Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Canned Acoustica VI + The Literary Greats + Pale + A Sundae Drive + More

It’s honestly a little bit quiet tonight — Friday, September 14th — at least on the shows front, but what’s out there is definitely still awesome. Gotta keep it brief today, so here we go:

Canned Acoustica VI, featuring B L A C K I E, Craig Kinsey, New York City Queens, Featherface, & Second Lovers @ Warehouse Live (Green Room)
Yes, yes, yes. Oh, wait…dammit, again? I keep meaning to go to these Canned Acoustica sessions/benefits, but sadly, I’ve on Daddy duty tonight, after getting out to see Mission of Burma last night, so I’ll be missing it yet again.

Which hurts, because I really, really like the overall idea of the whole thing: watch some of Houston’s best and brightest perform all-acoustic sets, old-school MTV Unplugged-style, to raise money for the Houston Food Bank. Organizer Mark C. Austin has managed to pull together some truly amazing musicians & bands, even those you wouldn’t expect would be able to do something like this, and I freaking love that.

If you’re curious what that looks & sounds like, well, here’s {Fat Tony} doing “Nigga U Ain’t Fat” with {Two Star Symphony} as his backing band, from one of last year’s Canned Acoustica performances. *mind exploding*:

Seriously, how awesome is that? Tonight promises to be just as awesome, with misanthropic Apocalypto-rapper {B L A C K I E}, cool dude {Craig Kinsey} of {The Sideshow Tramps}, frantic/addictive indie-rock band {New York City Queens}, psych-pop swooners {Featherface}, and murky, downbeat roots-pop crew {Second Lovers} each throwing their respective hats in the ring.

Head on up to Warehouse Live tonight around 7PM with four cans of food, and boom, you’re in.

Delta Rae/The Literary Greats @ Fitzgerald’s
Ah, cool. When I stop hearing from/about somebody for a while in this town, I tend to fear the worst, and so when {The Literary Greats} got quiet — especially with multiple members of the band off doing things like {Finnegan} and {Blackie Dammett}, I got a little nervous.

Glad to see my fears of their demise were unfounded, because they’re a truly great, great group, one that effortlessly tosses out these sublime, Texan-but-not-redneck roots-rock songs, and one that I seriously think deserves more of a spotlight in H-town and beyond. Go check ’em out…

Super Robot Party/Pale/A Sundae Drive/Luvver Girl @ Rudyard’s
Then there’s tonight at Rudyard’s, with a grab-bag of bands that includes {Super Robot Party} — who I still need to hear, sorry; I’ve heard they’re great, though — dramatic rockers {Pale}, and neat, low-key-but-brilliant drone-pop band {A Sundae Drive}. Well worth checking out, I promise.

Runners-Up:
LaB 5555: Bee’s Knees, featuring The Suffers @ Houston Museum of Natural Science (5555 Hermann Park Drive; 8-11PM, 21+ only)
Killing Clover/A Spanish Disposition/Fuska/Shut Up Sidney/Deadline @ Notsuoh
Mike Stinson/Little Joe Washington @ The Continental Club
Southern Backtones @ Time Out #1
Adrian & The Sickness/The Trimms/The Bad Drugs @ Super Happy Fun Land