Never has a band gotten more milage out of a trash-can lid than Delta Spirit. In a few short years and with one winning LP (last year’s Ode to Sunshine), the San Diego band have staked their corner of Americana much as frontman Matt Vasquez once staked literal street corners as a rabble-rousing busker. There’s more to these guys than junk percussion (like singalong hooks and anthems that accelerate at a Springsteenian clip), but that clang paired with just enough guitar twang has taken the band from their place as proteges of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Dr. Dog to their full-blown musical peers.

Delta Spirit gave the latter a run for their headlining slot this past October at Revolution Hall, and this time around the Valentine’s stage is theirs with support from tourmates Other Lives and Dawes. They’ll be downstairs, so that means no onstage rafter banging, but something tells us they’ll still have plenty to pound on.

Delta Spirit will play Valentine’s (17 New Scotland Ave., Albany) tonight (Thursday, Feb. 19) at 7 PM. Call 432-6572 for admission price and other info.

The Love-Hungry Farmer

This week, Capital Repertory Theatre presents the third and final offering of the Biggest Little International Play Festival: The Love-Hungry Farmer. Set in a small cottage in 1950’s County Kerry in the remote southwest of Ireland, the play unfurls as 56-year-old bachelor, farmer, memoirist and virgin, John Busco McLane, writes the poignant, comic, and pitiful history of his romantic failings.

Drawn from the novellas of Irish writer John B. Kean, the play was adapted for the stage by acclaimed Irish actor and comedian Des Keogh, who stars in the one-man show. When The Love-Hungry Farmer premiered at New York City’s Irish Repertory Theatre in 2003, The New York Times called it “fiercely serious and brusingly hilarious,” and the Associated Press declared Keogh “a wonder, a master storyteller.”

Keogh brings The Love-Hungry Farmer to Capital Repertory Theatre (111 N. Pearl St., Albany) tonight (Thursday, Feb. 19) through Sunday (Feb. 22). Tickets are $24 to $39. For more info, including a full performance schedule, call 445-7469.

New York in Bloom

Tired of the cold and gray? Winter doldrums have you on the brink of hibernation? Well, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and drag your gloomy self to one of the Capital Region’s most-anticipated remedies for the winter blahs. This weekend the New York State Museum celebrates the 18th annual New York in Bloom, with more than 100 bright and bold floral arrangements blossoming throughout the museum. Interpretive exhibitions, informative demonstrations and a bouquet of children’s activities round out the annual fundraiser’s floral theme—all to benefit the Museum’s after-school programs, Museum Club and Discovery Squad.

On Saturday and Sunday, the celebration unfolds with the 16th Annual James E. Campbell Gem, Mineral & Fossil Show and Sale. Vendors will show and sell gems, jewelry, fossils and lapidary equipment, and guided tours of the mineral and fossil galleries will be offered. Proceeds will fund new acquisitions for the museum’s gem and mineral collection.

New York in Bloom opens tomorrow (Friday, Feb. 20) at the New York State Museum (Empire State Plaza, Albany) and runs from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM all weekend. Admission on Friday is $5, free for children 12 and under. On Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 21-22) the cost is $6, but includes admission to the Gem and Mineral show. For more info on either event, call 486-2011.