Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Buxton + Ben Nichols + Nava’s Tour Kickoff + Miss Leslie + Crystal Method + More

Hey, y’all — yours truly spent the whole damn day fighting something, got wiped out around lunchtime, and just barely made it back on his feet after. sigh. So yeah, this is somehow, unbelievably, even later than yesterday’s little rundown.

Which sucks, because we got a little bit of news last night that people maybe-kinda should’ve known before now, namely that Tyga‘s show that was scheduled for tonight (Saturday, September 8th, that is) up at Bayou Music Center was cancelled; no idea on the reason why. Hopefully anybody out there who’d been planning on going already heard…

Anyway, there’s still a lot of good stuff going on, of course; here’s what sounds cool to me:

Ben Nichols (Lucero)/Buxton @ Walter’s
Yeah, yeah, whatever. I know I’ve ranted & raved about {Buxton} on this blog before, but I’m going to do it again: these guys are one of the best, most thoughtful, catchiest, most honest, somehow, bands I’ve ever run across. They play country with a small “C,” about lives lived simply, pain you have to learn to deal with, and off-the-beaten-path places people you’ll never meet proudly call home, and they do it damn near effortlessly. Check ’em out tonight before they head out on tour. I’m told, as well, that this’ll be the last show for band member Haley Barnes, so make sure you wish her well…

And hey, as if the one band weren’t great enough, they also happen to be opening for Ben Nichols, none other than the frontman (and principal songwriter, I believe) for one of my all-time-favorite roots-rock bands Ever, Lucero. The man can wrap his raggedy voice around a tune about broken-down people, friends and enemies and lovers, like few other people can.

Nava’s Farewell/Tour Kickoff Party, featuring Nava (the last place you look), AThousandColours, Castle Lights, Days Drive, & Bad Luck Irish @ Dean’s
Okay, don’t panic. Just because this is “Nava’s Farewell Party” doesn’t mean that Nava — lead singer for badass post-emo band {the last place you look} and an all-round cool guy — is actually leaving town. No, no, no. I had the same momentary freakout and got a hold of him about it, and he assured me that no, he’s not forsaking H-town, just going out on tour for a while, and he will be coming back. phew.

So hit the party and enjoy the hell out of it — Nava himself will be there playing, which is kind of a rare thing, I think, as will the incredible {AThousandColours}, whose song “make your amends.” literally makes my soul crack into a billion little pieces every time I hear it, {Castle Lights} and {Days Drive}, who I keep hearing good things about, and {Bad Luck Irish}, who I’d never heard of before but who crack me up with their name alone. Recommended heartily.

The Crystal Method/Sean Carnahan/Surain @ Stereo Live
Yeah, when I first saw this one, I had to re-read it a couple of times to make sure I was understanding it correctly. The Crystal Method, who are/were once, at least, one of the biggest electronic acts in the freaking country/world, are playing at Stereo Live? How in the hell will they fit the crowd in there? I mean no disrespect to the Stereo Live folks — and they’ve been pulling in a lot of extremely cool EDM folks recently, so my hat’s off to ’em — but it doesn’t seem like that big a place, y’know?

But hey, there it is. Now’s your chance to go hear “Busy Child” or “Born Too Slow” live and in-person without needing to kill a hundred people just to get close to the stage. (Or maybe not; maybe it’ll be packed to the rafters, and they’ll be turning people away. No clue, with The Kids These Days…)

Miss Leslie’s CD Kickoff Party, featuring Country Jim & His Country All-Stars, Miss Leslie, & more @ The Track Shack (Spring)
You might recall that a week or so ago, I posted a note about awesome, awesome, old-school honky-tonk country musician Miss Leslie (aka Leslie Anne Sloan) starting a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new album and accompanying eBook. Well, thanks to folks like you & me (yeah, I donated, too), she not only made her goal of $10,000, she beat it by $1000; great, great news. I’m seriously looking forward to the album.

To celebrate, then, she’s having a “kickoff party” for the CD tonight up in Spring, at a place I’d never heard of before called The Track Shack. Make it up there if you can; you definitely won’t be sorry you did.

Runners-Up:
Carolyn Wonderland @ Last Concert Cafe
Tycho/The Album Leaf @ Fitzgerald’s
Southbound Drive/The Beans/Handsome Ransom @ Mango’s
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club/Espantapajaros @ Rudyard’s
The Infamous Stringdusters/Days N’ Daze @ Fitzgerald’s
Wayne “The Train” Hancock @ Goode’s Armadillo Palace
ASYLUM, featuring Mr. Castillo, Hank Doyle, Sam Ackerman, & Lovers DJ Set @ The Fairview (315 Fairview)
Southern Backtones @ Belle’s Landing (West Columbia)