Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Danneurysm + Shellee Coley (Rev’d!) + Drag the River + Megadeth + Mikey & The Drags + More

Crap, crap, crap. Running late, seemingly as always — been a hell of a week, y’all, and I’m still catching up, even though it’s now Friday (March 2nd, to be precise). sigh.

Anyway, there’s plenty good going on tonight, so here we go:

29-95.com Presents, featuring Danneurysm (Nirvana tribute), The Energy, Muhammad Ali, & Picture Book @ The Continental Club
Whoo-ah. Head on up to The Continental Club tonight, and expect the walls to fall down. Snarling, straight-ahead punks {The Energy} are great, surprisingly tuneful noise-rockers {Muhammad Ali} are awesome, and hell, how can I not like a Nirvana tribute band made up of members of {Grandfather Child}, {Black Congress}, and Darkest Hour? (That’d be Danneurysm, by the way.) Holy hell yes.

Shellee Coley (CD release)/The Hems @ Warehouse Live (Green Room)
Finally got a chance to give a good listen to country/folk/pop singer {Shellee Coley}‘s new full-length, Where It Began, this week, and holy crap is it good. I was a little leery at first, I’ll admit it, mostly because I’ve heard a lot of singer/songwriters lately, and they kind of wear me down sometimes. Coley’s something else, though; it’s been a long damn time since I listened to a song that honestly made me start tearing up, but she pulled it off. Check out the full review over here.

Megadeth/Mötörhead/Lacuna Coil/Volbeat @ Verizon Wireless Theater
Yes, I’m well aware that Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine is a grade-A douche — hell, that’s not news. And frankly, I’m not even that much of a fan of the band, but dammit, love ’em or hate ’em, they shaped a large chunk of the music of my formative metalhead years, as did rock gods Mötörhead themselves. All hail…

Big Head Todd and The Monsters/Drag the River @ House of Blues
No offense to Big Head Todd fans out there, but I really don’t give a damn about the band; never got into ’em back in their ’90s heyday, and I certainly haven’t gotten into ’em the second time around. I do, however, freaking love rough-edged alt-country dudes Drag the River, whose 2008 release, You Can’t Live This Way, is absolutely great.

Bare Wires/Mikey & The Drags/Purple/Gutterworld/Guilt Party/Jim and the Toms @ Nak Productions (4121 Bartlett)
Oh, yes, this is a nice one… Not only is there headliner Bare Wires, about whom I’ve heard good, good things, but there’s also the excellent, excellent Mikey & The Drags, who I really-truly need to get out & see sometime — I was a big fan of frontman Miguel‘s previous band, The McKenzies, and these guys dive even further backwards in the pop timeline to mine some defiantly old-school power pop/proto-punk, and they do it damn well. Take a listen over here.

And hey, there’s also {Guilt Party}, who are one of the best punkish bands I’ve seen/heard in recent years and who sport one hell of an H-town scene pedigree, and Jim and the Toms, who were a pleasant surprise at The Mink last year.

Mama Tried/Bellhound/Jimmy Lee Deen @ Last Concert Cafe
My friend Chris has been trying desperately to get me to go see {Mama Tried}, and sadly, I keep scuttling all his attempts at it. Sorry, man. I honestly wish I could make it out, though, because they sound very damn cool. One of these days…

Runners-Up:
Absolute Pistol (CD release)/Alkari/Potbelly @ BFE Rock Club (11528 Jones Rd.)
The 5 With 1, featuring Mantis, K-Rino, The Niceguys, Franchise & Yung, Lee Lonn, Nathan Quick, DJ Charlee Brown, Cory Wilson, Twenty Eleven, & Thurogood Wordsmith @ Villains
Always Guilty/Conflikto/Gutter Rats/The Swamps/Rat Poison/DJ Mr. Simmerdown @ Mango’s
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, featuring John Legend @ Reliant Stadium
Guitars & Lonestars Country Showcase, featuring Reagan Firestorm, Justin Van Sant, & Susan Hickman @ House of Blues (Foundation Room)
NEUWAVE! 80?s Dance Party, featuring Ceeplus Bad Knives, Mr. Castillo, & DJ Shanley @ Boondocks