Yr. (Late) Weekend, Pt. 1: Craig Kinsey + Hayden Jones + A.J. Vincent + Mango’s Farewell Show + The Show Ponies + Reggie O’Farrell + Electric Foam + More

Hey, all — got a ridiculously late start tonight (Friday, March 27th), I’m afraid, and I’m sorry for the delay. There’s still a ton of stuff going on tonight, though, so get your ass out there right now, alright? Alright. Here goes:

Kickin’ Brass and Taking Names, featuring Craig Kinsey, Colin Lake, & Hayden Jones @ Fitzgerald’s
Okay, so first and foremost, the cool people at Splice Records and Saint Arnolds are throwing a shindig up at Fitzgerald’s tonight that they’re calling Kickin’ Brass and Taking Names, and it sounds like a hell of a lot of fun. It’s apparently meant to be a celebration of New Orleans culture, and the bands will be all doing the Second Line thing, which sounds kinda cool; if you’re going, you should bring an umbrella, it sounds like…

Obviously, this wouldn’t work if the music sucked, so be very glad that it doesn’t. The whole thing’s capped off and led by the very awesome {Craig Kinsey}, who’s a bona fide troubadour and fast on his way to becoming a walking musical encyclopedia of Americana of all kinds. Colin Lake I don’t know, but I’ve heard and been very impressed by local dudes Hayden Jones and the Roosevelt House Band, as well. All in all, this should be a blast — it’s already underway, so get moving now.

A.J. Vincent/The Journey Agents/Sun Thieves @ The Alley Kat
I caught Austin keyboard player A.J. Vincent at last year’s Madness on Main Street fest (which is coming up again in just over a month, BTW, so get stoked), at The Alley Kat, no less, and I’ll admit that I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I knew the guy’s done time with The Bright Light Social Hour, which was a pretty high recommendation in itself, but still, solo dudes playing a keyboard make me immediately skeptical; I wasn’t really feeling up to 40 minutes of indulgent noodling.

Happily, Vincent’s not just a keyboard player — he’s a one-man retro-rock extravaganza, like the spirit of boozy, laidback ’70s AOR rock and the trippiness of ’60s psych-rock (I find myself thinking of The Doors, in particular) boiled down and poured into a single sweaty, leather pants-wearing, open-shirted, keytar-wielding dude. And believe it or not, it’s freaking awesome to behold.

Mango’s Final Farewell Show, featuring IPV, Dress Code, Street Sects, Turbokrieg, Mindboil, Stress33, Cop Warmth, Satannabis, Thundertank, Alimanas, Z-Gun, Toothless Grin, EndIsNow, Licker, Paranoid Chant, & ULLATEC @ Mango’s
Tonight also marks the start of the two-day (maybe?) “farewell” show to rough-but-loved venue Mango’s, a place that’s been at least four different bars/clubs/restaurants since I’ve lived in this city and one that I’ll be sad to see go if things don’t work out with the rumored new booking people. I think the show’s actually recently changed to a “Save Mango’s” rather than “Farewell to Mango’s”, even, which is very encouraging to see.

In case it doesn’t survive, though, you’d better go party the fuck down in the ashes while you can, and tonight and tomorrow night you can do so to a whole lot of raw, heavy-ass music from folks like Turbokrieg and {Cop Warmth} (who I keep thinking are dead themselves) and {STRESS33}. Plus, there’s a bunch of new names I don’t know real well, although I’ve heard good things about several of ’em. Pour one out for me.

The Show Ponies/Reggie O’Farrell @ Warehouse Live (Green Room)
Get over to Warehouse Live so you can check this one out, y’all. The headliners are pretty damn entertaining — The Show Ponies are an “indie-grass” band that plays sharp-edged, shiny, bluegrass that comes off like Nickel Creek if they’d grown up under the bright lights of the Big City. I don’t mean that as a slam, by the way, but just that this is bluegrass that’s pulling free of its roots and finding its way out on the road, and that’s no bad thing.

Plus, they’ve got Reggie O’Farrell opening for ’em, and that’s no small thing — Reggie’s not only a damn fine sound engineer these days, but he & his bandmates in sadly-defunct crew {The Western Civilization} recently lurched back to life after too freaking long in the ground. Go check him out solo.

Electric Foam, featuring Parker Clark, Albert Fix, Kaito, Mateusz, Sam Thompson DJ RN, Monstar, Tim Vz, KB-Nasty, & Proto-J @ Stereo Live
And lastly, there’s this, the Electric Foam show over at Stereo Live. EDM, lights, sparklers, heavy bass, and gigantic cannons that shoot foam into the crowd. Damn. Adult Me reads about this and thinks, “Jesus, what a fucking mess,” but Teenage Me starts gibbering madly about how freaking awesome it sounds. Of course, Teenage Me would’ve also been too goddamn awkward and shy to go dance like a lunatic in a room full of foam and pretty, pretty, drunken/drugged people, but still: you kids these days, you’ve got no idea how good you have it. Amirite, fellow oldtimers? Yup.

Runners-Up:
Deep Cuts/Children of Pop/Catamaran/Buoyant Spirit (mem. of sIngs)/Josiah Gabriel (DJ set) @ Walter’s ($10)
Red/Islander/3 Years Hollow/Seldom/Mezzanine @ The Scout Bar (Clear Lake)
Greg Cote (tour kickoff)/Drop Out Vegas/Chris Gloom/Frank/The Spinning Game @ The Summit (3536 Navigation)
Wood & Wire (album release)/Head For The Hills @ Fitzgerald’s
UH Frontier Fiesta 2015, featuring Cher Lloyd, VerseCity, & more @ TDECU Stadium (free!)
The Attic Ends/Ashbury Keys @ Super Happy Fun Land
OPEN Art Exhibition, featuring Alyssia Dieringer, Paulina Sjöberg, & Seat 7 @ Ben’s Beans (1302 Dallas; 7-11PM, $5)
Cody Canada & the Departed/Thieving Birds @ Firehouse Saloon
The O’Jays/Eric Benet @ Arena Theater
Blaggards @ R&R Sports Bar (Friendswood)
The Nightowls/John Egan @ The Continental Club
Felipe Galvan (DJ set) @ MKT Bar (1001 Austin; 9PM, free!)
2015 Tomball German Heritage Festival, featuring Das Ist Lustig, Chris Rybak Band, Alex Meixner Band, Blue Yonder, Joe Brikha, Accordion to Joyce, Das Ist Keine German Folk Dance Troupe, & more @ Old Town Tomball (Tomball)