Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Main St. Block Party + Something Fierce + CounterCrawl + Indian Jewelry + More

It’s looking like one hell of a Saturday (January 28th, that is), y’all. Not only is there the “biggie” of the bunch, the Main Street Block Party, but there’s also a ton of other stuff going on besides. Here goes:

2nd Annual Main Street Block Party, featuring What Made Milwaukee Famous, Power Trip, Caddywhompus, Empress Hotel, B L A C K I E, Brains For Dinner, Tax the Wolf, Venomous Maximus, Fight Pretty, League of Extraordinary G’s, Twenty Eleven, Another Run, White Crime, Purple, Bending Villa, Vox and Hound, A dream Asleep, Odessa, The American Heist, March to the Sea, England in 1819, Mills, Electric Attitude, The Dead Revolt, Buda Love, The Mahas, Howler, The Flamin’ Hellcats, The Literary Greats, Bang Bangz, Second Lovers, The Handshake, The Gold Sounds, Nick Gaitan & The Umbrella Man, Lola Cola, Vivian Pikkles and the Sweethearts Über Allës, Guilt Party, Vipers, Moths, Featherface, Harold Borup, Muhammad Ali, Casinos, The Live Lights, Spastic Fit, Shadow Hound, Punk Rock Project, Jim & The Toms, PAPAYA, Daphne, Amorette, Runaway Sun, Whales, Brett Hollis, Frank Freeman, Art Institute, Screwtape, Wayword, Abstract Cannon, Danny Wattz, Ric Roc, Square and Compass, Prairie Cadets, Paris Falls, Don’t Poke the Bear, Unicorn Milk, Fox & Cats, Renzo, Blvd. Nights, BMC, Rob Bass, Pharmer, Ceeplus Bad Knives, Mr. Castillo, Damon Allen, Panchitron, Stephen Farrell, & more @ The Continental Club/The Big Top/The Mink/The Backroom (1PM-2AM)
Like I said, this is the biggie, and since I’ve already talked about it a bit during the last 12 hours or so, I won’t go into a whole lot of detail on it now. But heck, just look at that list — a lot of my absolute-favorite bands in town ({Featherface}, {The Literary Greats}, {Muhammad Ali}, {Paris Falls}, {Venomous Maximus}, {Tax the Wolf}, {B L A C K I E}, {Caddywhompus}, {Cavernous}, {The Gold Sounds}, and plenty more) are playing, along with a bunch of people I’d really like to finally see, like {Second Lovers} & {Guilt Party}, and some awesome out-of-towners. Get on over to Midtown & roam around; the party’s already underway.

Something Fierce/Big Eyes/Muhammad Ali @ Vinyl Junkie (8PM; $8 w/refreshments or $5 w/o)
And then, after rolling around Midtown for a while, you can head on up into the warehouses to catch some great, great punk rock. Cool-ass record shop Vinyl Junkie is hosting my personal pick for Best Punk Band in Town, {Something Fierce}, who are hopefully going to be playing more frequently again after keeping things quiet for a while (on the hometown front, at least; I know they’ve been touring a lot). After 2011’s Don’t Be So Cruel, which wears its Joe Strummer-loving heart right on its sleeve, it should damn well only be a matter of time before these three kids make some major waves…

CounterCrawl 3, featuring Ancient Astronaut Theory, Demonic Hen, Harbeer Sandhu with Josianne Modelo, John Pleucker with David Feil & Lucas Gorham, Julie Rogers, Circuit 7, Lazer Cunts, Alimanas, The Escatones, Components of the Modern Age, Zoofelia, Rivers, FLCON FCKER, & ms. Sandy & ms. YET @ El Rincon Social/The Mothership (3210 Commerce)/Mystery Spot/Donkey Paw (2010 Commerce)/Jenner House (1619 Chapman)/WarHaus (4715 Main) (12PM-1AM)
Okay, so today’s practically the day of dueling festivals — see also the Artopia deal and the Trinity Jazz Fest, below, not to mention the Liberty Fest out at George Bush Park….

I’m not entirely clear on the point behind this one, honestly, but I think it’s kind of like a pub crawl, only they’re more art spaces than pubs, and there’re bands playing at the various locations. Take a look at the flyer over on the side and see if you can decipher any better than I can; the Facebook page for the event makes a bit more sense, thankfully, and you can see when to be where. It’s already started, so get a move on now, especially if you’re into the weirder, more experimental side of things.

GAR Grand Opening, featuring Indian Jewelry @ Galveston Artist Residency (Galveston)
And since we’re talking about experimental stuff… Houston’s favorite skull-exploding psych-noise crew, {Indian Jewelry}, will be down in Galveston, playing at the grand opening of a place called the Galveston Artist Residency — apparently it’s a new group/space that provides free studio space, accommodations, and a stipend to three selected artists (any type of art’s fine) each year, which sounds cool to me. IJ are providing the sonic backdrop to serious contemplation of work by Colin Hunt, Nsenga Knight, Kelly Sears, and Nick Barbee this time around, so if you’re down in the G-town area, stop on by.

Houston Press Artopia, featuring Folk Family Revival, Finnegan, Young Mammals, & DJ Kyle Berg @ Winter Street Studios (2101 Winter St.; 8-11PM)
Well, damn. I was originally planning to recommend going for a one-two punch, right here — I was going to say you should hit the Block Party in the afternoon & early evening, and then head over to Winter Street Studios in time to catch the {Houston Press} Artopia shindig…except that I just glanced at their Website, and, lo and behold, the thing’s totally sold out. Whoa. If you missed a boat, that’s a shame, because it sounds like a cool deal; {Folk Family Revival}, {Finnegan}, and {Young Mammals} are honestly three of the best damn bands in town, of any type or genre, and the debut albums by the first two are both in my list of the top 10 releases of last year. Better luck next time, folks.

Runners-Up:
Camp Lo/Hollywood FLOSS/J Austin/Harkore/The Journey Agents/DJ Sly Foxx/Mark Di Vita @ Numbers
Eyes Burn Electric/Life As Lions @ Fitzgerald’s
Darwin’s Finches/Black Magic Marker/Dada Moda/Clockpole/The Annoysters @ Super Happy Fun Land
11th Annual Trinity Jazz Festival, featuring Kevin Mahogany/Darrell Lavigne/Brennen Nase/Clyde Adams, Jake Langley/Paul English/Jim Kalson/Rob Kazenel, Sharpstown High School Jazz Band, & COTS Jazz Crew @ Trinity Episcopal Church (1015 Holman)
The Handshake @ Cactus Music (3PM)
Mama Tried @ Avant Garden
5th Annual Houston Liberty Festival Benefiting Homes For Our Troops, featuring Mark Chesnutt, Chris Brade, The Texas Tenors, Kevin Black Band, David St. Romain, Dallas McGilberry and the Tierney Brothers, Brothers-N-Arms, Crank Case, Steve Krase and the In Crowd, Gary Boehm and the Texas Bluzzcatz, Krippled Dogz, Ken Gaines, re-enactors, air show, & more @ George Bush Park (16500 Westheimer Pkwy.)
Firehouse Saloon Special Showcase Concert, featuring Drew Kennedy, Walt Wilkins, Jason Eady, Josh Grider, Susan Gibson, & Jamie and Kelly from The Trishas @ Firehouse Saloon
Honky @ Big Woodrow’s