A+E

Once again, Friday means Fuego at the Arcata Theatre Lounge, a dance party celebration of modern Latin club music. Join DJs D’Vinity, Pressure and Statik as they curate an evening of reggaeton-plus for all the assembled crowd, including crews of in-house go-go and pole dancers, at 9 p.m. ($15, $10 advance).

Alpha Rhythm Kings are a San Francisco sextet trading in the style jump blues and sassy, high energy, swinging lounge music that made Louis Prima a household name during the glory days of live American dance club music. Tonight at 7 p.m., you can capture a taste of those goods at the Eagle House Ballroom for a mere $20, courtesy of the good folks at the Redwood Coast Music Festival.

Many years ago, when I was a teenager, I snagged a ticket to one of Eureka’s various blues music by the bay festivals, where as an aspiring bass player I had hoped to study some of the low end wranglers jamming in the assorted rhythm sections under the blue skies. A lot of acts played that day, but one that caught my attention enough to form a lasting memory all these years later was Tommy Castro, a Bay Area blues guitarist and singer who leans heavily on the Memphis soul and protofunk that made Stax Records an international name in the middle of the 20th century. Along with his band The Painkillers, Castro plays a world class form of electric blues music which is irresistible in its emotional punch. Tonight at 8 p.m. the group returns to Humbrews for the first time in a few years to rattle the boards ($30, $25 advance).

Returning Humboldt County pop rock champions The Ian Fays are posting up at the Shanty tonight at 8:30 p.m. for Arts Alive. Popular hybrid rockers Strix Vega has dusted off the amps to join in on the jams, and a group named Rad Bromance, about whom I know near to nothing, has signed on for opening duties. If you are as intrigued as I am, roll through. It don’t cost nothin’ but your time.

It’s the first night of the eighth annual Zero to Fierce Festival, with events generally centered around the Arcata Playhouse and the Exit Theatre. Tonight’s soiree sees an art gallery pop-up in the front of the Playhouse called the Womxn’s Art Show, and features an all-ages and multimedia format. DJ Dastbunny provides the sonic ambience and, while tonight’s 6 p.m. opening is free, the entire catalog of events from today to the closing on March 10 can be accessed with a festival pass purchased for $250. Tickets to specific individual events may also be purchased separately. 

One of the stranger and more cinematic acts to break into the fringes of the American mainstream, a band that can be called Dadaist without flinching, is back on the road and coming to Humboldt. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum is possibly the only group to ever work the word “tintinnabulation” into a catchy song and have an impossible-to-define sound that is the true heir to the best sense of the term “art rock.” This group is in its own class and very certainly worth your time, which can be exchanged for $25 ($20 advance) at Humbrews at 8 p.m. If you aren’t up for it and want something a little cozier, at the same hour at the Logger Bar you will find LK — aka the bartender and my good buddy Logan — performing Neil Young’s masterpiece "After the Goldrush" for free.

Denver, Colorado’s Sunsquabi are a power trio of rock-tronica jamsters who mix and meld bass, drums and guitars with keys, laptops and drum pads, creating a groove-friendly bounce house for fun seekers everywhere. The crew is setting up shop tonight at the Arcata Theatre Lounge, one of the best venues around for this sort of thing. Along for the ride are Oakland EDM and trap duo Modern Future, and K+Lab, a solo artist from New Zealand who produces some banger electronica dance tracks. Catch it all at 7 p.m. ($20, $15 advance).

Emily Robb’s latest release If I Am Misery Then Give Me Affection is a rolling tone jeremiad preaching the lost gospel virtues of Old Testament instrumental guitar sounds. Fuzz and vibrato scraps of treble-sliding hacksaw blues are fleshed into a chaotic prophet’s new vision of revelation. Basically, an evening of rapture for all lovers of sonic electric guitar possibilities. This fantastic Philadelphia musician finds herself at the Miniplex tonight at 8 p.m. with an excellent local supporting act, Winter Band, featuring members of Comets on Fire and the amazing singer/guitarist Meg Baird ($10).

Bolero! from San Francisco is a group dedicated to remembering the psychedelic rock sounds and Latin vibes that briefly made that city a beacon of youth culture in the 1960s and 1970s. A memory stone from an age before four decades of Reaganomics and venture capital turned that once-beautiful peninsula into a shittier version of Detroit/Delta City from Robocop. You can capture some of that lost magic for yourself in the Miniplex tonight at 8 p.m., when the band teams up with The Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show, a genuine immersive visual experience overseen by a chap named Lance Gordon who’s been Mad Hatter-ing this stuff since the first wave. Local cumbia masters Makenu fill out the bill nicely, don’t sleep on this one ($15).

The New Pelicans are somewhat of a phoenix-like group, having risen from the ashes of our late local folk country band The Handshakers with four of its members in the lineup, including guitarists and singer/songwriters Mike Bynum and Michael Walker, the latter a master luthier as well. The sound hits all the beloved notes of our sublime American music traditions from the Mississippi delta to the Blue Ridge mountains. The crew is playing two sets at the Eagle House
tonight beginning at 7 p.m. ($10), with the second set featuring the languid vocals and multi-instrumental prowess of local treasure Beverly Twist, whom you should recognize from Canary and the Vamp. This is going to be a special crossover event and one to miss at your peril if you are a fan of roots music made by some of the best players this area has to offer.
If you are still craving an early show but are, for whatever reason, trapped in Arcata, at the same hour at the Jam you will find the return of Captured! By Robots, the long-running animatronic metal band where the backing musicians are (probably) actually mostly metal. With the exception of lead singer JBot — aka mastermind Jay Vance — all instrumental duties are handled by his soulless humanoid cohorts. It’s a fun and disorienting show, like a carny attraction from after the apocalypse. Local skate punk champs Imperial Destructo provides
local support. It’s $15 at the door and all-ages if you want to bring the kiddies.