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Terra
Naomi
Valentine’s,
Thursday
We joke and we kid, but some- times it really does take leaving
the Capital Region for a performer to hit their mark. Take
Terra Naomi, for example. She was born in Saratoga Springs
and lived in Schenectady as a young woman, but it wasn’t until
she moved to Los Angeles, via Michigan and New York City,
that her career took off. She got in on the nascent YouTube
craze with her 2006 video for “Say It’s Possible,” scored
(and since lost) a major-label deal, and performed at the
2007 Live Earth concert in England. For her current U.S. tour,
she returned to the well that sprung her, soliciting funding
from fans via YouTube. A new record is due soon; get a preview
at Valentine’s this evening. (Nov. 5, 8 PM, $10, 17 New
Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)
Marshall
Crenshaw
The
Van Dyck, Saturday
It’s a rare honor for a musician to be asked to portray one
of his heroes on film, but this is just what singer- songwriter
Marshall Crenshaw received in 1987 when he played Buddy Holly
in La Bamba. (Dude actually got his start playing
John Lennon in a production of Beatlemania). But, while
Crenshaw’s influences might read like his filmography, he’s
better known for the original work he’s been producing since
the early ’80s, and his inimitable personal style. Jaggedland
is his latest take on the strange, fractured world we live
in. On Saturday, Schenectady will be the next stop on his
“NPR singer-songwriter circuit.” If we’re lucky he might even
bust out “Walk Hard,” a tune he wrote for the film of the
same name. (Nov. 7, 7 and 9:30 PM, $17 per set, 237 Union
St., Schenectady, 348-7999)
Zen
for Primates
Caffe
Lena, Saturday
Picture a 60-some-year-old man dressed in an oversized white
suit with music notes all over it, singing a bored version
of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” with an ensemble that
consists of a violin, cello, saxophone, and electric guitar.
Now picture the man’s handbell solo. OK, if it’s easier, just
look up the YouTube video. It’ll explain what Zen for Primates
do far better than the description Tower/Pulse Magazine
used: “Sounds like Kronos Quartet meets Led Zeppelin and
Gene Pitney in a Munich beer hall where Marlene Dietrich is
the barmaid.” Now, picture throwing your bra at singer T.
Roth’s feet. (Nov. 7, 8 PM, $17, 47 Phila St., Saratoga
Springs, 583-0022)
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| Brian
Wilson |
Brian
Wilson
The
Egg, Tuesday
When Brian Wilson last visited our area, he was in the middle
of a victory lap celebrating the completion and release of
his long-suffering Smile album. Since then, he’s been
a busy boy, releasing a holiday album, a recently unearthed
collaboration with poet Stephen Kalinich, and a new album
called That Lucky Old Sun. He’s also turned into something
of a road warrior, touring much more than one might expect
from a once- reclusive 67-year-old performer. The hot streak
continues this week when Wilson and his excellent band— really,
one of the best groups you could hope to see—hit the Egg stage
to play the maestro’s teenage symphonies to God live in concert.
(Nov. 10, 8 PM, $65-$85, Empire State Plaza, Albany, 473-1845)
Hatebreed,
Cannibal Corpse
Northern
Lights, Tuesday
Here’s what’s weird about metal, courtesy of Wikipedia: “Hatebreed
are a Grammy Award-nominated band from Bridgeport and New
Haven, Connecticut.” We remember a time when metal bands came
from Mordor, and the Grammys were for chumps. But we digress.
We also remember when metal was metal, but Hatebreed’s
sound, apparently, “can be classified as metallic hardcore-era
metalcore, taking influences from death metal and groove metal.”
Confusing! Thankfully, to set the record straight on this,
the season’s heaviest bill, are a band who have forever and
always will be known as the country’s foremost purveyors of
death metal, no subgenres required: Cannibal Corpse. Unearth,
Born of Osiris, and Hate Eternal also are on the bill. (Nov.
10, 6 PM, $22, 1208 Route 146, Clifton Park, 371-0012)
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| Also
Noted |
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| Barefoot
Truth |
It’s
always midnight at the oasis somewhere: Maria
Muldaur and Her Garden of Joy Jug Band have
two shows scheduled at the Van Dyck tomorrow (Friday,
7 and 9:30 PM, $20, 348-7999). . . . Undead: Dark
Star Orchestra pay tribute to the Grateful
Dead at the Palace Theatre on Friday (7:30 PM,
$31, 465-4663). . . . The homage train rolls on
Friday night with acclaimed Beatles act 1964
the Tribute at the Troy Savings Bank Music
Hall (8 PM, $20-$36, 273-0038). . . . Legendary
songwriter and storyteller John Prine is
at the Egg on Saturday (8 PM, $50-$75,
473-1845). . . . Persian-American chanteuse Haale
returns to the Sanctuary for Independent Media
on Saturday (9 PM, $10, 272-2390). . . . Jamtronica
(apparently, that’s a word now) band Lotus
play Revolution Hall on Friday in support of two
new EPs: Feather on Wood and Oil on
Glass (9 PM, $17, 274-0553). . . . Mystic,
Conn., is known for its lighthouses, that famous
pizza parlor, and rootsy jam act Barefoot Truth;
the latter play Valentine’s on Saturday (8 PM,
$10, 432-6572). . . . For Veteran’s Day on Wednesday,
a pair of shows will honor our soldiers in song:
At the Spa Little Theatre, the Joey Thomas
Big Band will play Big Band Treasures of WWII
(3 PM, $30, $20 seniors and veterans, 473-1845);
and at Proctors it’s a Classic Rock Tribute Celebration
featuring singer Gary Weinlein, and highlighting
the music of the Woodstock era (7:30 PM, $24.75-$28.75,
346-6204). Finally, at the Iron Horse in Northampton,
Mass., on Wednesday, it’s a new band from the
former Violent Femmes frontman: Gordon Gano
and the Ryans (7 PM, $18, 413-586-8686).
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