," "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" and all the other Down-Under classics - "Thunderstruck" is on right now - but also plenty of lesser-known tracks that are just as raunchy and fist-pounding: "Let's Get It Up," "Cover You In Oil," "Sink the Pink," "Sin City," "Dirty Eyes," "Given the Dog a Bone," "Shot of Love," etc.

Well, it finally happened. I suppose it was inevitable, although I was starting to wonder. (I know some of you probably were too.) But it looks like last weekend's Tom Petty show really did cure me of my summer-long case of classic-rock fever. With the exception of Friday, which for various reasons I spent in the arms of XM's classic-country channel America (XM 10) and the likes of George Strait's "80 Proof Bottle of Tear Stopper," Rocks Off's satellite tuner has been pretty much stuck on '90s-'00s rock outlet Ethel (XM 47) for a week now.

Mostly it's played out like an episode of the fictional reality-TV show Band Swap: Nirvana for Led Zeppelin; Radiohead for Pink Floyd (of course); Red Hot Chili Peppers for Bruce Springsteen; Foo Fighters for Van Halen; Nine Inch Nails for the Police; Coldplay for Talking Heads (as if, although Viva La Vida is growing on me); Offspring - whom I had no idea were still so popular, but then they are headlining next month's likely Woodlands sellout Buzzfest - for the Clash. Luckily for me, U2 is the only artist to get heavy play on both channels, Achtung Baby and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb standing in for War and Rattle and Hum.