6/23/2005: Dig it! Last minute weekend music!

Here you go folks, another last-minute Showy McShow
hittin’ you just before the weekend.

And what a weekend it is. T-minus one week to High
Sierra Music Fest and a plethora of talent has
descended on our fair city. Tonight I’d love for you
to join me at 12 Galaxies for a unique (and
affordable) musical experience. A hammered dulcimer
virtuoso is playing with some of the groovy cats from
Garaj Mahal and it’s all for eight buckos.

This weekend there are way too many choices for
fantastic music. The Boom Boom will rock with allstar
funk from Topaz; Hot Buttered Rum will be tearing it
up with fast-pickin’ bluegrass at the Great American;
the Slip is in town at the Independent on Friday; and
Albino! makes a rare afro-beat stop at the Elbo Room
on Saturday. Crazy crazy crazy!

Oh, and you should definitely take a long weekend in a
week and hit this: http://www.highsierramusic.com/
Plenty of good-deal tix are up on Craigslist and it’s
about as great as music festivals get in my humble
opinion. More on that front next week…

|||||| THURSDAY 6/23 ||||||

Jamie Janover & Friends @ 12 Galaxies $8
This sounds like one hell of an eight buck show and
I’ll be damned if I’m gonna miss it. From what I read
Jamie seems to be a Bela Fleck type of cat in the
world of the hammered dulcimer (huge crazy harp-like
string instrument). This means he’s a true innovator
taking the dulcimer in entirely new directions (and
you can hear him on albums from String Cheese
Incident, G. Love, Keller Williams, Garaj Mahal, and
many others). His band for this 12 Galaxies show is
absolutely top-notch featuring bass virtuoso Michael
Manring and Alan Hertz and Eric Levy (drums and keys)
of Garaj Mahal. Eight bucks. I fucking love this city.
http://www.jamiejanover.com/

|||||| FRIDAY 6/24 ||||||

Cylomatic Trio happy hour @ House of Shields $FREE
Funky drummer and all-around good guy Adam Willis is
turning the big three-oh this weekend. Help him
celebrate old age in style with a free happy hour gig
at the House of Shields.

Topaz & the Left Coast Allstars @ Boom Boom Room $15
Friday & Saturday shows. Hot hot hot! Topaz is one of
the most revered funky sax players in the country and
you’d better believe he’ll come to tear the roof off
the joint. In this case it’s especially true since
he’s bringing an allstar lineup consisting of Ron
Johnson (bass, Karl Denson), John Staten (drums, Karl
Denson), Will Bernard (guitar, Motherbug), and Eric
Levy (organ/keys, Garaj Mahal). This is bound to be
ridiculous. Guru Garage opens up.
http://www.topazmusic.com/

Hot Buttered Rum w/ Peter Rowan @ Great American Music
Hall $15
Yee haw, more great bluegrass! HBR is a new-school
super-high-energy string band that will blow your mind
with the speed of their pickin’ and the creativity of
their songs. Singer/songwriter/guitarist/bluegrass
hero Peter Rowan is sitting in just to sweeten the
pot!
http://www.hotbutteredrum.net/

The Slip @ Independent $15
These east coast veterans are always a treat. They
push the jam trio format as far as anyone with
intricately layered compositions and amazing
musicianship and vocal textures. The heartless
bastards open.
http://theslip.com/

|||||| SATURDAY 6/25 ||||||

Albino! @ Elbo Room $10
Big baaaad 14-piece afto-beat rockin’ is what Albino
is all about. If you dig Fela Kuti, Femi Kuti,
Antibalas, ets, you need to check out Albino! They’re
percussive, funky, and driven to make you dance. It’s
rare that they come through town and they shouldn’t be
missed if you want to get your groove on.
http://www.albinoband.com/

Topaz & the Left Coast Allstars @ Boom Boom Room $15
Friday & Saturday shows. See above.
http://www.topazmusic.com/

Conspirator | BLVD | Kid Beyond @ 12 Galaxies $15
It’s smooth new school groove music all night at 12
Galaxies. Conspirator is made up of Aron Magner and
Mark Brownstein of the Disco Biscuits playing with DJ
Omen for an otherworldly blend of jam and trance. BLVD
is an SF trio that is on the up-and-coming trip with
their style of live house and breaks. And you’ve heard
me rave about Kid Beyond before, he’s the best damn
beatbox live-looper I’ve ever seen.
http://www.conspirator.org/

Glen Phillips @ Great American Music Hall $20
Glen is a singer/songwriter of amazing talent and soul
that has a beautifully melodic sound. You may have
seen him fronting Toad the Wet Sprocket or with Mutal
Admiration Society to name just a couple of his
collaborations. Peter Bradley Adams opens.
http://www.glenphillips.com/

|||||| SUNDAY 6/26 ||||||

Gabby La La w/ Les Claypool @ Great American Music
Hall $15
Gabby and Les have been collaborating quite a bit
lately and I’m intensely curious to see what kind of
whackiness they can cook up. She is a
multi-instrumentalist (sitar, accordion, ukulele, toy
piano, etc) and he of course is one of the most
amazing and inventive bassists ever to walk the stage.
http://www.shorefire.com/artists/gabbylala/

|||||| MONDAY 6/27 ||||||

Brad Barr (of the Slip) @ Connecticut Yankee $8?
The talented guitarist/vocalist that fronts the Slip
will be doing a RARE solo gig and the intimate little
Yankee. Should be a really cool evening.
http://theslip.com/info.php?i=350&nug=slip

|||||| WEDNESDAY 6/29 ||||||

Jon Cleary & the Absolute Monster Gentlemen @ Slim’s
$15
This man from ‘Nawlins with the long band name has
been getting a lot of attention lately. He is a piano
player and vocalist and his music runs the range from
funk to ballads to Cuban jazz all with a Big Easy
flavor.
http://www.joncleary.com/news/index.htm

Shotgun Wedding Quintet @ Madrone Lounge $5
Jazz Mafia’s bringin’ the funky hip-hop to ya at
Madrone. And they do it right with amazing freestyle
rappin’, deep groove basslines, and tight tight horn
licks.
http://shotgunweddingquintet.com/