Yr. Weekend, Pt. 3: Cancer, It’s Over! + Mikey & The Drags + Black Congress + More

Last day of the weekend today, seeing as it’s Sunday, April 7th, but there’s still some good stuff going on, and I wanted to make sure it didn’t slip through the cracks. Here’s what I think looks cool:

Cancer, It’s Over!: A Benefit Show for Houston Photographer Matt Fitzhugh, featuring The Traffik Jams, Bufaleros, Tiziano Dominico, Bonneville Night Life, Fire Moth, FLCON FCKER, & The Last Cigarette @ Avant Garden (5PM-12AM; $5 minimum)
Heard about this one from the ever-cool {Tiziano Dominico}, and I’m glad he let me know, because this is a very good, good cause and a good damn show in general. Apparently local bands-and-other-stuff photographer Matt Fitzhugh was recently diagnosed with cancer, which really, truly sucks. Never, ever good news to hear, whoever it’s about.

Happily, he & his friends aren’t taking the new lying down, and said friends have organized this show up at the Avant Garden, which they’re calling Cancer, It’s Over!, a title that makes me grin like an idiot in spite of anthropomorphizing a terrible disease into an overly clingy girlfriend you just can’t get to go the hell away using subtle hints.

The aforementioned Tiziano Dominico and band are playing, which is definitely a cool thing, as is electronic dude {FLCON FCKER}, the intriguing-sounding {Fire Moth}, which I believe is a renamed/revamped Blackie Dammett, and possibly {The Wandering Bufaleros}, unless “Bufaleros” is a totally separate band I’ve never heard of ’til now. Taken all together, it’s a damn good lineup, and (as I’ve seemingly said a lot these past couple of days) a good cause.

Las Ardillas/Los Vigilantes/Mikey & The Drags/Key Bumpz @ Fitzgerald’s
Up at Fitz tonight — downstairs, I’m thinking, seeing as White Lung is also playing this evening — there’s what looks to be a quartet of Latino-tinged garage rockers. I can’t claim to be real familiar with most the folks playing, although I’ve heard good things about {Psychic Palms} spinoff {The Key Bumpz}, but damn, I dig the hell out of Mikey & The Drags, in particular. Live I’m sure they’re pretty damn noisy, but their recent 7″ turned out to be an awesomely old-school slab of organ-heavy garage-rock a la ? & The Mysterians, in particular, and it’s a blast to listen to. Organ solos rule, people; anyone who says otherwise is full of shit.

Merchandise/Black Congress/Sub Sonic Voices @ Mango’s
Feel like getting in a (good-natured, drunken) fight tonight? Well, you’re in luck, because noted H-town noise-punks {Black Congress} are up at Mango’s this evening, opening for Merchandise with their near-trademarked brand of face-punching, vicious, don’t-give-a-fuck ferocity. They’re one of a small number of bands ’round this city that are the spiritual (and, in this case, also physical, since Roy used to be in the band) descendants of the legendary Fatal Flying Guilloteens, who are pretty much my personal benchmark for performing like they’re trying to get the crowd to turn on one another. Black Congress are different, though, in that after a while you’re pretty certain that while everybody else tears it up, they’re gonna come gunning for you.

Runners-Up:
White Lung/The Freakouts/DuneTX @ Fitzgerald’s
Pam Jam Fun Raiser, featuring Blowtorch Repair, Fondue Monks, Robin Kirby, Erich Avinger, Kenny Cordray, Masada, Pat Brink Trio, The Hightailers, Zwee, & Lluvia Dreams @ Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar ($10)
Parkway Drive/The Word Alive/Veil of Maya/While She Sleeps @ House of Blues
The Texas Buzz, featuring Oceans of Slumber, Unveil the Villain, & Gold Star Revenge @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)
Pearland Crawfish Festival, featuring .07 Blues Band, Zydeco Dots, Irie Time, The Brad Absher Band, Blues for Two with Steve Krase, Sugarland Brass, Mary Michelle & Sawdust Road, & Henry Jones @ Highway 288 between FM 2234 & Broadway/FM 518 (Pearland)