This Week’s Featured Show(s)

Record Release Parties (WOOOOO!)

Thursday, April 28
The Literary Greats (CD release)
with
The Orbans, Beetle
@ The Continental Club

Pale
(CD release)
with
The Shiny Darks, Come See My Dead Person
@ Warehouse Live (Studio)

Satuday, April 30
The Energy
(CD release)
with
OBN III’s, Exterminating Angels
@ Rudyard’s

The Manichean
(CD release)
with
ME WITH THE GAMEBOY,Portal Walker
@ Avant Garden

Lower Life Form
(CD release)
with
Thurogood Wordsmith, Nosaprise, D. Rose, Hustle Skwad
@ Fitzgerald’s

So many festivals this week but also a hell of a lot of record release shows. Now, OK, I can’t vouch for all these releases. Houston is a big city and there is a lot of good stuff and some not so good stuff. One of these bands couldn’t just settle on making bad Buzz-friendly rock. No, they had to take it a step further and make a epic post-apocalyptic biker video with a storyline that harkens back to Styx finest moment of kitsch. That’s cool, someone is gonna dig that I’m sure.  But if I were to pick one of these – just one – I’d say the Energy would wins hands down.

Thursday, April 28

Willie Nelson @ Verizon Wireless Theater – The patron saint of weed and Texas Music hits Verizon

Crystal Stilts, The German Measles, RIVERS @ Fitzgerald’s – Brooklyn Noise Poppers and pitchfork 8.3rs, Crystal Stilts, headline.

MarchFourth Marching Band/The Hightailers @ Last Concert Cafe – Hey it’s a marching band. That’s kind of cool!

Hilary Sloan @ Avant Garden – Fiddler Extraordinaire at the garden

Gentleman Jack: Art, Beats + Lyrics, featuring Kendrick Lamar, DJ Lord, H.I.S.D., DiBiase, ALlen, & DJ Ill @ Venue - Jack Daniels is something I didn’t associate with Hip Hop but they are sponsoring this spotlight of Hip Hop and Urban art.

DJ Lund/ZKent @ The Mink (front bar) – They spin, you enjoy.
The B Foundation, Katastro, Bending Villa @ Fitzgerald’s – Get out the wax and the boards kids. The B Foundations bring their California surf music to Houston.

Thursday April 28 – Sunday May 1 – Becoming Kinky @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck – Wow a show about Kinky Friedman? Awesome! Stoked!

Friday, April 29

Black Lips, Weird Party, Infinite Apaches @ Fitzgerald’s – The Black Lips mix poppy good time garage with a wild stage show. Not to be missed. Check out our interview with them onFriday.

Cloudland Canyon, Pontiak, American Sharks @ The Mink – If nifty keyboards and bass duo with echoey vocals is your thing look no further than Cloudland Canyon.

HIVE Houston Benefit, featuring Mantis, Franchise & Yung, & more @ Avant Garden – HIVE is a neat idea. Check out the article that was posted earlier this week.

Seedy Punk Fest, featuring The Inanimate Objects, Chelsea Hotel, Anarchitex, & Liquid Casing @ House of Blues –I’m not sure how the place that sells you a can of Lone Star for $8 and punk quite fit together but hey, it’s definitely interesting.

Houston International Festival, featuring Kronos Quartet, Homayun Sakhi Trio, & Houston Grand Opera @ Downtown Houston – I saw Kronos years ago at Jones hall and they blew my mind. ‘Nuff said.

Thunderkunt/The Incredible Czarhoons/The Examples @ Fitzgerald’s (free!) - Thunkderkunt are pretty awesome. I heard them above my bands practice space and really dug what I heard. Turns out they are on Homeskool Records and will have something out soon. I plan on doing an article on them soon.

Reggae Rhythm Revival, featuring D.R.U.M., Bigga Star, Mr. Blacc Sheep, & DJ Zin @ Last Concert Cafe – DRUM is one of those things you need to check out at least once if you live in Houston, just sayin’.

The Moody Blues @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion – Why god? Why?

Ke$ha @ Verizon Wireless Theater – Sold Out. Yes SOLD OUT. I shit you not. I hope the ticket prices were outrageous.

George Jones @ Arena Theatre – OH HELL YES!

Asylum: in the mix, featuring Ceeplus Bad Knives & Mr. Castillo @ The Mink – Drop the needle on the record and dance.

Cremator @ BFE Rock Club – You know I don’t have to know anything more about this band than just the fact that Cremator is an awesome name.

Saturday, April 30

Holy Fiction (1PM) Elaine Greer, Will Taylor & Strings Attached @ Cactus Music (1:30PM), The Sour Notes @ Cactus Music (3PM) – Cactus free shows = awesome.

Blackfish @ DiverseWorks – I am really bummed I got so backed up on interviews because this show is really worth you checking out. Nifty experimental stuff of the highest caliber.

Bonnie Jones, Suzanne Thorpe @ labotanica (7PM) – This is also right up there with the Blackfish show. Really cool show and they will have a workshop for girls. Nameless Sound approved.

Radio Moscow, Ghost Town Electric, The Escatones @ Walter’s – Arena Rock Lives

Mobley, Spain Colored Orange, The Sour Notes, Language Room, Disfrutalo @ Fitzgerald’s – I posit the following: Mobley are from Austin. SCO is from Houston. Therefore, Obama’s Birth certificate has to be a fake. QED.

Mary Cutrufello @ Anderson Fair – former Houston “it girl” returns to kick some ass at Anderson fair.

Fuck Your Scene Fest III, featuring Vaginal Bear Trap, Eviscerated, Beaten and Butchered, Cyntec, Chocolate Fetus, Sculpting Atrocity, Emperial Massacre, & Project Armageddon @ The White Swan – Yes, this festival sounds awesome.

May Day Eve: Music and Labor Solidarity, featuring Fiskadoro, Adam and the Ancient Gods, Halevai Klesmer, Kiawitl Xochitl, Torry Mercer’s Deconstruction Crew, Kim Champion!, Gary Yokie, Cedric Ary, Bluebeard, Scooter, Dr. David Smith, Gloria Rubac, Geoff Berg, Ray Hill, Ron Gonyea, George Reiter, Mark Lacey, & DJ Klotis @ Mango’s – Man, so many festivals this week.

Exposed Music Festival, featuring ZERO to CHAOS, Your Last Chance, Fear of the Known, Legion, Bakbone, Seven Years to Burn, Opposition A.D., Deep 6, Under Nothing, Agony Within, Scars of Eden, Leaving Scars, Epic Death, Fury Impulse, Ground Zero, Witness to the Fallen, I’m Not Paul Bradshaw, & Mistress Juliya @ Warehouse Live (Studio) – See what I mean about the festivals?

Lonestar Rock Fest, featuring Evolve Thru Scars, Inner Image, Lost Element, Flawless Escape, Fallacy, Fain, Vice Verse Us, Mythra, Eficin, Laydum, We Paint the Town, Adamantium, Hounds of Jezebel, Wide Open Throttle, Souls of Agony, & more @ Stereo Live (2PM-2AM) – Yeah, it’s endless

Houston International Festival, featuring Jonny Lang, Bhangra DJ Dance Party, Step Rideau & the Zydeco Outlaws, Karina Nistal, Mayapuris, Kyle Turner, Atash, Travis Caudle, Homayun Sakhi Trio, Shivanginii Indian Dancers, Corey Ledet and his Zydeco Band, The Bird of Tigris, Jimmy Vaughan with Lou Ann Barton, Golden Dragon Acrobats, African Zydeco Revue feat. Kora Konnection & Cedric Watson, Chango Man, Golden Peacock School of Chinese Dance, Kozzmik Steel, Free Radicals feat. Subhendu Chakraborty, Gypsy Dance Theatre, Houston Shaolin Kung Fu Academy, Oriental Arts Dancers, Ambasadors International Ballet Folklorico, Rootz Underground, Bijoux Creole, Espantapajaros, Mitsi Chinese Dance School, Sisters of Avalon, Mixteco Ballet Folklorico, Francisco Guevara Trio, Sripadam School of Indian Dance, Guillermo Serpas, McTeggart Irish Dancers, Voodoo Brass Band, Funk Bank, Datta, & more @ Downtown Houston – Oh yeah, and then there is this one.

Sunday, May 1

They, Who Sound: Bonnie Jones/Suzanne Thorpe/David Dove/Ryan Edwards/Sandy Ewen/Damon Smith @ Avant Garden (7-9pm) - Houston’s best ongoing showcase of experimental music. Enjoy.

Floor, Mammoth Grinder, Black Congress @ Walter’s - Looking into my Crystal Ball I see much heavy in your future.

Beans, H.I.S.D., Hollywood Floss, Fat Tony, DJ Dayta, B-Boy Craig @ 2024 Mainstage – and on the seventh day God created Hip-Hop.

Live Music Benefit for Danny Lockamy, featuring Jay Hooks, Cadillac Voodoo Choir, Catfish, Neutronium, Espantapajaros, Sean and Danni, Trey Gadler, Hugo Rodriguez, Jamie Ashby, Mark Gammon, & Mike Rosenbaum @ The Continental Club – Benefit at the continental.

Buzzfest XXVI, featuring Jane’s Addiction, Dirty Heads, Social Distortion, Evans Blue, Seether, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Puddle of Mudd, Middle Class Rut, Flogging Molly, My Darkest Days, The Airborne Toxic Event, Young the Giant, New Politics, & Electric Touch @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion – Buzzfest #26 shows its cutting edge prowess with its golden oldies circuit headliners Jane’s Addition.

Exposed Music Festival, featuring Gift Of Slaughter, The Costigans, Life Stage, Broken Autonomy, Sol34, Glenn Bryant Band, After Deception, Adamantium, Lone Star Hippie, Show No Mercy, We Die As Heroes, Overdose, The Rite, Avendicus, Five Eyes Wide, Khain, & Mistress Juliya @ Warehouse Live (Studio) – Oh Fuck another festival? Really? What the hell?!!!

Master P & No Limit Records 20th Anniversary Concert & B-Day Celebration, featuring Master P, Mystikal, The No Limit Family, Silk the Shocker, Romeo, Black Don Propain, Kay I, D, Ms. Chee, Bengie, T-Bo, Oak Tree, Tim Ned, Gangsta, Tank Dallas Blocker, 2Kool, Ace High, & more @ House of Blues – Zoinks and now a Rap fest. See it’s just a little out of control this week.

Houston International Festival, featuring Robert Cray Band, Shunyata Belly Dance, Soul Rebels Brass Band, Mike Stinson Band, Raniel Pino Afro Cuban Orchestra feat. Cecile, Mayapuris, Travis Caudle, Houston International Folk Dancers, International Shaolin Wushu Martial Arts, Atash with Abbos Kosimov, Rhythm India, ConeXao, Raindrop Turkish House Anatolian Dancers, Keb’ Mo’, Golden Dragon Acrobats, Lil Brian & the Travelers, Come See My Dead Person, Mark Towns Latin Jazz Band, Rathna Kumar, David and Chandra Courtney, Cuadro La Tempestad Flamenco Company, Oriental Arts Dancers, Kalangan Indian Dance School, Collective Sound Cloggers, Sunanda Nair School of Indian Dance, Guangdong Chinese Dance Troupe, Mixteco Ballet Folklorico, Mia Borders, H-Town Jukes, Francisco Guevara Trio, Anjali School of Indian Dance, Nrityasiri Indian Dancers, Wu Changlu School of Music, Gypsy Dance Center, Ruben Moreno and his Creole Soul Band, HSPVA Jazz All-Stars, Mariachi MECA Kids, Indian Culture Center, & more @ Downtown Houston – Yup, you didn’t think I’d skip this one, did ya?

Monday, May 2

The Growlers, Bass Drum of Death @ Fitzgerald’s – Weirdo surfy 60’s echoey low-fi awesomeness – that be the growlers

The Low Anthem, Daniel Lefkowitz @ Fitzgerald’s – soft whispery folky tunes – that be the Low Anthem.

Sepultura, Belphegor, Hate, Keep of Kalessin, Neuraxis, Bonded By Blood @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake) – Bone crushing Metal, that be Sepultura.

Tuesday, May 3

Steve Earle @ Cactus Music (5:30PM) – Do I need say anything? Just be there.

Man Man, Shilpa Ray @ Fitzgerald’s – Multi instrumental nutters Philadelphians Man Man make some neurotic music and their shows are supposed to be just as odd.

Wednesday, May 4

Take Action Tour, featuring Silverstein, Bayside, Polar Bear Club, The Swellers, & Texas in July @ Fitzgerald’s – I took action and bought an “Adventure Time” shirt at Hot Topic and I’m not proud of that but it is a cool shirt. Anyhow, HT is the sponsor of this tour.

Ms. Lauryn Hill @ House of Blues – You may also have heard of her.

The Arcade Fire, Explosions in the Sky @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion – You may have heard of these bands as well.  Maybe.

[Special appreciation to Space City Rock and their exhaustive live show calendar listing.]