Blogs

Happy July 4, everyone. Have fun, be safe and rock out.

Thursday, July 2
*Bob Dylan/Willie Nelson/John Cougar Mellencamp, GCS Ballpark (Sauget)
*Brooke Waggoner, Off Broadway
*Dr. Manhattan, Cicero's
*Hip-Hop Showcase, Atomic Cowboy
*Bridgeton Air Defense/Tenement Ruth, Mangia
*Peter J Woods/ Instinct Control/ Kingston Family Singers/ Mavis Concave, Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center

Pageant

*Mutemath, Friday, October 23

Off Broadway

*Scotty Lust and the Two Timers, Sunday, July 26

*The Lighthouse and the Whaler, Monday, July 27

*Guitar Shorty, Sunday, August 2

*Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials, Saturday, August 15

*Ha Ha Tonka, Wednesday, August 26

*Amy Lavere, Sunday, August 3

Tonight at the Firebird, catch what's being dubbed the SnoCones and Lasers Mega Monday Dance Party. (Frickin' lasers, I tell you.) What does it all mean? Says event organizer Mike Tomko:

Acts will be set up around the room and will alternate sets round-robin style. Lasers will be scanning the room all night and Drewtalk is bringing a ton of glow-sticks for the crowd. We will have a snocone machine on hand to make alcoholic or non-alcoholic treats. Akin to our vodka snocones that we serve at the Lot festival every year.

9-9:30: Veitamin
9:30-10: Frank Heat
10-10:30: Drewtalk
10:30-11: PHASEONE
11-11:30: Junk Culture
11:30-12: Polarized Mind

Speaking of PhaseOne, he tells me that he's self-releasing a new album called Thanks But No Thanks, very soon. Here's a sneak preview of a tune from it:

MP3: PhaseOne, "Hot Mess (Metal Dub)"

On Sunday night at Cicero's, see a great night of music without damaging your wallet. Starting at 7:30, enjoy a free show featuring Kentucky Knife Fight (RFT award winners), Old Lights (upstart indie faves), Stendek (veteran of acts such as Celery and ResistAll) and Casey Reid (shadowy bluesy guitar man).

Now, the latter two acts are particularly interesting. Reid's been scheduled for a few shows in recent months, but has canceled both times; a rep from his label, Big Muddy, says he isn't sure if this Cicero's performance is on. And Stendek is doing a solo-looping project that's quite different from his past bands; he reports via email that at one six-month period, he was performing at the Palms in Vegas. Crazy! Check out some video on his MySpace.

For a Wednesday, there's quite a bit going on tonight. Besides Crocodiles, we have:

Off Broadway: Appleseed Cast and Brighton, MA
Blueberry Hill's Duck Room: Dax Riggs, The Northwoods
The Pageant: Steve Earle

One of my new favorite bands, Crocodiles, is returning to the Firebird tonight. Spelling Bee and Thunderkid are opening. In March, we previewed the show and posted an MP3. Back then, Jonah Bayer said:

"Despite the title Summer of Hate, Crocodiles' debut is an ethereal nine-song collection of synth-driven pop songs that are avant-garde without being inaccessible. That said, the album does have its fair share of aggression -- it's just recontextualized into the pop paradigm so seamlessly that you'll get swept away in the band's sound without even noticing."

Here's that MP3 again. It's so nice, it deserves to be posted twice.
MP3: Crocodiles, "I Wanna Kill"

Pop's

*The Dandy Warhols, Friday, September 4

The Dandy Warhols

Scottrade Center

*The Australian Pink Floyd Show, Tuesday, September 29

Blueberry Hill

*The Breeders, Friday, August 7

The Pageant

*Collective Soul, Monday, August 10

*Fall Out Boy, Wednesday, August 19

*Motorhead/Reverend Horton Heat/Nashville Pussy, Wednesday, September 23

Kranzberg Arts Center

*Ken Haller, Friday, July 17

*Deborah Sharn, Saturday, October 17

Friday, June 19
*Kepi Ghoulie/The 75s/Midtown Thieves/Blind Eyes, The Library
*Matthew Sweet/Magnolia Summer, Blueberry Hill's Duck Room
*Joe Dirt & the Dirty Boys Band/The Who Band, The Pageant
*Kim Lenz & the Jaguars, Beale on Broadway
*Dual Boot (CD release)/Ghettface/Chapa, Firebird
*Target Market (CD release), Vintage Vinyl, 8 p.m.
*The Melroys, Deluxe
*Soft Black, Lemmons
*The Commodores, Saint Louis Zoo
*Stacy Mitchart/Paul Brown, BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups
*Morgantown/David G. Kalz & Impala Deluxe, Cicero's
*Fight! Fight! Fight!/Bamf!/Your Best Friend/Hart Felt Sorrow/ The Mhurs, The Wedge
*Javier Mendoza, The Chapel

Looking for a way to pass a lazy Saturday afternoon? Twangfest has your answer tomorrow starting at 1 p.m., as it presents a free day party called "Out of the Gate: A St. Louis Music Showcase" at the Schlafly Bottleworks. The lineup:

1:00 pm - Corey Saathoff Band
2:00 pm - Trigger 5
3:00 pm - Melody Den
4:00 pm - Leadville

Don't forget, Twangfest is still going on at 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow night at the Duck Room. Tonight's lineup includes Jon Hardy & the Public, Asylum Street Spankers, Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles and Andre Williams. Tomorrow's show features Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Theodore, the Deep Vibration and DADDY. The latter act -- a duo featuring Tommy Womack and WIll Kimbrough -- are also doing an in-store at Euclid Records tomorrow at 4 p.m.

After the jump, check out a bunch of videos from the shows of the past few nights, including performances from Amy Lavere, Bruce Robison and the Hot Club of Cowtown. Actually, I'll post them after YouTube decides to start working again.

Two show announcements snuck in after our deadline on Tuesday, and they're good ones! First, Jersey working-class heroes the Gaslight Anthem is (finally) returning to town on Thursday, September 10, with the Loved Ones and Murder By Death opening. Tickets are on sale tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. And singer-songwriter Pete Yorn is also making his (nearly) yearly trip to St. Louis with a show on Sunday, August 9, at the Pageant.Tickets are on sale now. Yorn has a new album, Back and Fourth, is out June 23.