Good Things, Tonight: Palestinian Hip-Hop + Art Cars + More

Well, I’m trying to wrap up work so I can run to the post office, but I just can’t bring myself to bail w/o mentioning some of the extremely, extremely cool things going on tonight. This weekend initially looks pretty scary, when you look at it — I mean, on Saturday we’ve got not only REO Speedwagon and Loverboy turning the Sam Houston Race Park into a dread vortex of Suckitude, but on the same damn day Up With People is also playing Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion up in The Woodlands.

Plus, there’ve been some changes to shows lately, which is a little weird — beyond the Cat Power thing (which has now been rescheduled for October 10th, if you were wondering), Hank Williams III also had to reschedule (no date yet, but apparently it may be in June).

Hank III can’t hold a candle, though, to two poor out-of-towner bands, Femme Fatality and Screaming Mechanical Brain, who appear to’ve had both their local shows this weekend cancelled because the respective venues shut down (at least temporarily). They were supposed to play at The Forum down in La Porte tomorrow and at Super Happy Fun Land on Sunday…neither of which is currently (as far as I know) open. Damn. Somebody out there in The Universe with some serious mojo must really not like one of those bands…

Thankfully, The Universe is merciful, and it understands that such an imbalance of Craptacularness cannot stand. So it rights itself by happily handing us (people who live here in Houston, that is) some truly fine shows to even the scales. Here’s what’s on for tonight, Fri., May 9th:

DAM/Mohammad Al-Farra/DJ Rhythm/H.I.S.D./…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead @ Warehouse Live (11PM)
Wanted to mention this one first & foremost, because it sounds like a truly once-in-a-lifetime deal. The Houston Palestine Film Festival (bet you didn’t know we had one of those, did you?) has partnered with the hard-working Matt Sonzala of HoustonSoReal to bring to town a trio(?) of honest-to-God Palestinian hip-hop folks, DAM, Mohammad Al-Farra from PR, and DJ Rhyme, plus local heroes H.I.S.D. and, um, Austin’s …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead.

The hell? No offense to AYWKUBTTOD, but the last time I checked, the band was neither Palestinian nor hip-hop, so their inclusion here seems really weird. But hey, that’s what the Warehouse Live Website says, so I’m gonna roll with that for now. Either way, I’d go just to check out the Palestinian DJs & MCs, because what I’ve heard of ’em so far has been very cool.

Art Car Parade Kick-Off, featuring Hearts of Animals, Young Mammals (aka The Dimes), Wicked Poseur, DJ Ceeplus, & PRKL8R @ The Orange Show (7PM)
Yeah, I know this is an unofficial kickoff show for the Art Car Parade, but what the hey — it doesn’t look like there’s an official one (at least, not with any good bands playing that I know about), so this’ll have to do. And with Hearts of Animals, Young Mammals/Dimes Mk. II, Wicked Poseur, Ceeplus, & PRKL8R, hell, we don’t need an official one. This is gonna be an awesome show.

dUNETX/Ragged Hearts @ Rudyard’s
Man…it seems like a long time since I’ve seen either of these folks, so seeing ’em together at Rudyard’s is a very, very good thing. I’ll admit that I’ve been up-and-down on dUNETX over the band’s long-ass life, but I’ve gotta admire their staying power — seriously, are there any bands in town who still gig regularly who’re that old, other than maybe The Hates? Beyond them, Ragged Hearts are extremely cool, in a Social Distortion punk-gone-country kind of way. Should be a good one.

Future Blondes/DJ Cub/Dead Roses @ River Oaks Theatre (midnight)
Yep, mentioned this briefly late-late-late last night, but here it is again — late, I know, but dammit, you’re all adults, right?

Rainchild/Weston Brown/71 Stars/Blackwood Company @ Warehouse Live (7PM)
I dunno much about most of these bands, but I’ve chatted a bit with the Blackwood Company folks, and they’re extremely nice, and fairly talented, to boot. Never seen them live, unfortunately, but I like what I’ve heard of ’em so far.

Alright, so there it is — now off you go. And off I go to pick up my mail before Mr. Postman throws it away…