Mighty Diamonds - Saturday @ 2720 Cherokee

This weekend is a good one: Bluesweek is bigger than ever, Big Muddy Records is hosting a Chili Cook-off (!), and apparently the 90's are back, based on the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snoop Dogg, and Local H shows on Friday night (and despite St. Louis' recent loss of 100.3 Gen X Radio).

Speaking of Snoop Dogg, maybe if you hold your breath long enough he'll show up to Saturday's Devin the Dude show at Firebird and lay down a verse of 1998's "Fuck You". One can dream, right? The rest of our picks follow.

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War is one of the three headliners playing Saturday night at MayFest, which takes place this weekend in front of Busch Stadium.

For most folks, Ballpark Village brings about images of big promises and broken dreams. After all, the space around Busch Stadium was supposed to a fun-filled fantasyland for people to go before or after Cardinals games. Years after "new" Busch was christened, Ballpark Village remains - for the most part - just a dream.

All is not lost though. The space is an ample venue for a downtown shindig known as MayFest, which is expected to take place today, tomorrow and Sunday. It's a multi-faceted event that features art exhibits, food trucks and even an old fashioned Louisiana crawfish boil.

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Hoodie Allen - Friday @ the Gramophone

Some points of confusion to clear up real fast about this weekend's post: First, the Tower Groove Records Double Album Release Party takes place over three days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), at three venues. All three shows have superb line-ups of contributors to the compilation, and you can see those line-ups by clicking on the individual days listed under the event's title below.

Secondly, Pointfest also takes place over multiple days (Saturday and Sunday). The line-ups for the individual days can be found on the Point's website, I'd imagine, but I've never been to that website so who knows really.

If you are not a fan of kickass local music compilations OR existing local radio stations, you'll find that the list below gives you Sunday off. Enjoy your day of rest, or argue with us about the blindingly obvious crucial Sunday show we missed in the comments.

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Bobby Bare Jr. - Saturday @ Off Broadway

Local music fans in the know spent last night at KDHX's massive party at the City Museum, Midwest Mayhem -- I myself had to wash my eyeballs this morning to try and purge them of the things I saw at the skatepark burlesque show. The whole event was huge, weird, fun and extremely exhausting, but there's no rest for the weary with the shows coming up this weekend. Our picks follow, along with a sentence or two each explaining why we think they are worth your time. Let us know what you are up to in the comments!

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Antennas Up - Sunday @ Lemmons

This weekend is Cinco de Mayo, which for all of you non Spanish-speaking types translates literally to "The Five of Mayo". What this cryptic phrase actually means is unclear, as is the origin of the association between Mexico and mayonnaise, but for some reason it seems to happen every year on the fifth of May and we end up drinking a lot of tequila because of it. Whatever, any excuse to party. While partying this weekend, we recommend you check out one of the great shows in town -- our picks are below, with *NEW* brief explanations as to why we thought they were notable. Check it out, and let us know what you're up to this weekend in the comments.

*And before you get all uppity, yeah, I know what "Cinco de Mayo" is. Esta un broma por gracia solemente.

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Courtesy of DJ Jewel

Plies--the gold-selling Florida rapper famous for a string of hits including "Shawty," "Bust It Baby Pt 2," and "Lose My Mind"--will be at The Ambassador in North County this Saturday night, continuing a who's who list of top rap acts to play the club in recent months including Jeezy, Rick Ross, T.I., 8Ball & MJG, Mystikal and Birdman (6 p.m., $30-$40-$60). Hosting the live taping of the show for St. Louis's Video Vault TV is none other than Brittneé Bell--a.k.a. DJ Jewel--far and away the freshest face on the city's hip-hop and party scene.

Ambitious, savvy, and driven--not to mention beautiful--DJ Jewel got her start hosting her own radio show on KCFV FM's 89.5 "The Wave," and quickly made a name for herself as a top music interviewer. Her next stop was at HOT 104.1, where she spent a year sitting in with local legends Finsta and DJ Sno on their much-loved STL Home Jamz show before it was cut. RFT Music covered the controversy.

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Rotting Out - Sunday @ Fubar

In case you hadn't seen, we have a brand-spankin'-new Concert Calendar setup -- it is useful and easy to navigate, as opposed to the previous format, which was....well, not. Now, rather than just taking our word for it on these posts you can effortlessly conduct your own investigations and then tell us how badly we blew it in the comments section below. Happy trollin', internet!

On Friday we have KDHX's tribute to R.E.M., "Back to Rockville" at Off Broadway -- The Dive Poets, Finn's Motel, Half Knots, The Love Experts, Palace, Scarlet Tanager, Spectator and Via Dove will perfrom their renditions of the band's songs. Also on Friday is Dudes Magazine's 19th issue release party with Bunnygrunt, Lipstick Homicide, The Winchester and Guy Morgan at El Lenador. Saturday we have Social Distortion and the Toadies at Pop's and Midnight and Ares Kingdom at El Lenador, and on Sunday LA's hardcore act Rotting Out plays Fubar. The rest of our picks are below, but sorry guys -- no Shattermask shows.

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Captain Planet: Big fan of Yacht Rock, we're told. The theme of this year's St. Louis Earth Day Festival is Heroes for the Planet.

Music and environmentally geared celebrations seem like a good fit. They bring people together, and both have been described at one point or another as hippie activities. The brains behind St. Louis's Earth Day Festival know this. The festival -- the third largest of its kind in the country -- begins Sunday, April 22 at 10 a.m. in Forest Park. And the celebration will incorporate a diverse line-up of St. Louis musicians.

Speaking with RFT Music via telephone, Jeanette Reynolds of St. Louis Earth Day detailed how music has become an integral part of the eco-friendly jubilee. Planning an event of this scale is an undertaking that lasts five months. Starting in November, the Earth Day posse, a hodge-podge of volunteers, part-time and full-time employees, begin making decisions about the theme of the festival and what they hope to expand upon from last year. Between then and February, vendor and exhibitor applications come in, and during February, St. Louis Earth Day starts filtering the applicants and deciding which musical acts will be a part of the festival.

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The Hood Internet - Saturday @ Firebird

So today is April 20 -- I'm going to tastefully refrain from making a "4:20 woooh weed hell yeah" joke here, as we at RFT Music are all class, baby. You thought it was coming; I know you did. This is the proverbial "zig" when you expected a "zag". Always keep 'em guessing; that's what I always say. Anyway, far more important than the fact that potheads are smoking pot today (SOWHATELSEISNEW) is the fact that it is Record Store Day weekend! A comprehensive round-up of RSD festivities can be found here. This post, on the other hand, is strictly recommending concerts at clubs, and we've got some good ones this week.

Country-rocker Eric Church will play Chaifetz on Friday; check out our recent interview with the man here. Cash Money rappers Birdman and Mystikal will play the Ambassador on Saturday, and Peter "Lil Pete" Kruchowski's benefit show to help with his recent medical bills is on Sunday. Also worth mentioning, but not listed below, is the Mountain Goats show with Water Liars this Saturday at the Gargoyle. Click through to see the rest of our picks and let us know what you are doing in the comments:

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Expire - Friday @ Fubar

So it seems that the weather is finally seasonally appropriate for the first time in 2012, but don't let the April showers keep you inside this weekend or else you're going to miss out on some great live music. We've got three local album release shows this weekend -- hip-hoppers Hawthorne Headhunters on Friday, the folksy soul of Rough Shop on Saturday and Bob Reuter's Alley Ghost on Sunday. Worth mentioning as well is Cavo's album release at Cicero's on Sunday, but it is not listed below because one must luck out and Willy-Wonka oneself in order to even gain admission. Click through for the rest of our picks and let us know what you're up to in the comments:

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