Thursday, August 26
Kill the Noise: Loaded Nuns, The Downtown County Band, Lee G, & the Charlie Parker Sextet
Al’s Bar, 9 P.M. All ages. Free.
Something like an educational seminar on musical diversity, this free series pairs up often exclusive niches in the Lexington scene. Not everyone is going to end up friends, but everyone will respect one another. Anyway, that is the hope.
This week will see the Loaded Nuns, The Downtown County Band, Lee G and The Charlie Parker Sextet take the wood-paneled stage. Shit talking punks, Owenton Americana, the self-proclaimed Ladykilla himself and some 50s flavored bebop. Something to please the whole family. —Megan Neff
Friday, August 27
Appetite for Destruction w/ The Greatest of These
Buster’s, 9 P.M. 18+. $10 adv., $12 at door
There’s a certain sort of person who gets pretty fired up about the prospect of going to a Guns N’ Roses tribute band show, even if you saw Adler’s Appetite just two weeks ago, and if you’re such a person, you know what this thing is all about and I don’t have to write a word of explanation. Go forth ye and rocketh.
If you’re not that sort of person, then I won’t write a thing to persuade you of the error of your ways except to say that you ought to go anyway to check out local four-piece The Greatest of These, who will probably lose to the headliners in number of choruses passionately belted by audience members but may leave the more lasting impression: you can’t deny “Rocket Queen,” but the openers have something to say with a loud guitar too. —Keith Halladay
Saturday, August 28
Lexington Music Academy: Battle of the Bands
Natasha’s Bistro, 6 P.M. $5, of which four dollars goes to God’s Pantry.
This is one of those things where you’re sitting around reading this paper, you read this paragraph, and you think to yourself, “you know, there’s no way that that’s not gonna be a good time.” So you call up some friends and pitch them the idea, like you were pitching a movie script, because you want to make sure they understand what you just understood, which is that there’s no way this isn’t going to be a good time, and even though you think that they didn’t reach your level of enlightenment, they all agree to join you because you really just wore them down with your true-believer enthusiasm, and you go and have a great time and you remind your friends that it was your idea and even get a little obnoxious about it.
So here’s the deal: six teenage bands vie to be named the very best. Friend, these will be some motivated youngsters, and they will do what it takes to earn your approval. And they can really play. And 80% of your money goes to God’s Pantry. Make that call. —
Naked Karate Girls
The Roxy, 9 P.M. $10.
For years now I’ve told anyone who would listen that the best live act I ever saw was the Supersonic Soul Pimps in 1996 at Berbati’s Pan in Portland, Oregon. That night they wore their silver spandex bodysuits and played hard funk and rock so uptempo and infectious you were exhilarated trying to keep your dancing from being left behind. Since I live in Kentucky now and can’t go see SSP, I do the smart thing and go see Cincinnati’s NKG instead. —KH
Monday, August 30
Greg Ginn
Cosmic Charlie’s, 9 P.M.
One evening in 1988, I crammed myself and the thick fiberglass cast on my ankle into Bernie’s run-down VW Rabbit and rode 40 minutes to the next town north to watch my high-school basketball teammates play our arch rivals, or whoever it was. On the way we smoked a joint and listened to Black Flag’s Damaged. At some point we noticed that the cassette case was cracked and splintering, and we giggled like schoolgirls that an album called Damaged was actually damaged. Misspent youth. Meanwhile, Greg Ginn kept making kickass post-punk records, and he’s Greg freaking Ginn, so get off yer ass. —Buck Edwards
Tuesday, August 31
Psychic Steel w/ Fielded and Tiny Fights
Al’s Bar, 9 P.M. All ages. Free.
If you happened upon Ga’an at WRFL’s Boomslang Festival last year, you have encountered the combined efforts of these two solo projects. As separate entities, however, the respective Chicago-based drummer and vocalist branch into strikingly distinct realms.
Psychic Steel is Seth Sher. He loops synthesizer, vocals and drums into a hypnotic swirl. His strength as a drummer undercuts his sound, which centralizes on building up intricate rhythms into progressive industrial soundscapes.
Lindsay Powell of Fielded blends vocal-based ambience with hyperactive pop. If the forces of Kate Bush and Grouper’s Liz Harris combined in a musical supernova, this would rise from the ashes.
Local experimental shape shifters Tiny Fights round off the bill.
The show is free and happens to fall on two-for-one drink night, so go ahead and plan on watching the new episode of “Secret Life” online later. —MN
Wednesday, September 1
Soul Funkin’ Dangerous
Cosmic Charlie’s, 9 P.M.
Guitarist DeBraun Thomas attacks his instrument with startling ferocity and yet manages a soulful articulation and deep-funk feel. Since there aren’t many players around with quite that combination, and since that combination is pretty much what Hendrix and Eddie Hazel had, and since Thomas plays his lines over a swinging, sinewy rhythm section, well, you pretty well ought to go see Soul Funkin’ Dangerous. —KH
Saturday, September 4
Chris Knight
Buster’s, 9 P.M. 18+. $20.
Sometimes a whole mess of personal bullshit goes wrong at once, and it’s raining, and the world’s pretty much going to hell, and on top of it all you’re pretty sure you have an infestation of bedbugs. So you tie it on one night to remind yourself that the booze doesn’t work anymore, then cut firewood all afternoon to bleed off the hangover and all those regrets. Lucky you have Chris Knight to help you though. —BE
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