FRIDAY
Nation has a busy weekend, with punk shows on Friday and Saturday prior to their normal dance extravaganzas. Doors open at 6pm tonight for Detroit ska-punk vets the Suicide Machines, who eschew the poppy party anthems of their 90s peers for enraged (and surprisingly insightful) political rants. Later that evening, Nation hosts its traditional Friday party, Cubik, which this week features a monster DJ Battle.
It??s one of the hardest decisions a music lover must make. Pay an obscene amount of cash ($75 in this case) to see the rhythm section of your favorite band warble through its nostalgic hits, or make a principled stand and avoid the venue. Well, maybe it??s not that tough. The Fogerty-less Creedence Clearwater Revisited [ital last word?] are cashing in at the Birchmere tonight.
Medeski Martin & Wood are too talented to be pigeonholed into the kiss-of-death jam-band label. The Dust Brothers (Beck, Beastie Boys) produced their latest LP, which featured only a single track breaking the five-minute mark. Expect the alt-jazz prodigies to stretch their tunes out a bit more tonight at the 9:30 Club.
If you haven??t yet hit up Liberation Dance Party, DC9??s regular Friday night shindig, tonight??s one-year anniversary party is a perfect opportunity to shake your ironic t-shirts and horn-rimmed glasses to the hottest indie tracks. As can be expected, the people-watching scene is just as good ?? if not better ?? than the DJs.
Anyone stumbling into Iota tonight looking for the club??s normal alt-country lineup might be a bit shocked. Willfully unpredictable noise rock outfit the Heroine Sheiks, fronted by the outrageous Shannon Selberg, take the stage with Power Lloyd in support.
SATURDAY
One of the most underrated rock acts around, the Black Keys get some recognition tonight with a sold-out gig at 9:30 Club. The Ohio duo manages to out-muscle their closest competition, the White Stripes, with a crushing wall of gritty blues and a desperately reckless attitude that translates fantastically to the stage.
Britain??s Broadcast rode the crest of the late-90s electronica explosion while producing a string of beautifully unpeggable singles and EPs that straddled the line between the post-rock of Tortoise and the electronic gurgles of Stereolab. Now pared down to a duo, Broadcast ?? headlining Black Cat??s mainstage tonight ?? has lost none of their genre-bending charm.
Beenie Man, Jamaica??s ??King of Dancehall,? gets the dance floor moving tonight at Crossroads in PG County. Expect to hear a steady stream of Beenie??s massive hits and club-shaking anthems.
A decade before the teen-pop craze of the 90s, the bad boys of New Kids on the Block were responsible for whipping up pre-teen girls into a frenzy. At State Theatre tonight, former NKOTB frontman and ??The Surreal Life? vet Jordan Knight has re-invented himself as an adult contemporary balladeer, attempting to appeal to his now grown-up former fan base.
SUNDAY
The 9:30 Club opens at 4pm today for a huge sold-out punk bill fronted by Boston??s Dropkick Murphys, who avoid punk rock clichés with their boisterous Irish-tinged attack. Big D and the Kids table help warm up the early crowd. Doors re-open at 10pm for country crooner Pat Green, who has spit-polished his original grassroots sound for Nashville execs.
