Bloglander

There's a guy named Dustin! And it's his birthday! In honor of this momentous occasion, nine bands will be putting on a show at the Hop!, in an event that can aptly be described as "a show with a shit-ton of bands, many of them quite good." Get prepared for the musical fury emerging from the bad-asses of Lobster Jaw, as well as some others, like True F.O., Into the Storm, Jazz, the Pecan Sandies, Lash, Stress, the Sissies, and La Muerte Vive. In true Hop! form, the show is all-ages, starts at 7 pm and costs a mere $5. 

So Gavin Rossdale was all, "Oi! I want to make beautiful music with my amazingly successful band, Bush, once again. What say you, gents?" And half his band was all, "Uh, n'thanks, sir. We have to be with our families and what-have-you," and then Gavin Rossdale was all, "On with you, then! I'll just find some other people for my amazingly successful band! Pip pip!" So that's pretty much exactly how it went down. We wrote all about it here. So now Bush is touring and promoting their new album (their first in a decade) called The Sea of Memories. You can see Rossdale in all his sexy, accented glory tonight at the Knit. It costs ya $25-$28. All-ages. 

SATURDAY!

It's all about the networking, man. Link up with the creative community at yet another one of the Baroque Network's fabulous parties. This time, the theme is "Endless Summer." You can expect to find over 15 vendors, a fashion show by local designer Kadra Evans, a photo booth, local artists, a nonprofit showcase, and four sweet bands: Ocean, Horse Thieves, Monuments and Cathedral Pearls. Head to A Club at 5:30 pm for the event, music starts at 8:30. You gotta pay $5. Worth it.

Out of nearly 150 auditions, just 16 acts have been carved out of the mass to compete in Spokane's Got Talent for the grand prize of ... the chance for another audition! It's not totally a crap deal, because the contestants — with talents ranging from comedy to fire dancing to singing — are getting an all-expenses-paid trip to audition for the national show, America's Got Talent. Which can make you famous. Nice. The live show here should be cool — anything can happen. Mess-ups? Almost certainly. Nervous vomiting? We wouldn't rule it out. An unlikely winner emerging from the group, who then goes on to represent Spokane by achieving national superstardom? Technically it's possible. Go to the Bing at 6 pm, pay $12-$15 and be any age.

So, randomly they'll be, like, six different pianists playing seven different concerts in just over a week round these parts. You can read about this "accidental festival" here, where you can also learn the details for all these concerts because, frankly, I'm not typing all that out. 

SUNDAY!

It's interesting to see how band quarrels play out in different genres. Last week, we made a bunch 'o fun of the weird business between Brian "Head" Welch and his explosive relationship with Korn. Well, this week, we're looking at the opposite of that — Oxford, Miss., band Colour Revolt. After the quiet yet painful departure of their bandmates, founding members Jesse Coppenbarger and Sean Kirkpatrick decided to spin all the negativity into a completely stellar, passionate album called The Cradle. you could write it off on their indie-kid sensibilities, or their failure to use MTV as a mediator, but anyway you spin it, they made some damn good lemonade out of some apparently very sour lemons. Check them out at AClub alongside Color Music, Drag Like Pull and Monuments. 7 pm. $8.

There's more piano stuff! See link above.

No big deal, but Devin Peralta of the Cobra Skulls pretty much wrote an entire album in three weeks from an icky hotel room in Reno, Nev. Then the band learned the whole thing in eight days before recording. It was all very punk rock. You can read all about the details here. Anyway, they'll be playing some music with Lack of Respect, PowerChief and the Grocery Boys at the Hop! starting at 7 pm. All-ages. Pay $8.