Oh man. Look at that little baby. Oh man. She’s beautiful. It’s like Tony Balls and Sabra Laval had a lovechild made of FOUR STROKE POWER. Oh man. Let’s start off by giving BIG UPS to friends of humanity Dana and Shelia Wright of Sugarland, whose generosity is matchless like an amp and who have lent The Skyline Network their generator for the duration of our power outage. Oh man. This thing shreds like it’s made of James Love. Poured in some gasoline, ripped the cord, and before you could say FEMA CHECK we were enjoying a truffle butter and mayonnaise sandwich in cool air-conditioned comfort under most extreme party call me electric lights. It powers our wine fridge, our walk-in humidor and (most importantly) the entire TSN newsroom and production studio infrastructure.

And JUST IN TIME, as this weekend is so packed full of awesome stuff, kinda like this gal’s place except not gross. YO DJ PUMP THIS PARTY:

DAY 14 (FRIDAY)
Final Fridays Film Screening Featuring Wild Moccasins and the Presidential Debate @ Caroline Collective
IKE isn’t just a thumb splitter because he forced us to fly home on a hamster powered plane from San Angelo at the last minute, he also got in the way of some good new places and plans that were just building momentum. Caroline Collective is one of these, and had only recently opened her doors before being shuttered for two weeks without the glorious ‘lect. Fortunately, it’s just in time for their presumably monthly Final Friday series, where we all sit rapt and watch Jay “Wizard Hat” Merritt and Miles “Meyhem” Mayhem debate which is the best Final Fantasy game. NO NO! J!K! It’s a band and a series of short films, this month by Michael Rodrguez and the increasingly ubiquitous boys and girl of Wild Moccasins (we think they are all 21 now, or are just getting better at getting into bars). Just for fun, once the sound and the fury is done, the CC is going to be showing the Presidential Debate afterwards. Remember when “Maverick” didn’t mean “Douchebag”? Good Times. Oh, also, beer is apparently included in the cover.
Doors at 6pm, band at 7. $5.

Fired For Walking EP Release Show with Bright Men of Learning, Novox and Mr. Castillo @ Rudyards
We haven’t quite put all the pieces into place on our review of F4W’s nu-grunge halter skelter but we can tell you this – it sounds good roaring down the freeway with the windows open (oh yeah, did we tell you that the air-conditioner died in our Hummerzine? WEAK). The Matlockian Bright Men of Learning, whose collective membership owns three Honda Fits, a Ford Focus and a Flower Company, are also on the bill, no doubt now bummed that the rescinded curfew will mean they go on second at Midnight. Also in the lineup are Novox and Mr Dan Castillo on the decks who, prodigiously enough, was the pen behind artwork for THREE shows this evening. We told you a lot was going on.

Boy, Listen Listen, Lenny Briscoe @ The House of Booze (901 Eleanor)
In spite of being named the House of Booze, this is a BYOB house party, and it gets started at 8pm. The updated Americana of Listen Listen is finally starting to create some waves with folks, so be sure to check them out here (or at their free show Monday at Boondocks). Lenny Briscoe sounds about as opposite of that as you can imagine, with raging guitars and biting lyrics, so you should be able to guess who’s playing from up the street. We have no idea who Boy is or what they we’re going to go ahead and speculate that this is some kind of GUITARS side project.

Sideshow Tramps, News on the March @ Dan Electro’s Guitar Bar
If DEGB keeps having good shows like this (on a night without a thousand conflicts) we might just have to add it to the NORTH OF WASHINGTON GOLDEN TRAPEZOID OF YUSS-NESS. This is an excellent pairing and should be a hell of a good romp. Ladies: be sure to take a gallon of gasoline to wash off the leering by the regulars.

Spiritualized and Grande Ole Party @ The Meridian
We gonna say just three things about this:
1) The decline in quality of Spiritualized records since Ladies and Gentlemen was completely reversed by their recent A&E, which we would jam more, were it not so dark in here.
2) Royal Albert Hall is our favorite live album of all time.
3) WHY TONIGHT?!

ALSO:
Ben Kweller, Whitley @ Walter’s on Washington
Bodywerk ft. Grrrl Parts (some kind of DJ thing) @ Boondocks
The Fratellis, Electric Touch, The Airborne Toxicity Event @ Warehouse Live

DAY 15 (SATURDAY)
Jalapeno Pancake Relief Party with the Allen Oldies Band @ The Continental Club
As of press time, we can’t confirm what this is relief for, but if we could all use something right now, it might just be some hot fresh flapjacks – even if that hot is also in the muy caliente category. This is apparently something that’s usually reserved for SXSW. Err, whatever. 10am. Family friendly, we are told.

Saturday Secret Show @ The Shady Tavern
We really thought we had a note from these guys, but perhaps we just dreamed it cause we cannot find it anywhere. Yes, we dream about this weekly event, which just got a Best of Houston nod from the Press. As far as we know, this is happening. As always, free, with a few bands and plenty of cold suds. 2pm

Lo-Fi No-Brow Folk Show featuring The Wiggins, Hearts of Animals, & Benjamin Wesley @ ArtStorm
Another Ike Reschedule, this is an opening reception for “folk art inspired works by Jon Read and Glen Gips.” Party. Oh – there’s also bands, including perennial favs The Wiggins (SAY MAN – WHY IS IT SO HARD TO FIND YOUR 7”?), Hearts of Animals (SAY MAN – WE HEARD YOU HAVE A RECORD COMING OUT – WHY NO HEADS UP?) and Benjamin Wesley (Basses Loaded). If you haven’t checked out Mr Wesley on the solo tip yet (sometimes under the name Strings and Fingers), you really should. Fresh and tite for real. Someone described it as ‘smart’. Totally apt. 7-10pm.

ALSO
Poor Dumb Bastards @ Rudyards
The Party (some sort of DJ thing) @ Boondocks

DAY 16 (SUNDAY)
Houston Band Coalition Red Cross Benefit @ Hard Rock Café
OK – we ALWAYS make fun of the Houston Band Coalition because of the fact that bands have to be sponsored by another member and try out to join. We still think this is dumber than a Moosehunter, but hell – we’ll recommend almost any fundraiser , especially one for the Red Cross. This is one of their audition showcases, so go cheer on your favorite(?). Fourteen bands will be playing, half inside, half out. Starts at 2pm.