Event Previews

The Kooks have been described as “less severe Arctic Monkeys,” a description both bands probably would take issue with after a onstage fist fight occurred between their frontmen in 2008. But the Brighton, England, band apparently have managed to play nice with Foster the People, as they begin a seven-show tour together right after they play Upstate Music Hall (formerly Northern Lights) on Sunday. The Britpop rockers have a thing for covers, so expect to hear something like Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks,” MGMT’s “Kids” or Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks.” (May 27, 7:30 PM, $20, 1208 Route 146, Clifton Park, 371-0012)

Driftwood

The best kind of conundrums are welcome conundrums, and this one is certainly welcome: Which experimental/psychedelic show should we go to tonight (Thursday)? Dog Lady Island will headline an Albany Sonic Arts Collective show at the Upstate Artists Guild along with Luke Moldof, Parashi and Grab Ass Cowboys (7 PM, $5). Meanwhile, $3 Local Thursday at Valentine’s features Small Axe, Century Plants and the Pistolwhips (8 PM, 432-6572). Ah, decisions. . . . Mike Mizwinski describes his band MiZ as “pure Americana.” He’ll be at Red Square tonight (8 PM, 465-0444). . . . Fresh off a set at Tulip Fest, The City Never Sleeps will play McGeary’s tomorrow (Friday) along with Olivia Quillio (9 PM, 463-1455). . . . With Memorial Day upon us, the national acts have given over some stage space to the locals. Black Mountain Symphony will headline Jillian’s on Friday with the Ameros (432-1997). . . . Westerlo punks Nine Votes Short celebrate the release of their new disc Friday at Valentine’s (9 PM, 432-6572). . . . We don’t like to show our hand too early for our best-of-the-region music picks, but we can’t help spilling the fact that $weatpant$ Money is way out in front for the Best Artist Name category. The DJ will share the Putnam Den stage on Saturday with DJ Tony Platinum, Kloud9 and about a thousand more (9 PM, $5, 584-8066). . . . We told you last week about Driftwood’s Red Square set, but then we found this sweet photo of the band and thought it would be worth your while to check them out again at Valentine’s Americana Music Club on Tuesday along with Dan Johnson and His Expert Sidemen (8 PM, 432-6572).

Chris and Oliver Wood began performing under the name the Wood Brothers after returning to a childhood love for blues and folk music (Chris plays bass with acid jazz legends Medeski, Martin and Wood). The band’s first album, Ways Not to Lose, was recorded in 2005 and released the following year, making NPR’s “Overlooked 11” of 2006.  After hitting the road to tour with popular roots-country musician Zac Brown in 2010, the duo signed to Brown’s label, later releasing their third studio-recorded album, Smoke Ring Halo, in 2011. Rolling Stone describes the band’s sound as being “sneakily deep” and “alive.”  The funky folk and blues brothers will hit the stage at Club Helsinki on Saturday night. (May 26, 9 PM, $20-$25, 405 Columbia Street, Hudson, 828-4800)

Imagine an instrument that is half guitar, half piano—and is played by a ghost. That’s kind of what Ghost Flute and Dice sound like. We’re pretty sure he’s not a real ghost, but rather a guy named Mikkel Almholt from Denmark. He says he found a “very funky way” to mic up his acoustic piano and run the sound through pedals, and the result is some seriously haunting music. He’ll be playing with Alexander Turnquist and Loren Dent at the Spotty Dog Books and Ale, an eccentric venue for an eccentric artist. (May 25, 8 PM, $5, 440 Warren St., Hudson, 671-6006)

Grunge may have killed punk (not to mention glam, hair metal and plenty else), but that hasn’t made casualties of the Causalities. Armed with the classic spiked hair and sneer that still gives any concerned suburban mother nightmares, the Casualties are a band reminiscent of a time when being shocking was a claim to fame in and of itself. The Casualties were formed on the streets of New York in 1990 when singer Jorge Herrera and his bandmates decided to form a group that would mirror and return to the heyday of punk music. Night Birds, Neutron Rats, Dead Aces and New Red Scare will openthis Bogie’s show. (May 5, 6:30 PM, $12, 297 Ontario, Albany NY, 482-4393)

Jon Gooch, the English dubstep and electro house DJ, more popularly known as Feed Me, has been experimenting with music software to create his own sound since 2004. In 2010 he released an EP on deadmau5’s mau5trap records titled Feed Me’s Big Adventure, which included both dubstep and electro house tracks. This  past Februrary, another EP, Escape From Electric Mountain, was released, featuring six new original tracks. Plans for a debut full-length album to be released in August are under way. In the meantime, fans can catch Feed Me tonight at the recently renamed Upstate Concert Hall (Northern Lights) at 8 PM. (May 24, 8 PM, $20-$27, 1208 Route 146, Clifton Park, 371-0012)

If you love mysteries so much that you enjoy a good parody of the genre, then Billy van Zandt and Jane Milmore’s Wrong Window! is the play for you. Curtain Call Theatre will present this sly take-off on the films of Alfred Hitchcock beginning this weekend;  Wrong Window! is a comedy packed with peeping Toms, murders, body snatchings, chase scenes and, yes, suspense.

Curtain Call is presenting the regional premiere of Wrong Window! Critics (and audiences) have been kind to other productions; a critic for the Syracuse Post Standard wrote, “With snappy dialogue peppered with Hitchcock film titles, allusions and references, plus laughs aplenty, Wrong Window! is the right choice for an evening’s entertainment.”

The director is Phil Rice, and the cast features Kathleen Carey, Jenna Dott, Jack Fallon, Ben Katagiri, Jed Krivsky, John J. Quinan, Joe Sears and Sarah Wasserbach.

Wrong Window! opens tomorrow (Friday, May 25) and runs through June 23 at Curtain Call Theatre (210 Old Loudon Road, Latham). Tickets are $22. Performances are Thursdays at 7:30 PM, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM, and Sundays at 3 PM, For more info, call 877-7529, e-mail theatre.curtaincall@gmail.com, or visit curtaincalltheatre.com.

Glen Campbell was the original Matt Damon.

Well, in True Grit, that is, Campbell played Texas Marshall LeBeouf alongside John Wayne in the film’s original 1969 incarnation—before Damon played the role in the Coen brothers’ 2010 remake. (His version of the character actually died, unlike Damon’s.) The role was the capstone on a string of years in the late ’60s when Campbell racked up four Grammys (1968’s By the Time I Get to Phoenix beating out The White Album, Astral Weeks, Electric Ladyland and Beggar’s Banquet—among others—for that honor) and a CMA Entertainer of the Year Award, and was given his own variety show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on his way to becoming one of that era’s most esteemed performers.

It’s his 1975 hit “Rhinestone Cowboy,” though, for which he’s best known. At this year’s Grammy awards, Campbell performed the song to kick off his Goodbye Tour, which comes through the Egg for one last bow tonight. The 76-year-old was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

Glen Campbell will play the Egg (Empire State Plaza, Albany) tonight (Thursday, May 24) at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $49.50-$54.50. Call 473-1845 for more info.

Albany-born-and-raised artist Jaime Ricardo Rodriguez earned his BA and MFA in sculpture, but this exhibit opening at Troy’s Clement Art Gallery this weekend is a collection of his paintings. The work reflects his extensive travels—and guest lecturer/visiting artist gigs—in Finland, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In the exhibit notes, Rodriguez writes, “My visual work and research is about establishing the cross-cultural exchange of information, through the Capital Region and the Scandinavian and Baltic regions of Europe.”

The Nordic & Baltic Landscapes of Europe opens tomorrow (Friday, May 25) and continues through June 27 at the Clement Art Gallery (201 Broadway, Troy). The opening reception will also be Friday, from 6 to 9 PM, as part of Troy Night Out. For more info, call 272-6811 or visit clementart.com.

If you’re looking for some family fun this holiday weekend, why not board the handsome mid-century rail cars (painted in the blue and gold colors of the Delaware & Hudson) of the Saratoga and North Creek Railway? It opens for the season on Saturday (May 26), stopping at seven stations along the way and passing the kind of beautiful scenery you can see only from the windows of a train.

The station at North Creek is located at 2 Railroad Place, North Creek; the Saratoga Springs Train Station (also served by Amtrak) is located at 26 Station Lane, Saratoga Springs. Memorial Day weekend departures are at 7 AM, 1 PM and 3:45 PM from North Creek; and at 10 AM, 12:25 PM and 7 PM from Saratoga Springs. Excursions last two hours each way.

The Saratoga & North Creek Railway operates Saturday (May 26) through Oct. 31 seven days a week. Reservations are suggested. Tickets are $15-$50 for adults and $10-$45 for children; prices vary according to seating in the regular coaches or the dome car, and by one-way or round-trip ticket options. Full meal service is available in the dome car. There are special Memorial Day weekend ticket offers for active-duty service people and veterans; call for details. For reservation and info, call (877) 726-7245 or visit sncrr.com.