Even though I'm not going, and I really do wish I was, Minus the Bear will be playing the House of Blues this Friday with Wisconsin musician Paul Thorn. I saw Minus the Bear last year in Boston and they are phenomenal. Lots of cool lighting, excellent stage presence, and some of the most amazing tap-lead guitar playing I've ever seen in my life. The band's new LP "Omni" came out on the 27th of April and can be purchased on the iTunes music store. Local indie-rockers and Summer Fest performers, Caddywhompus, will be playing Super Happy Fun Land Friday night. Omatai will be at Walter's that night too.
Saturday will be particularly kick ass with electronic musicians Toro Y Moi and Caribou coming to Warehouse Live. Caribou is the stage name of Canadian artist, Daniel V. Snaith, hailing from Ontario Canada; he takes various live samples he's recorded himself and arranges them into beautiful symphonies sometimes throwing in spacey, ethereal, vocals.
His latest album, Swim, was released in April.
Post-grunge rockers, one of the few really good bands in the genre, Blue October will be playing a show at the Sam Houston Race Track on Saturday. Toad the Wet Sprocket are playing the House of Blues on Saturday night and even though I originally believed that they kind of fell off the face of the earth when grunge eventually died, Houston will get a visit, at the scout bar, from nineties-rockers, Candlebox. Styx, Kansas, and Foreigner will be coming to the Woodlands Saturday night even before their usual appearances at the fall Arrowfest and Sunday we'll get to hear the sultry tones of R&B legend, Al Green. That's a pretty damn good showing for a single weekend: there's something for everyone.
-- Jack Daniel Betz
