Hey, all -- it's been utter silence from over here this week, I realize, and I apologize wholeheartedly for that. My life got pretty well swallowed up by the Day Job these past seven days or so, to the point where I'd go home & spend most of my evenings on the couch with the laptop frantically trying to get work shit done. sigh. Goes that way sometimes, folks. I've got to keep this one (relatively) brief, as well, but I didn't want to not mention the ridiculously cool lineup of shows going on tonight.

First of all, though, a couple of show news-related things. First up, apparently Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have had to reschedule the first ten shows of their impending tour, one of which was -- dum-da-de-dum -- scheduled to be right here in Houston on May 16th. That show has now been moved waaaaaaay back, all the way to Friday, September 24th. I'm assuming that if you bought your ticket already, it'll be honored at the rescheduled show (that'd be pretty shitty, if not), but check with whoever you got it from for the details.

Also, a show this Saturday, April 17th, has seen some changes. Casiotone For the Painfully Alone and Magical Beautiful were originally slated to play at The Husk, the now-former pseudo-venue in the soon-to-not-be-empty retail space next to Khon's Bar. Not sure if the fact that somebody's going to be leasing that space shortly prompted the move, but whatever the deal, CFtPA will now be playing over at Mango's as part of the stellar-looking sIngs CD release show (no idea if Magical Beautiful are still playing, tho').

Lastly, while it's likely that everybody in the H-town show-going universe but me probably already knows this, I wanted to mention that it looks like The Engine Room has been resurrected, this time as The Warsaw. Which is a very cool thing, in my book -- boomy though it was (is?), I kinda missed the place. The possibly-bad part, though, is that booker Onstage Events has shifted all its shows after May 14th over to The Warsaw from Wired Live (formerly The Meridian; confused yet?). In fact, there are no shows listed at Wired Live past May, which might not bode well for the venue...

Anyway, here we go for tonight:

High On Fire/Priestess/Black Cobras/Bison B.C. @ Walter's
Hell fucking yes. Ever since Marshall Preddy pointed me towards Quebecois retro-metal dudes Priestess and had me listening to their classic Hello Master nearly nonstop for five months or so, I've been dying to see these guys live. Sadly, since they live in, well, Canada, they just don't seem to tour down this way all that often -- I may be wrong, but I think tonight'll be their very first Houston show, and holy shit is it going to rule.

If you haven't heard the band, they're honestly what you secretly wish all those grungy, fuzzy-edged, '70s-sounding metal/rock bands currently making the rounds would sound like; I swear to God, they're the band you're hearing in your head when you listen to people like Wolfmother and feel just a little bit let down. Beyond that, High on Fire are pretty amazing in recorded form -- to my mind, they're a bit more solidly on the "metal" side of the line, while Priestess are almost more just flat-out "rock" -- and I hear their live shows are killer, too. Sorry to anybody else who's playing tonight, but this is where I'm gonna be.

KTRU Live Vol. 2 Release Party, featuring Ben Godfrey (listenlisten), The Literary Greats, The Secret Prostitutes, & Doggebi @ Avant Garden (8PM)
Oh, boy, this one hurts. In spite of the above, I'd really love to catch this show, too -- I didn't get KTRU Live Vol. 1 'til relatively recently, and I swore a blood oath that I wouldn't drop the ball if the next installment of the "KTRU Live" series came 'round again. And yet, here I am. Argh.

It's even more painful because I freaking love both Ben Godfrey's day-job band, listenlisten, and The Literary Greats; they're two of the best bands in town, bar none, and I could listen to the music they make all damn day long (esp. "On A Rope" and "Listen to the Band," respectively). Get on out to this one and get a copy of the second KTRU comp -- you won't regret it.

Mouse Fire/The Caprolites/Jennifer O'Brien @ Notsuoh
Dang; this one makes tonight quadruply painful, because I missed Mouse Fire the last time they came through town and I really, really wanted to catch 'em this time. They're pretty cool, a Jellyfish-esque indie-pop band with a tinge of Talking Heads weirdness thrown in. See here for a fuller writeup of what they sound like, plus a couple of MP3s.

Benjamin Wesley/Warbler/Robert Ellis @ The Mink (8PM)
Yeah, this one's likely to get overlooked, sadly, with all the heavy-ass metal and KTRU-y goodness going on, and that's a shame, because Benjamin Wesley is one of the most unique songwriters & performers in town right now, with his cool/weird one-man-band thing and the effortlessly laidback vibe; on top of that, all-round musical handyman Robert Ellis shines on his own folky, bluesy, Southern Gothic-sounding songs even more than he does in the dozen or so bands he's currently playing in. Good shit.

Runners-Up:
Murder By Death/Ha Ha Tonka/Linfinity @ Mango's
Girl Shy Screening, featuring music by Two Star Symphony @ Discovery Green (8-10PM)
Driver F/A Goodnight Crisis/Over 9000/Barely Blind/Jerusalem/Altriad/Uprise of the Fallen @ Wired Live (formerly The Meridian)
Miss Leslie & Her Juke-Jointers @ Hyde's Cafe (Spring)
Chenoa Farrell & Trustees/Hell's Engine/13 Black Coffins/Vatos Locos/Wild Rabbit Salad @ Dan Electro's Guitar Bar
Hub City Stompers/Molotov Compromise/The Failed Attempt/Always Guilty @ Fitzgerald's
Mike Stinson/Ned Sublette @ The Big Top
A Fistful of Soul, featuring Urbane Guerrilla Sound System @ The Mink (9:30PM)
The Holdouts @ Rudyard's
Solas @ McGonigel's Mucky Duck
Jesse F. Keeler (MSTRKRFT) @ Rich's
The Hot Things/Chelsea Hotel @ The 19th Hole (The Woodlands)
iFest, featuring Mark Towns Latin Jazz Band @ City Hall
2010 Texas Crawfish & Music Festival, featuring Brandon Rhyder, Bang! ('90s metal tribute), Leroy Thomas & the Zydeco Roadrunners, Fondue Monks, Rick Trevino, Vallejo, Gerard Delafose Zydeco Band, Halffnelson, & Tuna Sin @ Old Town Spring (Spring)

Labels: Flyeration, H-Town News, Musical Crap, Public Service Announcements, Things To Do

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