Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: B.E. Godfrey + EELS + Dos + Houston Ink Society Grand Opening + Adam & the Ancient Gods + Katy Cajun Invasion + More

On into Saturday now, May 17th, and there’s still a ton of stuff going on, so much I can barely get a hold of all of it; going to have to pick and choose a bit for tonight. Here goes:

B.E. Godfrey (album release)/Future Death/Mad Maude & The Hatters/Sergio Trevino/Black Cove @ House of Creeps (807 Williams; $7)
Nice, nice, nice. I’m very psyched to see B.E. Godfrey, the (ex-?)frontman of {listenlisten} finally releasing his first solo effort tonight up at the House of Creeps; I’ve gotten to listen to a bit of it already and am pretty damn impressed. He’s a hell of a songwriter, whether it’s with a band or by himself, and the stuff he’s been doing on his own is stellar, rootsy while steering clear of the whole folk-country-Americana revival thing and melancholy without being too downtrodden about it. More than anything else, it makes me think of classic “American Songbook”-type songwriting. A review of the whole thing coming soon, I promise.

EELS/Chelsea Wolfe @ House of Blues
Speaking of excellent songwriters, the House of Blues tonight has EELS, aka Mark Oliver Everett, the guy who apparently no longer goes by the name “E” anymore. His latest, The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett, is also pretty great, full of slow-moving, intricately-arranged, hopelessly downcast pop songs that live in that space you never really knew existed between Tom Waits and Paul McCartney. I’ll grant that his scratched-up voice takes some getting used to, and he can be a bit of an acquired taste, but hey, so what? Neither Waits or Leonard Cohen have beautiful voices, but that doesn’t mean they’re not great at what they do. Everett’s in the same boat.

Dos (Kira & Mike Watt) @ 14 Pews (800 Aurora; 8-10PM)
Already talked about this one briefly the other day, but heck, it’s worth repeating — tonight’s a pretty rare visit to town by Dos, the duo comprised of punk rock bass legends Mike Watt and Kira Roessler, both of whom have had a massive impact on the realm of punk separately and together. Seriously, these folks are legends.

Houston Ink Society Tattoo Company Grand Opening Party, featuring Folk Family Revival & Shellee Coley @ 101 N. Milby St. #7 (6PM)
Tonight’s apparently the Grand Opening party of new tattoo studio Houston Ink Society Tattoo Company, and they’ve brought in some north-of-town folks to celebrate, namely {Folk Family Revival} and {Shellee Coley}. This is the studio’s second location, out in the Eastside ‘hood, and beyond the music, they’ve also got free food and drinks and, um, a tattoo raffle, which gives me weird visions of a jar full of scraps of tattooed skin you get to pick from. (Which, yes, is creepy; sorry.)

Seeing as I’m a needle-phobe, I can’t speak to how good the tattooists involved are, but they’ve at least got excellent musical taste. Folk Family Revival play great, great Americana-rock with some husky, Springsteen-gone-country vocals, while Shellee Coley plays thoughtful, sincere folk songs that are warm and personal, making you feel at home peeking into her life. Either one’s well worth seeing on their own, and together, for free, they’re a darn good deal.

Spoonboy/Adam & the Ancient Gods/Sonia Button/Marissa/Brando Chemtrails @ Donkey Paw Screen Co. (2010 Commerce St., Unit B; 8-11PM)
And for those crust-punk kids, there’s a cool show happening at an extra-cool little business called Donkey Paw Screen Co., which prints some awesome-looking t-shirts. Excellent local folks Adam & The Ancient Gods are playing, along with Marissa, about whom I’ve heard good things, and Washington, DC, singer/songwriter Spoonboy, on Plan-It-X Records. Go, hang out, be laidback, and rock the fuck out, alright?

Katy Cajun Invasion, featuring Great White, Benastar, Kimberly Caldwell, High Steppers Brass Band, Justin Van Sant, Warrior Spirit Band, Cassette Tape, & Blaggards @ Katy Mills (Katy; 11AM-10:15PM)
Woo! Great Freakin’ White, man! At Katy Mills? Oh, and there’s also hometown Kimberly Freakin’ Caldwell, who the more TV-addicted among you might remember from way back in the second season of American Idol…

Yes, seriously; the whole Katy Cajun Invasion thing looks like a lot of fun, actually, and beyond the aforementioned hair-metal heroes (who, yes, I was a big fan of Back In The Day, and several of whose albums are still lurking in my garage in cassette form), there’s also excellent reggae-rockers {Cassette Tape} and awesomely fun Celtic rock outfit {Blaggards}, both of whom I like quite a bit.

Runners-Up:
Mystic Braves/Corners/The Dead Revolt @ Fitzgerald’s
A Not So Regular Show, featuring Ricky Dee (mem. of “Downer”), The Snow Indian, Alton (mem. of Cosmic Bug Loaf), Sid of Arc, Run C.T, T.A.Y.P., Hakeem, & Frankie 5x @ Montrose Proper (1505 Westheimer; 7PM, $6)
Brothers Grymn (CD release)/Cassette Tape/SpaceCamp/Lower Life Form @ Fitzgerald’s
Fastball @ The Concert Pub North Sat., May 17 – Andrew Karnavas @ Kolanowski Studio (420 Harvard)
Vegatron @ Walter’s
Dead Roses/Silver Blueberry @ Rudyard’s
Bruce Flea/Mellow Riot/Fox Parlor/Thrill @ The Continental Club
Marzi Montazeri/The Flamin’ Hellcats/Hellsouth/Epic/Sons of Blackwater @ BFE Rock Club
Art Life Festival 2014, featuring Zezo One, Mampi Swift, Gridlok, Critical Impact, Jamal, Emcee Child, Jakes, Subzee D, Stenchman, Nit Grit, Jantsen, B2B, Dirt Monkey, Kidforce, Alvin & The Slick Punks, Cassette Tape, Thread Belly, CRNDLSM, Elbodo, Electric Sleep, FATV, Jack Edery & UltraSuede, Jordan Tydings, Mark Lum, The Analog People, Me The Hero, Tailor, Tyler Jets, Prez D, Bobby James, Ms. Lucy, Davonte, Lost Prophet, Ju$t Rich, Anubis, EndGame, Foreign Twiinz, Kniives, Prismo, Vaccid, & Vice Club @ Houston Dynamo Training Facility (12131 Kirby; 12PM-12AM)
Armed Forces Day, featuring Breelan Angel & Scott Dean @ Firehouse Saloon
Galveston Island Beach Revue, featuring Grand Old Grizzly & The Octanes @ Beach Central (Galveston; 12-10PM)
5th Annual Red, White & Bayou Crawfish & Texas Music Festival, featuring Randy Rogers Band, Charla Corn, Curtis Poullard and the Creole Zydeco Band, Grupo Vida/The Electric Cowboys, & Bleu Edmondson @ Hwy 3 & FM 517 (Dickinson; 11:30AM-11PM)