Your Weekend, Pt. 1: Benefit for Craig + Young Mammals + American Fangs + House Party + More

There’s a ton of stuff to check out this weekend, as often seems to be the case these days — so much so that I almost dunno where to start. [deep breath] Okay, here it goes…

First off, I’m sad to report that the awesome-sounding (if, yeah, kitschy as hell) Yo! MTV RapFest that was supposed to be tomorrow night at the Arena Theatre and featured such blasts-from-the-past as Naughty By Nature, 2 Live Crew, Tone Loc, Ed Lover, & more crucially, Big Daddy Kane & Rob Base, has been postponed to Fri., October 23rd. Dang.

With that out of the way, on we go with tonight’s madness…

Houston Press Benefit for Craig Hlavaty, featuring Room 101, 10th Grade Cutie, Benjamin Wesley, & Muhammid Ali @ The Mink ($5; 9PM)
Good music + a good cause… While valiantly covering SXSW up in Austin a few months back, Press writer Craig Hlavaty managed to accidentally smash up his arm something nasty. Which sucks, because shit like that gets damned expensive, and I’m guessing Craig doesn’t have health insurance, so… Anyway, while I can’t claim to know him all that well, he’s good people & worth lending a hand to. Plus, Room 101‘s noisy punk electronics are extremely cool, Muhammid Ali‘s mid-’90s indie-rock rules, and Benjamin Wesley‘s meandering, trippy one-man-band is awesome.

Young Mammals/News on the March/Deleted Scenes/Flowers to Hide @ Mango’s
Talked this one up some already right over here, but I’ll reiterate very briefly: good shit. Seriously.

The Last Starfighter/American Fangs/Eldridge/Floorbound/Legacy Fails @ Fitzdown ($10)
It’s looking like a night of heavy-ass rock up at Fitz — I like The Last Starfighter‘s raw-throated screamo quite a bit, and those American Fangs guys blow the roof off and get the mosh pit going even when they’re being relatively quiet. Gonna be a good one.

The Menzingers/O Pioneers!!!/Muhammid Ali/Football, Etc. @ 2500 Summer St. (8PM)
I dunno how those crazy guys in Muhammid Ali are going to manage to pull off both this and Craig H.’s benefit show, but I guess we’ll see… This looks to be a good one in its own right; it’s a house party, I believe, over by those weird-ass plaster heads of past Presidents, and I seem to recall hearing that free beer would be involved. Add Muhammid Ali, recent transplants Football, Etc., out-of-town punks The Menzingers, and our very own punk-folk troubadours O Pioneers!!! to the mix, and we’re talking awesomeness abounding.

30footFALL/Al Shire/Battle Rifle @ Fitzgerald’s
Yay, 30footFALL! Does my soul good to know these poppy punk heroes still live, at least sporadically…

Cornbreadd/Benjamin Wesley/Bolt @ Dean’s Credit Clothing
Why in the hell did I not know Dean’s Credit Clothing had moved from next to Notsuoh in downtown to the Montrose, barely three blocks from my old house? Or are there two of ’em, now? Damn…I am one uninformed music-type guy, and that’s just plain embarrassing. Eh, anyway, they’ve got a very cool show tonight — at the downtown location, maybe? — with rapper Cornbreadd & multi-instrumental guy Benjamin Wesley, both of Tha Fucking Transmissions, plus retro-’70s (done right) rawkers Bolt.

Runners-Up:
Holy Fuck/Crocodiles/Limb @ Walter’s on Washington
Hell City Kings/New Disaster/Born Anchor @ Rudyard’s
Alpha Rev/Pale @ Warehouse Live
Space City Records Showcase, featuring Krunkquistadors, 7 Miles from the Sun, After Time Has Passed, & Linda Ln. and the Chaos that Ensued @ Last Concert Cafe ($10)
thelastplaceyoulook/Before There Was Rosalyn @ San Jacinto College Central (Friendswood)