Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: Clouded + Linus Pauling Quartet + Notsuoh XMas + Skid Row + Chase Hamblin + El Birthday Metal Fest + Mr. Plow + More

Running late on this here Saturday (December 21st, that is), but there’s still a bunch of excellent, excellent things going on. Here we go:

Project Grimm/Clouded/Linus Pauling Quartet @ Rudyard’s
Yes, yes, yes. My favorite of the night has to be this one, up at Rudyard’s — and hey, Rudz means you’ve still got plenty of time — with a serious throwback show going on. There’s never-say-die stoner-ish rock dudes {Project Grimm}, awesome, sludgy, fantasy-obsessed {Linus Pauling Quartet}, and long-gone alt-rockers Clouded, who were actually one of the first H-town bands I ever saw and fell for.

The latter band hasn’t been around for a long, long while now, so I’ve got no clue what they’re going to sound like these days, but the other two seemingly will never die, and damn, I’m glad for that. In particular, I’m a bigger & bigger fan of the LP4 with every release and show I see, but the Project Grimm guys are a blast, as well (and one I’ll admit I sadly wasn’t into so much back in the olden days of Houston rock). Get up to Rudz and celebrate the holidays with these folks.

The Notsuoh Holiday Extravaganza, featuring Folly Collage, Zin Sin, Only Beast, Sunrise and Ammunition, The Dead Rabbits, & Miss Modesty @ Notsuoh (7PM; $5)
A little late on this one, unfortunately, but hopefully there’s still time to get on over to Notsuoh and rock out in one of my favorite venues in town; it’s been too damn long since I got up that way. In particular, make sure you check out indie-prog-math rockers Sunrise and Ammunition and Irish folk-punks {The Dead Rabbits}, if the second band hasn’t played already. sigh.

Skid Row/Faster Pussycat/Junk @ Warehouse Live
Okay, this one’s a little bit weird. The show’s up at Warehouse Live, but it’s a very rare free show, hosted by the folks at Black Horse Limo…and I think, sadly, that you needed to email the Black Horse folks prior to the show in order to get into it. Which is kind of a downer, because my ’80s metal kid heart still has a special place for both Skid Row (yes, I still know every damn word to “18 and Life,” and I’m not ashamed in the slightest) and Faster Pussycat.

Caveat Time, though: this is Skid Row without Sebastian Bach, who was fired back in the mid-’90s for utterly idiotic reasons. Not a clue what Johnny Solinger, the band’s lead singer since then, is like, but hey, it should still be entertaining…

Winter Solstice Soiree, featuring The Trimms, Chase Hamblin & The Roustabouts, Buenos Diaz, & HTX SUX @ 2215 Commerce St. ($5; 9PM)
There’s a nice, nice lineup over at 2215 Commerce, too, with Chase Hamblin & The Roustabouts getting the biggest thumbs-up from me out of the bunch; they’ve morphed from a kind of retro-’60s throwback pop outfit (which I liked, don’t get me wrong) into something totally different, almost a murky, mysterious, old-timey, vaguely dangerous traveling carnival, and that’s pretty damn awesome to witness.

The El Birthday Metal Fest III, featuring Sabbath Judas Sabbath (Black Sabbath/Judas Priest tribute), Sanctus Bellum, Project Armageddon, Mr. Plow, The Scourge, & Saxon King @ Fitzgerald’s
And closing out the pile, there’s The El Birthday Metal Fest III up at Fitzgerald’s, which features a whole hell of a lot of metal badassery. I can’t claim to be real familiar with {Sanctus Bellum} or {Project Armageddon}, but I’ve heard lots of good things about ’em, and on top of that, tonight’s apparently a reunion show for Mr. Plow, who started out back in the late ’90s. Damn, y’all; glad to see those guys coming back around.

Runners-Up:
Here Come The Girls @ Mango’s
Christmas Singalong, hosted by Martin Burniston @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
Soul Sessions, featuring DJ Moonstomp @ MKT Bar (1001 Austin; 8-11PM)
Blaggards @ Ashford Pub
Come See My Dead Person/Elbodo/Scorpio Rising @ Union Tavern (Clear Lake)