Old Songs, Young Blood 

The other day I was thinking about the Pied Piper of Hamelin, that odd musical character from fairy tales who agreed to remove all the rats from a besieged village for a fee. Upon completion of his task, the village leaders decided to renege on payment, so the piper returned and merrily led their children away forever, with the exception of three disabled kids, whose infirmities prevented them from following their friends. In our world, it seems the rats are never removed, just the children. Except they aren't all taken away, there are plenty left behind, but all with various catastrophic injuries inflicted by the piper, whose services we keep paying for despite this devastating outcome. We can never stop paying the piper, the town leaders won't give us another choice. We pay and we watch, maybe forever.

Enough fairy tales, they're grimmer than Grimm. Let's listen to some different tunes. Have a good week.

Thursday

Savage Henry Comedy Club presents Double Trouble, hosted by local comedy star Evan Vest. The premise is simple: Every comedian in the audience tosses their name into a hat, two names are drawn at a time by the host, and those folks have to share a stage and improvise for a spell, for better or for worse. Seems promising; find out for yourself at 9 p.m. for a sawbuck (aka $10 to those of you younger than either of our last two presidents).

Friday

The Basement opened its doors again recently after a long layoff due to ... well, the circumstances we all got keelhauled by over the last few years. I didn't get a chance to mark the occasion at the time, so I am instead suggesting that those of you who, like myself, missed the joint should make your way downstairs around 6 p.m. for a cocktail or mocktail and a gander at the musical styling of the acoustic duo of Flynn Martin and Dave Peterson. No cover.

If you're still in the mood for some local flavor, you can stroll over to the Miniplex around 9 p.m. for a showcase of some of the best tunesmiths our area has to offer. $5 gets you in the door for the sounds of Widdershins, The Sugar Boys and Mister Moonbeam, all of whom have been lauded in this space for what they do best.

Saturday

I love a good album release show and tonight's offering at the Sanctuary looks very promising. Cyrus Smith might be a familiar name to those of you who have followed the market, dance and special event scene, as he has played bass for two of the more interesting and industrious groups from that circuit, namely The Blueberry Hill Boogie Band and The Cowtown Serenaders. His solo stuff is a different animal, with soft folk pop trickling out of the nylon string murmurs of his deftly arranged record Bloom. Smith's backup crew for the night will be the highly talented pedal steel player Aleister Page from Canary and the Vamp, as well as his multi-stringed pal Daniel Nickerson from the two previously mentioned market bands. Opening support will be provided by local indie-folk outfit Blood Hunny and the shindig starts at 7 p.m., with a $10-$20 sliding scale door price.

Sunday

While many aspects we took for granted from the world of just-a-few-years-ago seem permanently gone, some patterns and cycles have reemerged with welcome colors into our drab-yet-distressing world of the present. One such treasure is the welcome return to our land of the Japanese psyche-music collective Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., a group of sonic skull-busters who have been churning out the OM-drones in various incarnations for nearly 30 years. The Miniplex is once again the hosting roost for this vessel of a Godhead aspect. Also on the bill is Brooklyn's Dead Leaf Echo, as well as our local-and-abroad travelers Datura Blues, for whom I have played bass before, and might possibly do again if I can get an extremely stupid hand injury to calm down. Regardless of my participation, though, this one is going to be seismic and runs the very possible risk of selling out, so the $20 online early bird tickets look like the best way to get a piece of the worm. Otherwise, it's $25 at the door, which opens at 9 p.m.

Monday

I don't mind boosting another Metal Monday night at Savage Henry Comedy Club because the lineups are good at balancing local talent with touring acts, I'm happy to support anything resembling a local metal scene and this regular gig is dependable, and Mondays are a tough field to carve out anything lasting on, and I respect perseverance. So lend an eye, please, as I lay out the details again: The local bands are all top notch, with sludge coming by way of Psyop Victim, death metal provided by Echoes of Ruination and punk splendor provided by Brain Dead Rejects. Tonight's touring act is Seattle's death/grind group Rat King, a trio with two brothers who sound like a promising venture based on my brief audio scan of their decade-long discography. As usual, this all-ages gig goes down at 7 p.m., with a $5-$10 sliding scale door price and an I.D. required to drink.

Tuesday

The Jonathan Scales Fourchestra is actually a trio, composed of a bassist, drummer and the titular composer and bandleader's weapon of choice: the steelpan, an instrument that has always tickled my ears favorably when applied to jazz fusion music, as Mr. Scales and company very skillfully pull off. The music is playful, open and at times brilliant, without ever seeming to be overwrought, which is generally the mark of a casual master. No slouches in this crew. This midweek show looks like a real treat and $15 for the spacious wooden warmth of Humbrews sounds good to me. 8 p.m.

Wednesday

Gotta hand it to the Arcata Theatre Lounge, which has managed to stump the band this week by doing the unthinkable and putting on a cult horror film from the '80s that I haven't seen, nor heard of. Kudos, this is usually a Jeopardy category with which I have the same comfort as a daily commute. The flick is called Chopping Mall and from what I've gathered from the trailer, it's an anti-capitalist parable that pits teens against the killer robotic security forces in the galleria of a shopping mall, in the liminal spaces of the after-shopping hours. If you're curious, it's the same drill as before. Doors at 6 p.m., $5 to get in, $9 to leave with a poster.

Collin Yeo (he/him) would like to vote with his conscience next year but doubts that option will be on the ballot. He lives in Arcata.