This week’s offering is named after a rugged translation of an old Cajun tune whose name percolates back to a galvanic collision between French and colloquial English from the days before electricity allowed such modern alchemy. I guess I’m inspired by the inscrutable story titles of my late hero Edward Gorey, whose 101st birthday clicked by last Sunday, along with a nod to Kate Bush’s The Hounds of Love, as well as a couple of entries below — see if you can guess which ones. Hell, even a song by Sting from the ’90s might be an influence here; why not? A peek behind the curtain will find me throwing a lot of things against the walls of my cell and trying to scry meaning out of the wet mess emulsifying in the air pockets of my damaged brain afterward. This week brings us to the beginning of March and the eve of another birthday for me, along with the news of some older family members slipping away into the eternal spin cycle. It is fitting for a birthday that moors itself in the cluttered dishwater discharge of early middle age. You get to a point where so many things are floating in the wake of your existence that forward progress seems impossible so long as the drowning monuments of the past gather barnacles in the bilge waters of your narrow vision. This isn’t the day for a new dawn just yet, but I still hope for one on the horizon while I consider cutting anchor out of a pragmatic need to just get loose into less cluttered water, even if the current is scary. Returning to land will find the clever hounds still at it, though, snagging my shit from storage and running amok with my things through the woods, making chaotic scarecrows out of the wardrobe of memories I have stored, dressing up the trees with my old clothes for a final skeleton dance before the new leaves come and shrug off my old rags in favor of the brilliant green fire of spring.
Or something like that. Have a fucking week already, will you? This one’s a treasure.
Thursday
Reverso is a transcontinental jazz trio composed of tromboner Ryan Keberle, pianist Frank Woeste and cellist Vincent Courtois.Their latest album, “Between Two Silences,” is a chamber music celebration of the music of Erik Satie, with that chamber sitting like a spinning plate in a hall of mirrors. That’s a high compliment; I loved what I could find online from this work, which appropriately staggers and pliés through fresh interpretations of the timeless music of the genius of Arcueil. Check it out at the Arcata Playhouse tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 general, $15 students and seniors. This show is another banger brought to you by the Redwood Jazz Alliance.
Friday
The Shanty needs to get mentioned more often in this column, and I am happy to oblige tonight. Three rock bands are jamming a free one at 9 p.m. for all comers over 21. We’re talking Sun War Ship, Clean Girl and the Dirty Dishes and The Breakfast Collection. And just to show I’m serious about dropping some science about this joint, you can also come through tomorrow night to enjoy DJs Deaf Eye and Rotten as they spin hot Jamaican wax from yesteryear to the new century. The time this time is 9:30 p.m. and the cover is the same zero-dollar game.
Saturday
Folk-rock protest act Lxs Perdidxs are recording a live album at Outer Space tonight at 7 p.m. The cover is a suggested $5-$10, but we all know you won’t be turned away if you have no scratch to spare. Be a part of local music history and play the audience hand claps during the appropriate applause times.
Meanwhile at the same hour across the bay, the Eureka Theater is celebrating its 87th anniversary with a performance by Portland’s explosive MarchFourth marching band along with local funk killdozers Object Heavy.This all-ages bam-ba-lam is sure to be a proper blow-out, so snag your early bird tickets now for $20, because the price hits $30 if you miss that boat.
Sunday
Few bands have held my enduring affection from my Louisiana days like Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet.After 50 years of not only playing and preserving, but fully exalting in and whooping up the wonderful music of the Cajun swamps and prairies of that strange and beautiful land, these fellas have earned their position as a living treasure in the folkloric Valhalla of our nation. I challenge you to go see this group and not leave as though your veins are flowing with new blood pumped by a heart powered by the beautiful sunshine of their music. I have enjoyed this music many times and in many places since I was a teenager in New Orleans, and I will testify this is a real treat. Skip on down to Humbrews tonight at 8 p.m. where $35 — or $30 if you paid in advance — will gain you entrance to this wonderful world.
Monday
Jeffrey Lewis & the Voltage are back in town tonight at the Miniplex at 8 p.m. to share a burning collage — not college — garage rock and demolition-folk that many fans around the country have come to adore. This week has been an embarrassment of riches for your ears, and tonight’s show is no less a gem than anything else mentioned above. The addition of East Bay emo heartbreakers and love potion makers Suver makes tonight so much more special. What a fine way to start your week, and for only $20, too.
Tuesday
The Carsie Blanton show at the Arcata Playhouse sold out, so go drink up the Worm Moon instead, with my blessing, which I am allowed to bestow because my birthday hits later in this cycle.
Wednesday
Seattle’s Grieves is bringing his Out Cold Tour 4 to Humbrews tonight at 8:30 p.m. What does that mean? Well, it’s a chance to enjoy some independent hip hop courtesy the headliner and his assorted crew of openers, which includes Blueprint, Benz Shelton and Hiway. It’s $25 at the door, $20 early bird.
Collin Yeo (he/him) is.
This article appears in The Siren’s Song Returns at Jim Dunn’s.