Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Benefit for The Freakouts + Tax the Wolf + Sleeping Ancient + Ska vs. Punk + Black Coffee + More

A little later than I’d hoped, today; ended up having an, um, interesting day of running errands, being barred from apparently-private parks, and fishing misfired arrows out of the neighbor’s yard with a rake, so I’m a bit behind on the show writeup for today, Saturday, December 15th. Even still, there’s time to get out there — here’s what I think looks good:

Benefit for The Freakouts, featuring Hollywood_Roadkill, The Tyburn Jig, The Filthy Dead, The Bad Drugs, Rockaway Radio, Stout City Luchadores, Punk Rock Project, Mike Terror, & 8eTribe @ Super Happy Fun Lan
Damn. There’s been a couple of bad band-related accidents lately, one of which involved local punks {The Freakouts}, who apparently had a near-catastrophic truck wreck on their way back from a show in Victoria. The band’s okay, but the truck was totaled, and all their gear was trashed, and that’s no small thing for an indie band running on very little budget to begin with.

Happily, H-town’s musical community is behind ’em, putting on this benefit show to raise money to help The Freakouts get back into action again. I don’t know all the bands playing, but I like what I’ve heard of {The Bad Drugs}, in particular, and I like Western-Gothic rockers {The Tyburn Jig} quite a bit. Get over to Super Happy Fun Land and lend your support.

Blackie Dammett/Poor Pilate/Tax the Wolf @ The Continental Club
Argh. I really, really need to hear more by {Blackie Dammett} — I’ve heard good things, but still have only heard little bits of the band’s actual music. Happily, I have heard more of folky/countryish indie-rock outfit {Poor Pilate}, who are damn cool, and I dearly love prog-heavy Latino rockers {Tax the Wolf} — the band just keeps getting better, I swear, and I’m psyched to hear that they’ve got new stuff in the works.

Sleeping Ancient/Bearded Ox/Brimwylf @ Rudyard’s
Metalheads, Rudyard’s is where you’ll want to be tonight, with doom-y, sludgy crew {Sleeping Ancient}, who are pretty damn impressive, two-man Austin death/doom band Bearded Ox, and newcomers {Brimwylf}, who I hear are seriously into Norwegian-style death metal. (And yes, I hear they’re really good at it, too.)

Ska vs. Punk XMas Fest, featuring The Bandulus, Los Gritos, El Desmadre, Fuska, The Failed Attempt, Gutter Rats, Moral Distrust, & Garbage Dump @ Walter’s (7PM-2AM)
Cool, cool lineup at Walter’s tonight for the Ska vs. Punk XMas Fest — a full slate of punk & ska bands struggle for dominance, with such luminaries as {The Failed Attempt}, {Fuska}, & {El Desmadre} on the bill. Go, pump your fist at the ceiling, and dance your ass off.

Secret Prostitutes/Breakout/Recide/Black Coffee @ Mango’s
And last but not least by far, there’s a cool-looking bundle of snarling, snapping, sharp-edged noise-punk going on over at Mango’s. Indonesian-American crew {The Secret Prostitutes} headline, but I’m more partial to openers {Black Coffee}, honestly — they remind me of Barkmarket and Cop Shoot Cop, and that’s a very good thing.

Runners-Up:
Kinky/Yokomono/Antonio Estevan Huerta @ The Engine Room
Pushin’ the Limits’ Nightmare Before Christmas Benefit Party & Toy Drive, featuring Jon Black & more @ Avant Garden (8PM-2AM)
New Orleans Suspects (mem. of The Radiators/Neville Bros./Dirty Dozen Brass Band) @ Last Concert Cafe
Rave To The Grave, featuring Bobby DJ, Fredster, & Voidmate @ Fitzgerald’s
duneTX @ The Big Top
InStereo, featuring Bro Safari, Brillz, Viciouz Viv, & Dayta @ Stereo Live
Blaggards @ Olde City Pub (14124 Stuebner Airline)