Record Store Day @ Cactus + Not-So-Secret Judas Bear Show Today!

Okay, so I was a bit confused about this one — I’d thought today’s Record Store Day thing I’d been hearing about from the Cactus Music crew was just something at their happy little store, but noooo…apparently it’s North America-wide, if not further. Turns out lots of indie music stores all across the country are throwing wide their doors today and having all kinds of fun & entertaining stuff going on, as a sort of show of indie-store solidarity. Neat, if you ask me…

I can’t speak for other stores, but the party’s starting over at Cactus, it sounds like. They’ve got live music from the reportedly-excellent South Austin Jug Band starting at noon (er, right now, that is?), followed by James McMurtry at 3PM, (free?) beer from St. Arnold’s, a bunch of new releases (like Jason Isbell‘s Live at Twist & Shout), free pizza from 1-3PM, a vinyl listening party from 4-7PM, and tons of unspecified freebies (I’m guessing things like stickers, buttons, & label samplers). Plus, you can enter to win a Red Hot Chili Peppers skateboard, autographed stuff, and maybe even a guitar. Hot damn…

So, there you go — it’s a beautiful damn day, so get on out & head over to Shepherd Plaza to enjoy some music and support one of the few true bastions of independent music left in this city (while you’re at it, head on over to Sound Exchange, Soundwaves, & Vinal Edge, too; I dunno if they’re “celebrating” the day, as well, but you’ve gotta spread the love, right?). Cactus (the new Cactus, that is) is housed at 2110 Portsmouth, around the corner from Freebirds & Amy’s and across the street from all the horseshoe(?)-throwers at The Stag’s Head. I swear, as soon as the freakin’ lawn guy shows up (“I’ll be there in 20 minutes!” was an hour and a half ago…argh), me and The Munchkin will be making our way over there for some big-ass Freebirds burritos & some cool music stuff.

Also On: Just in case you thought the brilliantly-conceived Secret Saturday Show thing had died an untimely death, take heart. I have it on relatively good authority that Austin/Houston dweller Thane Matcek (Sad Like Crazy/ex-All Transistor/ex-Linoleum Experiment/etc.) will be over at The Shady Tavern in the Heights (it’s at 1206 W. 20th St.) this afternoon with his newest musical project, band The Judas Bear.

It’s gonna be really freakin’ cool, people, trust me — I’ve been a fan of both Matcek and collaborator Mark’s (Richardson, I think?) work for years now, and pretty much everything they touch is strange but good. And is “J.D.” J.D. Tucker from Over Sea Under Stone/Lenny Briscoe? Even better…

Lomax over @ the Houston Press recently profiled “Sit Shiva”, one of The J.B.’s neatest songs, so I’d highly recommend checking out the song and/or the band themselves up at the Tavern this afternoon. I dunno today’s lineup for sure, but per normal SSS operation, DJs start up at noon while the bands play from 2-5PM. And hey, it’s free-free-free (as is the Cactus Record Store Day thing, btw), so you can’t beat that.