Yr. Weekend, Pt. 1: Jimmy Eat World + Fire Moth (Rev’d!) + Keeton Coffman + PAWS + Slim Thug + More

Hey, all — kind of scrambling to get some things done this week, so this weekend’s rundown of shows is likely to be a little on the light side (yeah, like it hasn’t lately anyway? sigh). There’s still a ton of stuff going on, though; here’s a very late list of what looks cool for tonight, Friday, May 16th:

Jimmy Eat World/Stagnant Pools @ House of Blues
This one’s at the top of the list for me, at least; I’m a pretty huge Jimmy Eat World and they’re one of only a handful of bands I’ve truly stuck with since college, melody-loving, aging emo boy that I am (and don’t get me started on more modern “emo” bands; sorry, but guyliner doesn’t make an emo band). I associate Clarity, Bleed American, and Chase This Light with specific times in my life — college, post-college, and new dad-hood — so tightly that they’re like a complete soundtrack all in themselves. I’ll admit to not being as impressed with 2010’s Invented, but I’m liking the hell out of last year’s Damage, which surprised me by sounding more like late-period Superchunk than Jimmy Eat World; but hey, I love both bands, so it still works.

Fire Moth (CD release)/Don’t Poke the Bear/Darwin’s Finches/The Mavens @ The Continental Club
Reviewed the new album by local boys {Fire Moth}, Oil Paintings & Gold Chains, earlier today (see the review over here), and they’re having the official release show up at The Continental Club, um, about right now. Argh. Get on up there if you can, because while I’ve yet to see the band live, they’re damn good in recorded form — they play some truly cool blues-rock, the kind that’s murky and muddy like the bayous that stretch inland from the Gulf, and which merges traditional old-school blues with more contemporary indie- and stoner-rock into something all its own. Glad to see these guys coming up…

Keeton Coffman @ Swanny’s Bar & Grill (6224 Theall Rd.)
I was fortunate to catch a few songs of {Keeton Coffman}‘s set at last weekend’s Madness on Main Street Music Fest, and when I had to leave and run over to The Continental Club so I could catch some of LaTasha Lee & the Black Ties’ set, too, I was kicking myself the whole damn way. Coffman used to be the frontman for The 71’s, a guitar-heavy pop-rock outfit that I was just starting to truly like when they called it a day, and since then he’s reinvented himself as a mostly-solo singer-songwriter (he played with a backing bassist and piano player at MoMS, which is apparently a new thing).

And y’know what? Literally everything I’ve heard him do so far blows his old band’s music — which I liked, mind you — right out of the water. He plays like a cross between Springsteen, David Ramirez, and Ryan Adams, and he’s got one hell of a powerful, emotive voice, the kind that grabs hold of you and won’t let go. Do yourself a favor and go see him, soon.

We Are Scientists/PAWS @ Fitzgerald’s
Both floors of Fitzgerald’s look pretty good tonight, but I’ll freely admit to being partial to this one, mostly because of Scottish indie-rockers PAWS. They’re one of those bands who come off like a throwback to pretty much every band I loved back in the ’90s, and they do it ridiculously well, blazing through crunchy, overfuzzed pop songs at double speed. Think Sebadoh, Treepeople, Dinosaur Jr., The Meices, and more contemporary and horribly underrated band The Talk, and you’ll be in the ballpark. And oh, what a great ballpark it is…

Slim Thug @ 18th Street Pier Bar and Grill (San Leon)
Yeah, you read that right — Houston’s very own {Slim Thug}, whose classic “Like A Boss” my coworkers have been referencing nearly non-stop lately without even realizing it (thanks, SNL!), will be down at the 18th Street Pier Bar & Grill in San Leon, right smack-dab on Galveston Bay. Wow. That’s an oddball booking if I’ve ever heard of one, but hey, maybe San Leon’s got a whole lot more going on than I’d guessed. Either way, if you live down southeast, this one’s for you.

Runners-Up:
Poor Dumb Bastards/The Hormones/Screech of Death @ Rudyard’s
Shlohmo/Purple/Jim-E Stacks @ Fitzgerald’s
Ladies Rock!, featuring Yello Echo, Fox & Cats, Shotgun Funeral, & PAL @ The Alley Kat Bar & Lounge ($8)
The Apple Scruffs (Beatles tribute)/Little Ghost/Paco Estrada & Ryan Holley/Category 9 @ Notsuoh ($5/$10)
Ledisi/Robert Glasper Experiment @ Bayou Music Center
A Fistful of Soul @ The Big Top
Jason Moran’s Fats Waller Dance Party @ Discovery Green (7:30PM)
BettySoo/John Evans @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
Katy Cajun Invasion, featuring Doug Stone, Escape (Journey tribute), Sheila Marshall, Chubby Carrier, Jade Jack, Cataways, & Zydeco Players Band @ Katy Mills (Katy; 11:45AM-10PM)
Galveston Island Beach Revue, featuring Brandon McDermott Band @ Beach Central (Galveston; 6-10PM)