THIS WEEK’S SPOTLIGHT IS ON
The show we hate the most.

Saturday October 18th
Commerce Street Arts Foundation Benefit
The Jonbenet / A Dream Asleep / Balaclavas / Basses Loaded / Bridge & Tunnel
2215 Commerce St.
$10 8PM
Complimentary Food and Drinks. Plus Fire Spinners, Belly Dancers, Aerosol Warfare Installation, and Body Painting.

This week we swam in shows whose sauce was indeed awesome but we have to go with the one show that we hate most. Why do we hate it? Is it because it’s for a great cause? No, that’s a good thing. Commerce Street has been a Houston institution and the idea of trying to raise money to buy it from the current owners is a noble one. Is it the Jon Benet’s heavy ass shows, the passionate performances of Balaclavas, or the fact that Eric I Heart U added Bridge and Tunnel to this bill at the last minute? No way, those are all awesome and great! What? The complimentary food & drinks, fire spinners, and Art? No, also mostly cool (admittedly the body painting is pretty passe). Oh wait, Basses Loaded is playing their last show? Yes! That’s it! Here are one of Houston’s most inventive and clever bands. A band could be a one note gimmick but instead actually shines because of great musicianship and they can write some pretty great songs. Why they are calling it quits is their business but for us it is a dark day in Houston. Go and see them as this will be your last chance and they are really really that good!

ALSO THIS WEEK

Friday, October 17th

Tambersauro (record release) / listenlisten / Eat Grapes / Hollywood Black
@ The Mink (8PM, $5)
Oh man this is sweetness. Tambersauro’s new album is like the holy grail of prog and if you saw them at the block party you’d know how crazy they can be with their time signatures and performance. Toss in the neo-folk listenlisten and Eat Grapes (Tyler from the ever brilliant Balaclavas) and you’ve got yourself one sweet show. Oh hell, let’s throw in the ever popular Hollywood Black too. Why not?

Wicked Poseur/ The Secret Prostitutes / The Homopolice
@ 2220 Commerce
Ouch! That’s cool local show number 2 for this Friday. First ya got the Beau Beasley Spain Coloured Orange tribute band - The Homopolice. Coolness! That’s followed by the Chris Ryan fueled Secret Prostitutes. Super awesome coolness! Then Arthur Bates/Chris Cascio kill you as Wicked Poeseur. Super mega awesome coolness raised to the 20th power!

Opeth / High on Fire / Baroness / Burn the Boats (aftershow)
@ Warehouse Live
How do you make a name for yourself in Sweedish metal? Yeah you could got all goth, burn a church, kill your bassist or whatnot but that’s so passe. Hey, here’s an idea add some acoustic guitars, some piano, and why not just put a picture of a pretty orchid. Well, too bad Opeth did that 13 years ago so yr gonna have to come up with something else by yourself.

Bart Davenport / Elaine Greer
@ Walter’s on Washington
Oakland lounge/soul/popster Bart Davenport goes head to head with one of our finest folky pop grande dames - Elaine Greer.

Barkus Sly & the Golden Egg / We Both Know / Feast of Dead Animals / Mako / Komarov / Stasis.Death
@ Notsuoh
Ooooh Barkus has some sweet crazy screamy metallic punky prog action going on. Nice! The rest of this bill looks promising too.

The Backsliders / Electric Attitude / Lucas Gorham
@ Rudyard’s
Lucas killed at the block party with his improv slide guitar and later in the Satin Hooks doin’ that throat thing. I dunno if he’s going the experimental/improv route or the more straight rock but is should be worth showing up early for if you’re headed out to this one.

Reverend Horton Heat / Asleep at the Wheel / Gary Clark Jr. / Whiskey River Revival
@ House of Blues
Meh. Reverend Horton Heat are OK, I guess, and Asleep at the Wheel play some nice Texas swing and Whiskey River Revival….Wait! isn’t that the lead singer for Hell City Kings doing some lap-steel driven country? Awesome.

Saturday, October 18

Bring Back The Guns / Bridge & Tunnel
@ The I Heart U Space (7397 Ashcroft)
Wooo BBTG at the I Heart U space. Their Block Party show was pretty loose and rollickin’ fun. New York’s Bridge and Tunnel play some nice indie pop with some lovely melodic and fluid guitar work. So this should be pretty sweet.

Wanda Jackson
@ The Continental Club
Hot Damn! Miss Let’s have a Party herself, Wanda Jackson, was doin’ Rockabilly back when it wasn’t considered very ladylike to do so. She may be gettin’ on in years but I hear she done puts on a fine show even to this day.

The Golden Boys / Guitars / Black Black Gold
@ Rudyard’s
This just popped out of nowhere. Dallas pop punk band the Golden Boys with the Monocles/Alarma/Lenny Briscoe mash-up Guitars and the Texas Psych sounds of Black Black Gold. Way to try to sneak a solid show under our radar, but it won’t work!

Girl Talk / Hearts of Darkness / Grand Buffet
@ Warehouse Live
Yay Girl Talk and his copyright-lawyer aneurysm inducing mash ups. Oh and it’s all ages and free if you go to their sponsor’s website (Link)

DemonFest 2024, featuring
Temple of Wrath, Blind Sanctity, Burn The Wicked, Last Rosary, Agony Within,Lycophile, Bloodvoid, El Desmadre, Burnt Face Jack, Cerebral Down, Cain Was Able, Blunt30, Fleshhook,Krankshaft, Ethreal, Synikal, & Bitchslicer
@ Broadway Billiards (Pasadena)
OK Normally I keep my shows within the loop but I have to mention this metal fest because you have the following words DemonFest, Broadway, Billiards, and Pasadena just thrown out there as if that isn’t one seriously weird juxtaposition. PS. El Desmadre is playing. Yesssss!.

House of Blues Grand Opening,
featuring The Blues Brothers Formal Classic Revue
@ House of Blues
Hey remember the scene in Animal House with the folk singer in the staircase? John Belushi where are you when we need you?

Monday, October 20th

The Ton Tons / Flowers to Hide
@ Boondocks
Yes, the Ton Tons are back! YESSSSS!!!!! Need I say any more? OK it’s free. More, you say? OK Flowers to Hide opens. Now go.

The Ting Tings / The Watermarks
@ House of Blues
Cute melodic dancey guilty pleasure of the week direct from the UK.

Tuesday, October 21st

Jordan / This Year’s Tiger / Barkus, Sly, and the Golden Egg / Fire Team Charlie
@ Walter’s on Washington ($7)
Well this might be good or this might be bad but Myspace is jacking with me with that damn “scan your PC for viruses” advert that I can’t believe they allow. Oh wait it’s myspace! Well hey they came all the way from France, I’ll mention it.

Janet Jackson/LL Cool J
@ Toyota Center
Wardrobe malfunction queen and the white-stick deodorant king take you on a trip on the wayback machine.

Wednesday, October 22nd

Jack Of Heart & Welfare Mothers
@ SoundExchange
7PM EARLY/FREE/FREE BEER
Wooo Garage rock straight from France and the Welfare Mothers to boot!!! Seriously, If you don’t go. I am so hating you. This is going to be increduble and it will cost you is nothing…though really you should throw-in some money in when they pass the hat. The great thing is after this show you can then go to….

Health / The McKenzies / B L A C K I E / The Wiggins / Female Demand
@ Numbers
A friend of mine from New Zealand went raving about Health and I can see why with the whole furious drumming, the crazy guitar action, and the furious energy of their recordings, you just have to know this is going to be great live. But the whole bill is just as hot. Check it The McKenzies whose pop could not be stopped by a power outage at the Block Party, B L A C K I E who always steals the Block Party with his buddies Cop Warmth, the ever endearing Wiggins with his futuristic-retro pop, and Female Demand who seemed to get a lot of high praise from people I spoke with at the Block Party. Oh yeah and we have something to do with this.

Thursday, October 23rd

The Bermondsey Joyriders (ex-Cock Sparrer/Chelsea) / Born Liars
@ Rudyard’s
Ya gotta love Cock Sparrier (Gary Lamming’s old band back in the day). Not only were they hugely influential in the proto-punk days but they gave Malcolm McClaren the finger when he offered to sign them. Why? That bastard wanted them to cut their hair and didn’t buy them a round of beers. That story just melts my old-punk heart. Opening are Born Liars who carry that old snotty torch with pride.

Butthole Surfers / Whorehound
@ The Meridian
Hey remember when Gibby Hanes used to come down to Lexington to score heroin? Ha, yeah good times. Oh hey, look, Whorehound is opening. Awesome!

Weezer / Angels and Airwaves / Tokyo Police Club
@ Reliant Arena
Weezer. There I said it.