Tonight: Blackalicious + Knights of the Fire Kingdom + We Were Wolves + Theremin Festival + Shellee Coley + Mid Main First Thursday + More

Dang. Alright, I know I’ve been MIA of late; there’s a lot of reasons behind that absence, but I won’t go into ’em right now. Instead, I’d rather just say that I’m attempting to catch up right now and hope to do better, and then point at some truly, truly cool stuff that’s happening tonight, Thursday, December 4th. I couldn’t let this stuff slip past, y’all. Here we go:

Blackalicious/D Risha @ Fitzgerald’s
There are few hip-hop outfits out there that I love more than Blackalicious. No lie; when they came out with their debut album, Nia, back in the late ’90s, it blew me away like few others have, before or since, in any musical genre. It was smart, sneaky, thoughtful, fun, dark, and in-your-face, all at the same damn time, and yes, it holds its own even now, a decade-plus later. It’s like this perfect distillation of everything good and awesome in hip-hop.

I was lucky enough to actually catch the band back in 2000, at what was then the Aerial Theater, and holy shit were they good; so good, in fact, that they blew then-headliner Ben Harper out of the water (sorry, Harper fans, but it’s true). Hearing Gift Of Gab do “A to G” live was one of the best damn moments of my show-going life. The albums since — 2002’s Blazing Arrow and 2005’s The Craft — haven’t quite reached the high point of Nia, it’s true, but I’ve got high hopes for upcoming album Emoni; keep your fingers crossed for that. In the meantime, go see this show, alright?

Oh, and here’s a video for “Deception,” one of the best tracks off Nia:

Maylene and The Sons Of Disaster/We Were Wolves/Knights of the Fire Kingdom/Dark Horse Darling @ Warehouse Live (Green Room)
Or, if hip-hop isn’t your thing — or you’re just feeling more like a rock show — hey, there’s this one over at the Warehouse Live. I like Maylene and The Sons of Disaster well enough (what I’ve heard of ’em, anyway), but what gets me more psyched about this particular lineup is the one-two punch of H-town rawk, with {Knights of the Fire Kingdom} followed by {We Were Wolves}.

The former play snarling, muscular, punch-you-and-smile rock that’s like the second coming of Rocket From The Crypt or Drive Like Jehu — and dangit, guys, when is the album gonna officially be released? — while the latter play snarling, muscular, drag-you-through-the-gutter rock that makes me think of Queens of the Stone Age, Federation X, or the less-metal side of Red Fang; check out their debut, Wolf House, if you haven’t already, then get your ass up to the Warehouse in time to see both bands. Trust me on this, okay?

Theremin Festival, featuring Thomas Grillo & Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey screening @ 14 Pews (800 Aurora)
And then there’s the “quirky” option for the evening, over at the very cool 14 Pews (which some may remember as the Aurora Picture Show). This year’s Bayou City Music and Film Festival honors the much-maligned theremin, aka “the dorkiest-yet-coolest instrument you’ve ever wished you owned”, and from tonight through Sunday, there’ll be a great, strange, intriguing lineup of theremin virtuosos and theremin-related films. No, I’m not kidding, at all.

Kicking it off this evening is a documentary, Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey, which delves into the instrument’s invention and history, including the life of inventor Leon Theremin, and that’ll be followed by a theremin performance courtesy of Thomas Grillo. Never seen the guy play, myself — I actually think I’ve only ever seen a theremin onstage with Man…or Astro-man?, The Octopus Project, and {The Wheel Workers} — but it’s bound to be cool.

Shellee Coley @ First Baptist Church (Magnolia)
A wee bit outside of town, excellent singer/songwriter {Shellee Coley} will be doing her thing up at the First Baptist Church in Magnolia, and I’d heartily recommend going to see/hear her. If her name sounds a little familiar, that may be because yours truly reviewed her most recent album, Songs Without Bridges, about a month ago, and was floored by it. Stepping away from the full-band sound of her previous release, this time she’s stripped everything out but her voice, a relatively minimal guitar, and the songs themselves, and that’s no bad thing, at all; with everything else falling away, the songs shine like diamonds, bright and perfect.

Mid Main First Thursday Benefit for Houston Tomorrow, featuring Nick Gaitan & The Umbrella Man, Alanna Royale, Elephant Yard, Beetle, Allison Fisher, & DJ Tempty @ Mid-Main venues (The Continental Club/The Big Top/The Alley Kat/Natachee’s Supper ‘n Punch/Art Garden; 5PM)
Last but not least by a long shot, the ever-awesome Mid Main First Thursday shindig is happening tonight in the Mid-Main area that encompasses places like The Continental Club, The Big Top, The Alley Kat, & Natachee’s Supper ‘n Punch, and it promises to be a very cool one. There’s a nice-looking lineup that includes Nick Gaitan & The Umbrella Man, who I happen to like quite a bit, Allison Fisher, and {Beetle}, among others, and it’s for a good cause, Houston Tomorrow, which is a group that’s working towards making Houston less of a mass-transit hellhole than it currently is today. Go help ’em out.

Runners-Up:
Circa Survive/Title Fight/Pianos Become The Teeth/Tera Melos @ Warehouse Live
Destroy and Rebuild, featuring Doughbeezy, Flash Gordon Parks, FLCON FCKR, Rosewood Thievz, & Jawwaad Taylor + Jamire Williams @ Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (5216 Montrose; 7PM)
Brown Sabbath/From Beyond @ Fitzgerald’s
Uncle Lucius @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck
The Traveling Red River Songwriters, featuring Susan Gibson, Josh Grider, Drew Kennedy, Kellye Mickwee, Brandy Zdan, & Walt Wilkins @ Dosey Doe Music Cafe (Conroe)