Metroland Online - Noteworthy

This weekend, the Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce will host the fourth annual Great Northern Catskills Balloon Festival, with some pretty heavy hitters to provide your musical pleasure: A variety of well-known local bands, including the Bruise Bros., Constant Elevation, Simon Screams, Ernie Williams and Wetwerks will join national acts Pleasure Crush, Smit-House and Heartland. There also will be many a hot-air balloon to gawk at, your typical outdoor festival fare and a fireworks display (on Saturday). (Aug. 16-18, $10 per day, $20 for all three, 966-5050)

Hey Mercedes, Piebald, Koufax, the Last Year
Valentine’s, Saturday

Hey Mercedes, on a six-week mini-tour in support of their recently released The Weekend EP, headline an eve o’ emo at Valentine’s Saturday night. The group comprise core members of the famed Chicago four-piece Braid, who fractured in 1999 with the departure of guitarist Chris Broach. Hey Mercedes have been rotating second guitarists in that void ever since the group’s nucleus—guitarist-vocalist Bob Nanna, drummer Damon Atkinson and bassist Todd Bell—joined forces with Michael Schumaker in May, and they’ve been hopping from club to club ever since. The group’s sound is reminiscent of Braid’s, with personal songwriting and syncopated drumming, but their less aggressive sound and melodic guitarwork have critics hailing them as much more accessible. The show also features quirky Andover, Mass., indie rockers Piebald, who are collectively stoked about the massive video play they’ve been getting on MTV2 for the single “Just a Simple Plan” off of 2002’s We Are the Only Friends We Have. Also on the bill are emotional punkers the Last Year and alternative rockers Koufax. (Aug. 17, 8 PM, $10, 432-6572)

Reel 2 Real featuring Mad Stuntman
Studio 64, Saturday

Summer’s slipping away, but Studio 64 (located inside Armory Center) isn’t letting the season pass quietly. Saturday night, the venue is hosting a Hot Summer Night Dance Party with Reel 2 Real, who hit the charts (and clubs) with jams like “I Like to Move It” a few years back. Reel 2 Real is the brainchild of New York DJ Erick Morillo, who began spinning records at age 12 and hasn’t stopped. In the years since Reel 2 Real’s pop success, Morillo founded Subliminal Records, a label dedicated to house music, and he’s recorded under a number of pseudonyms, including Ministers de la Funk and Pianoheadz. He has also remixed hits for Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, and LL Cool J. Trinidad-born vocalist Mad Stuntman, who sang with Reel to Real the first time around, also will be on hand. Remember, this is Studio 64, so note that the dress code (“dress to impress”) will be enforced. (Aug. 17, 9:30 PM, $5, 482-0100 ext. 464)

H2O, Shai Hulud, Madcap, Murderer’s Row
Saratoga Winners, Sunday

Our story begins with a roadie and a dream. Back in the final decade of the 20th century, there existed a hardcore band. Not to kid, there were many hardcore bands that decade, but one in particular, Sick of It All, had a roadie. Well, yes, most hardcore bands had roadies, but this one roadie was known on occasion to sing a song before his band took the stage. The occasion being no opening act, the roadie was Toby Morse and the peeps loved it. Morse formed a band, started opening for Sick of It All, the Misfits and others, and the story evolves nicely to the happy ending that has become H2O, the New York City hardcore punk band now taking on some 200 gigs a year. To boot, they’re coming to Saratoga Winners Sunday night. Oh how the positivity will be spewing from the stage as Morse and company (his brother/guitarist Todd Morse, guitarist Rusty Pistachio, bass player Adam Blake and drummer Todd Friend) bring their hardcore energy and pop-friendly melodies to one of punk rock’s favorite venues. Joining H2O on the bill are Shai Hulud, Madcap and Murderer’s Row. (Aug. 18, 8 PM, $14, $12 advance, 783-1010)

Poison, Cinderella, Faster Pussycat
Pepsi Arena, Tuesday

You know those hard-rock ballads from the ’80s that you just can’t seem to get out of your head? The hair bands of that decade had us swaying to ballads and headbanging to heavy metal. One might wonder, where are those bands? What have they been up to? And most importantly, have they cut their hair? Well, Poison, for one, have been busy for the past few years putting together summer tours consisting of fellow ’80s rockers. Known for tunes like “Unskinny Bop” and “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” Poison released a new independent album in May called Hollyweird. This year’s tour, also named the Hollyweird Tour, will hit the Pepsi Arena Tuesday night with Poison, Cinderella and Faster Pussycat. Poison are touring with all four of their original members: Brett Michaels, Rikki Rocket, C.C. DeVille and Bobby Dall, and they’ll perform songs from their new album as well as those classics you still love—don’t deny it. The show, which will be more than four hours long, promises massive lighting, elaborate stage sets and pyrotechnics. A bit of advice: Bring a fire extinguisher. (Aug. 20, 7 PM, $36, $29, 476-1000)

Sam Butera and the Wildest
empire state plaza, wednesday

Ready for a real swingin’ time? Sam Butera, bandleader and arranger extraordinaire, will bring the jive to the Empire State Plaza in a free concert guaranteed to make you jump. As lead tenor saxman in the classic Louis Prima band of the 1950s, Butera helped forge the postwar Las Vegas sound. Butera added a little bit of rock & roll and a huge helping of showmanship to traditional swing, and the result was hits like “Old Black Magic,” “I Ain’t Got Nobody,” and “Old Devil Moon.” Musical fashions may come and go, but Sam’s swingin’ is timeless. He’s keeping the party going with his band, the Wildest, and you can count on hearing all the hits and more, baby. And don’t mess with Sam: He came up tough, playing sax for strippers in New Orleans, and is still pissed at David Lee Roth and Brian Setzer for borrowing his arrangements. Jay Traynor, of 1960s hitmakers Jay and the Americans, will open. (Aug. 21, 7 PM, Free, 877-659-4377)

also noted

Tomorrow (Friday), rockabilly cats Rocky Velvet will play an Elvis memorial show, an early one at that, at Artie’s Lansingburgh Station. To quote Sir Artie: “In honor of the King dying on the crapper.” Anything goes, and it’s free. Later that night at Artie’s, Erin Harkes unveils her new band, the Rebound. (Rocky Velvet: 5 PM, free; Erin Harkes: 9 PM, $3; 238-2788). . . . In further Elvis news: Elvis performer Joseph John Eigo, whose jumpsuits are authentic replicas of the King’s very own threads, will play a tribute show at Nick’s Restaurant in Cairo on Friday and Saturday (9 PM both nights, 622-9468). . . . Blues-folk-rock god John Hammond will play Caffe Lena Friday (8 PM, $20, 583-0022). . . . The Juckett Park Concert Series, in downtown Hudson Falls, features acoustic guitar virtuoso Richard Gilewitz on Friday (Gilewitz will offer a free guitar workshop at Adirondack Guitar in Hudson Falls on Saturday at 2 PM), with bluegrass band Love My Goat opening (7 PM, free, 746-9500). . . . Glam-punks the Erotics will play the Poison/Faster Pussycat afterparty at a spankin’ new club, Mad River, in downtown Albany (433-8338). . . . B52 Kate Pierson will join singer-guitarists Chris and Meredith Thompson for the monthly Tao of Tao performance at the WAMC Performing Arts Studio on Wednesday (8 PM, $5, 800-323-9262 ext. 169).

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