Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Something Fierce (Reviewed!) + The Hold Steady + Joe Pug + Del Tha Funky Homosapien + More

Man. It’s looking to be a crazy, crazy weekend, so I didn’t want to miss giving at least a brief rundown of what all’s going on, starting with tonight, Fri., April 1st…

First and foremost in my mind, at least, is the previously-mentioned but still awesome-sounding {Something Fierce} record release show going on this evening up at Mango’s — I’ve had the chance to live with the band’s new album, Don’t Be So Cruel, for a couple of months now, and it just gets better & better every time I hear it. Fans of The Clash and/or The Jam, you need to hear this, seriously. Check out the full review over here.

It helps, too, that {Fat Tony} will be emceeing & DJing for the show, and local weirdsters {Wicked Poseur} will be there, too, alongside garage-punks The Hangouts…

Then, of course, also as mentioned previously, there’s the first installment of the Big Dance series of shows, put on by the folks at the NCAA as part of the Final Four extravaganza currently exploding our fair city. Here’s all you really need to know about tonight: The Hold Steady, for free, on the grassy lawn at Downtown’s Discovery Green, with arena-rock goodness bouncing off all the skyscrapers. A massive night in the making, y’all.

(Oh, and show up early to catch {Los Skarnales}, to boot! Those guys rule…)

Over at the Mucky Duck, there’s an excellent show tonight, with folk-ish types Joe Pug and Strand of Oaks, the former of which flat-out freaking blows me away and the latter of which intrigues the hell out of me. Click on over here to snag an MP3 of each.

The last I heard about the Del Tha Funky Homosapien show tonight at Fitz, it was just Del — nobody else on the bill. That’s apparently changed, however, and now there’re a crapload of other excellent folks playing, including {Spain Colored Orange}, {Born Again Virgins}, & {The Examples}. Whoa; when did that happen?

And down on the lower end of Midtown, at the Caroline Collective, there’s an interesting show with Ben + Ciaran (about whom I’ve heard good things) and Me With the Gameboy (whose name I just happen to find hysterically funny, and which is apparently Will Schorre, who I think did a remix for {The Manichean} not long ago). Apparently they’re both part of something called The Woods Collective, which sounds interesting, at least.

The Continental Club has an interesting lineup, too, notably cool for {The Tyburn Jig} playing — if you haven’t seen/heard ’em, you really need to check ’em out. What I’ve heard, at least, is like Nick Cave playing with long-dead surf-Western band Death Valley.

Over in Montrose at Rudz, it’s Metal Nite, apparently — {Venomous Maximus} are headlining, along with {Burn The Boats} and somebody named Eagle Claw. Roooooaaarrrr.

Last but not least, Super Happy Fun Land is hosting a “Spazzathon” tonight, which they’re saying is an “Open mic for solo spazz performers.” Which really doesn’t narrow it down for me one damn bit, but hey, it sounds bizarrely entertaining and features local noise/improv/strange folks like {Muzak John} & {Caleb Fraid}, so…

Here’s the just-the-facts list:

Something Fierce (record release)/The Hangouts/Wicked Poseur/Fat Tony @ Mango’s
NCAA The Big Dance Concert Series: AT&T Block Party, featuring Sublime with Rome, The Hold Steady, & Los Skarnales @ Discovery Green (free!; 4-10PM)
Joe Pug/Strand of Oaks @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
Del Tha Funky Homosapien @ Fitzgerald’s
Venomous Maximus/Eagle Claw/Burn The Boats @ Rudyard’s
Me With the Gameboy/Ben + Ciaran/Bandaids/Surgery @ Caroline Collective (4820 Caroline; 8-11PM)
The Tyburn Jig/Jeff Boortz Band/Marcus Acker/The Last Cigarette/Fetish Vendetta @ The Continental Club
Spazzathon @ Super Happy Fun Land