ANGELS AND MINISTERS OF GRACE DEFEND US FROM THIS EPIC EVENT!

HOLY CALAMITY! BEATS OF INSANITY! ARE YOU READY FOR THIS! Like adding a mustache to your dasheeki, the folks over at the Free Press have taken the delicious pizza that is their twice annual Westheimer Block Party and have sprinkled a metric ton of fresh grated awesome on top. Stoked. And things are a brewin, here’s a quote from organizer (and Free Press editor) Mr. Omar:

We hope to snowball the block party into a legitimate arts and music festival and marquee event for the city. Ambitious? Yes. Risky? Yes? But we have an undying faith in this city, our community, and the potential for big, wonderful things to happen.

Now, snowballing anything other than snow takes time, effort and most of all money. But how to bring in income from something that has had, traditionally, being free near the core of it’s whipsistentialism? You do it by being smart, which is what the Free Press has done. They’ve kept the day part of the event free, so you still can have big bonanza fun in the sun for $0, but then they’ve added an impressive lineup of evening acts, playing at different venues, that will require (and are worth, in our calculation) buying a wristband to see. Peep the lineup:

Advance wristband sales have already started, get them online here. We’re sure we’ll have lots more to say about this in the run up to the event, including how our efforts to move a conflicting wedding will go. YUS.

please enjoy this rant.

HEY we just had a revelation. Seriously. We can remember all the time when we were younger how we would see flyers for an afterparty for nearly every big show that came through town. We’re not just talking about the DJ and dance stuff (especially considering there are many well done after-parties in that scene going on all ready) but in rock and roll in general. Why was that? Or rather, why doesn’t that happen here (you guessed it, it wasn’t in this city). Well, for one, we would bet it’s the whole geographic proximity thing. Although, in a sense, that’s kinda bunk because you can catch a ride from Verizon or House of Blues down to someplace like the Mink or Notsuoh or Art Storm with a minimum of effort. What was the name of that club that got siezed by the Feds because it was a front for an X ring? The one with $1 cape cods on Wednesdays? We feel like we maybe went to some parties there. Maybe it’s the fact that no show here is able to end before 1:30 am, and most people don’t want to go to a warehouse that late (since, you know, bars will be closed). Does anyone know what time shows end at House of Blues? Can someone please put together an afterparty for the Andrew Bird date? KTHNX.

FRIDAY
Wild Moccasins CD Release Show with Buxton, Teenage Kicks, DJs ADR and BDM
You can get our full-sentence show and tell about this event from a post earlier this week, but essentially you’re going to get 1) a copy of the cd with your cover, 2) a Homopolice CDr cover of a Wild Moccasins song if you are one of the first 25 to ask for one, 3) a screened poster for the show if you are one of the first 50 in the door, 4)a hand-screened t-shirt with a design only available at this show, if you bring your own t-shirt, 5)Free pizza, 6)Free cupcakes, 7)three super good bands, 8 ) two NEXT LEVEL djs, who have the ability to decide if they want to play ‘Cool it Now’ as a radio single or an extended mix. Party. All Ages.

Grupo Fantasma, Vallejo, Yoko Mono @ Warehouse Live
Sometimes we feel really bad for Yoko Ono. I mean, one minute you’re just some avant garde artist who meets a guy named John, and the next thing you know a bunch of goofball Canadians are writing a song about you and then the bass player from Chango Jackson has done a little twistaroo with it and is now opening up for someone nominated for a Grammy (Grupo Fantasma) or an alt-rock outfit that ~swooon~ all the AEPhi girls liked in college. I mean, you think Yoko herself is hanging out backstage with any Grammy nominees tonight? We’re gonna go ahead and say the the little word written on the ceiling once you climb the ladder and view through the magnifying glass is ‘no.’

ALSO
The Caprolites, Battle Rifle and 50-50 @ The White Swan
KRS One @ The Meridian

SATURDAY
Leave Your Genre at the Door 2: Grandfather Child, Fat Tony, Satin Hooks, Heptic Skeptic, Nosaprise, Perseph-One and News on the March @ Fitzgeralds
YUS! We always love it when there are shows we like at Fitz. We love that place. Sue us. This second installment of Leave Your Genre at The Door features a hunk a hunk a burning indie rock and rap, including many of our favorites. As a heads up Grandfather Child, a project featuring Lucas G (Satin Hooks) and Ryan Chavez (Panic in Detroit) is playing, not Sad Gorilla (Lucas solo) as has been seen promoted in most places. BONUS: LSPS (the band formerly known as Lone Star Porn Star) is headlining the show upstairs, and that should be fun.

Saturday is also an evening of many many ‘events’, including Downtown Pavilion for the HYPA Fire + Ice Gala featuring Glasnost, Houston Music Revival, featuring Memphis May Fire, Runner Runner, Before…There Was Rosalyn, Driver F, Scarlett O’Hara, A Kid Named Thompson, Visceral, Otenki, Novista, Skyscrapers Walk Among Us, Love She Wrote, Bonnie Blue and Set It Off @ The Meridian and Houston Press Artopia, featuring Sideshow Tramps, Karina Nistal, Arthur Yoria, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, Dominic Walsh Dance Theater, Travesty Dance Group, & more @ Winter Street Studios

Wana keep it on the noise tip? be sure to hit up Future Blondes, Venison Whirled, Concrete Violin, Kairos and Amputee @ Notsuoh

Ahh. Much better.

FRIDAY
Toys For Tots Benefit with pretty much every band that was nominated for a Sammy @ The Mink
So yeah, originally our awards party was going to be Friday night, but we ended up having to change it because an obscene percentage of the good folks up for an award were already slated to play this gig (they thought of the children, we thought of the party – our bad). The show is $10, or you can bring a toy. Don’t be a cheapskate a pick something up at the dollar store. Go get one of those little awesome action figure things at Sig’s Lagoon – kids love that stuff and they you also get to goto Sig’s. If you’re having trouble reading the flyer, the acts playing are The Riff Tiffs, BLACKIE, American Sharks, Elaine Greer, Paleo, Giant Princess, Buxton, Death by Texas, Brett Taylor, News on the March, Wicked Poseur and Wild Moccasins. We’re told this is going to be done upstairs/downstairs style (a la Hootenanny) so there won’t be too many luls in the performance. Doors at 8pm, 21+

Something Fierce CD Release show w/Teenage Kicks @ Walter’s
Both of these bands are up for a Sammy as well (in the Favorite Punks category. Ooooh, Fight! Fight!) We’ve heard a few snippets of SF’s new full length and it goes without saying that it’s going to be a great record. You’ll definitely want to go to this show so you can pick up a vinyl copy of their previously online-only Modern Girl ep. Teenage Kicks never disappoint either.

ALSO:

• Ume, Linus Pauling Quartet and Red Leaves @ Rudyards (free)
• Battle Rifle, Chocolate Crucifix, Assholes and DJ Bill Fool @ Leon’s Lounge (free)

SATURDAY
SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES SAMMIES

ALSO

• Free Press Christmas Party featuring Satin Hooks, The Eastern Sea, Piano Vines, Nick Greer, Ozeal & The Eulypians, Chase Hamblin and Female Demand @ Avant Garden
• Reprogram Multimedia Christmas Party featuring Spain Colored Orange, The Factory Party, BLACKIE, plus DJs Richard Henry, Yppah, Jeffery Mac, Paramour, Damon Allen, J. Calero, Dan Castillo and Ceeplus Bad Knives @ Bootleg Studios (2301 Commerce)
• Come See My Dead Person, Two Star Symphony and Whorehound @ Rudyards
• The Caprolites, The Trian Woodburns, & Novox @ PJs Sports Bar

SUNDAY
Trills the Season Toy Drive ’08, featuring Nosaprise, Lower Life Form, Spain Colored Orange, The Mathletes plus DJs Dayta and License to Trill @ Boondocks

FRIDAY
Cat Power, Appaloosia @ Warehouse Live
Faaahq. You know, if you take a step back for a minute and go to a moment in time where you have no idea who Chan Marshall is or what her band is like and someone just said “oh hey, there is this girl with a band named Cat Power” the horrific image that comes to mind is the most awful conflagration of LOLCats and ATCAT, fronted by a pitiable frizzy haired gal that reeks of cat litter and ammonia. Some sort of 20-something proto-Miss Havisham on her way to converting her entire life into a depressing cat rescue shelter. So yeah, kind of Bizzarro Cat Power.

Sideshow Tramps, Buxton, Molly and the Ringwalds @ The Continental Club
Just last week we made a joke about the Continental Club being named the best venue to see local bands by the Houston Press and yet it never seems like there is a local band there we are into. Well BUXTON TO THE RESCUE. They’re the delicious white cream in one potentially delicious Friday Oreo (although we prefer ice cream sandwiches). Our fav part about this show? It’s just a few feet away from….

Monotonix, Dizzy Pilot, American Sharks @ The Mink
Our fav part about this show? Some seriously epic tacos are on the way back to check out the show at the Continental during the breaks. Nice to see Dizzy Pilot playing out again – seems like they were on a break there. Maybe we should get one of our reporters on that.

Alkari, Hearts of Animals and Orents Stirner @ Rudyard’s
If the fact Alkari is named for a Masters of Orion race isn’t enough for you, then maybe the fact they’re sharing the stage with OMG HEART Heart’s of Animals should get you to Rudyard’s this evening (not to mention Orents Stirner, who they themselves recommended).

SATURDAY
Free Press Westheimer Block Party
This is the anchor for your entire weekend and, frankly, for the better part of the month. With each new outing, it becomes nearly impossible to do favorites because so many WHIPS PERFORMERS are playing concurrently. The complete schedule, including a map to the different venues (all of which are around the corner of Taft and Westheimer) can be found here. (There are usually schedules found onsite too). This event is all day, late into the evening, and is totally free. 100%. Oh – and as if the conflict during the day wasn’t bad enough, once the sun sets and the free part of the evening rolls away, you’ve still got a night to figure out what to do with. Peep the options:

Voxtrot, The Jonbenet, Bring Back the Guns, Satin Hooks, BLACKIE, Lisa’s Sons, Something Fierce and Antenna Inn @ Numbers
This is the official evening finale for the Block Party, and is the only part that isn’t free. Twelve bucks, but still a helluva deal considering the that some of the day’s (and the city’s) best acts are on the bill. Doors get open at 7:30, which is actually while there are still bands playing the free part of the Party, so your body won’t go into shock from having to suddenly only choose between one band playing where before it was seven.

Todo Moto Motorcycle Club Presents their WestFest After Party, Featuring The Flaming Hellcats and Wasted plus DJs Andrew Lee and the Psychedelic Sex Panther.
You know those guys you see riding around Montrose on rat bikes with the Frankenstien logo on their backs? That’s Todo Moto. Sure, they may look a little dirty and have a reputation for starting fights at bubble tea parlors, but the few we know are some nice guys. Nice enough to throw a party and even invite you (oh scooter nerd), you(fixed gear dork) and you (four wheeled cager). In addition to the obligatory “bands, bbq and babes”, there will be sets by local psychobilly punks The Flaming Hellcats and Wasted, which is a Black Flag tribute act. Six Pack. 2222 Morgan Street. $5. Doors at six, bands at eight.

Dirty Honey @ Boondocks
At first we were hella annoyed when they started having DJ nights at Boondocks. We thought it was a perfect place and we didn’t want to dance there and REALLY did not want to have to talk over FUGGING LOUD music. “Keep that noise at Etro” was our mantra. There are some DJ nights that we truly adore, however, and Dirty Honey is one of them. Setting aside the gimmick factor of their only using 45s, Brett Koshkin plays a great mix of classic soul and funk that you’ve most likely never heard before. It’s great for dancing, but for us the real sell is how great it is for listening. Go early, take some friends, park at a table upstairs and just take it all in. Oh, and for this installment, Mr. Koshkin is joined by Austin’s Hobo D (and it’s his birthday). This is free and goes all night, so you can add it on to whatever you do, post festival.

500 Megatons of Boogie, Wicked Poseur, Data Vs Data @ The Mink
LOL @ our finally hearing about a Wicked Poseur show before hand. Solid bill. Our fav part about this show? Some seriously epic tacos are on the way back to the Continental to check out what’s going on there during the breaks.

Tito and Tarantula, De Los Muertos, Pistoleros de Texas @ The Continental Club
WHO? Nevermind about those tacos. Guh.

SUNDAY
Presidents of The United States of America with The Black & White Years @ House of Blues
Though it officially opened the night before with a show by Cowboy Mouth, this is the opening weekend throw-back to catch. Actually. You know what, we spent the better part of our college years having some absolute dolls of Alpha Epsilon Phis and Sigma Delta Thetas tell us how great Cowboy Mouth was. These were reasonably intelligent women, and we’d be willing to be most of them have better things to do with their time now then troll around in local music a decade hence they turned us down for dates. Oh, and they love Jackopierce too. OH CRAP JACKOPIERCE WAS PLAYING SATURDAY NIGHT AT WAREHOUSE LIVE. COWBOY MOUTH AND JACKOPIERCE IN THE SAME CITY ON THE SAME NIGHT! IT’S LIKE A HORID CONGRESS OF DECISION-FORCING COINCIDENCE THAT WILL SET THE PANHELLANIC COUNCIL AFLAME. OH UNHAPPY DAY. OH UNHAPPY DAY. GET OUT THE STRIKE TAGS, WE’RE DESTROYING THE REST OF THE WEEKEND.

Also
Hurricane Ike Relief Concert, featuring Pale, Deep Ella, Paris Green, & Morgue City @ The Meridian
Akimbo/Ghost Town Electric @ The Mink