Your weekend starts NOW!

By Anna Garza

Thursday March 4, 2010

Tonight is your last chance to wish B L A C K I E a bon voyage before he embarks on a tour which will lead him over spacious skies, through amber waves of grain, across purple mountain majesties and above the fruited plains.

RAPEWORM & WIFE will give their kind regards via live performances; it will be up to you to do your part. Don't hate, participate. B L A C K I E is blowin' up and you better catch him so you can say you knew him back when.

B E T H E R E (all caps, with spaces)!!

TRASH TOWN / INDIEHOUSTON / GIANT PRINCESS HOUSE aka THE PLACE TO BE

1816 CALUMET $5 8PM.

After the Calumet show, do not go home. Go directly to Roc Bar. YES, ROC BAR!!

Tonight is a special SHOCK TREATMENT featuring the raw, rowdy, sleazy sounds and antics of the Born Liars and No Talk. I can smell the whiskey emanating Jimmy Sanchez’ breath already. Chances are extremely high you may have to call in to work the next morning but it will be oh so worth it. Trust me.

Roc Bar 530 Texas Avenue 10pm

Friday March 5, 2010

Nameless Sound continues to produce stellar shows. Presented in collaboration with the Royal Norwegian Consulate General in Houston; An extremely prolific artist, Maja Ratkje’s wide-ranging creativity has been revealed in an explosion of work over the past 15 years. Ratkje is an artist who clearly sees no boundaries. She is a free improvisor, but also a composer for other musicians. Her primary instruments are voice and electronics. But her astonishing vocal dexterity and range of sounds might confuse the listener as to which they are hearing. Her conservatory training may be clearly evident in much of her work; but her credentials for noise-making would not be debated by many. But this particular noise, while truly anarchic, has a beautifully detailed and meticulous quality. There is a personal humor and strange beauty that mark her work across the board, affirming Ratkje as an artist whose uniqueness and personality are identifiable in any context (regardless of medium.

The caliber and wide-range of her work can be testified by a list of her collaborators and ensembles, who include: SPUNK, Trinacria, Jaap Blonk, Jazzkammer, Frode Haltli, Jaga Jazzist, Carlos Giffoni, Paal Nilssen-Love, Ikue Mori, Matmos, Zeena Parkins, Otomo Yoshihide, and Fe-mail.

The tightly focused clarity in the duo of Frode Haltli and Trgyve Seim is expressed with an austere beauty worthy of their famed record label, ECM.

Frode Haltli is placed firmly among the small and distinguished individualists who have made the case for the accordion as a distinct medium for the investigation of modern consonance and dissonance. But in spite of his ‘new-music’ credentials, Haltli’s sound is one of direct and simple beauty, with a range of colors that contain trace evidence of folk forms and echoes of a Nordic tonality.

The serene and controlled saxophone of Trgyve Seim had its original inspiration in the ‘Nordic Sound’ of ECM stalwart Jan Garbarek. But Seim has distinct warmth and expression that are all his own. His compositions are perfectly balanced; exhibiting a focus on the composite whole of their parts. Seim not only transcends influence; he erases categorical markers of ‘jazz’ and ‘new music’, forging a unique, intimate, and direct type of chamber music.

Frode Haltli - (Norway) accordion
Trygve Seim - (Norway) saxophone
Maja Ratkje - (Norway) voice, electronics

Links:
Maya Ratkje: http://www.ratkje.com/
Frode Haltli: http://www.haltli.com/
Trygve Seim: http://www.trygveseim.no/

Norway House 3410 West Dallas. FREE.


Saturday March 6, 2010

You don't have to wear sweatshop made clothes to have a good time. You can dance and party all night at Mango's with a guilt free conscious supporting a good cause and good bands.

Sweat Free Houston Benefit:

Muhammad Ali

Giant Princess

Ghormeh Sabzi
http://www.myspace.com/ghormehsabzi4

Cop Warmth

Rape Worm

BAMBARA
http://www.myspace.com/bambaraband

Mango's 403 Westheimer 8:00pm $5.00