TRANS AM, THE FUCKING CHAMPS, NEIL HAMBURGER, LADDIO BALACKO
(I-Spy) Are Trans Am the future of rock? See page 77.

RUSTON MIRE, GREAT LAKES NW, THE PROM
(Crocodile) If Ruston Mire's packed, mid-afternoon Bumbershoot show was any indication, you'll be fighting for elbow space at the band's upcoming gigs. The recently retooled five-piece rocked the box-like confines of the festival, earning converts with their super-confident delivery of bouncy, new-wave-influenced pop. Seattle's best-kept secret? Not anymore. BARBARA MITCHELL

KYM TUVIM, HOLLY FIGUEROA, JONATHAN KINGHAM, CHRIS & MEREDITH THOMPSON, GREEN, ARIN SIMONIAN, ARIN RIVKIN
(Madison's Cafe) Confessions of a hippie kid: In the house I grew up in, along with macrobiotic dyed bellbottoms and anything made of whole grain, political folk music was revered. Even now, I catch myself listening to lyrics for a condemnation of corporations and cheering anti-war metaphors. Twin sisters Chris and Meredith Thompson have miraculously risen from the folk tradition of the '60s like flaxen-haired mastheads, singing songs like "United" (with its perfectly sincere "United we stand, divided we may fall" bridge) in astonishing vocal harmony (maybe they perfected it in the womb), playing their own acoustic guitar, flute, and conga drums. Leave your '90s cynicism at home, and give the sisters a hand. TRACI VOGEL

MOSE ALLISON TRIO
(Jazz Alley) Mose Allison cut his first album, Back Country Suite, in 1957, inspired by Béla Bartók's Hungarian Sketches, and he's been delivering the goods ever since. His signature mixture of blues, jazz, and rock has left its indelible mark on many a singer-songwriter, whether they know it or not. Allison's trio will open with "Boogie-Woogie Sonata," and the rest of the evening will be pulled from a repertoire over 40 years old. KREG HASEGAWA

BLOOD BROTHERS, CATHETERS, AKIMBO, RECURSERS
(Old Fire House) Over the past eight years, the Old Fire House in Redmond has lovingly provided an environment for people of all ages to see bands perform. Tonight, they give themselves a well-deserved, celebratory pat on the back, with four of the Northwest's most blissfully energetic bands. Watch out for Akimbo, an onslaught of testosterone and melody, poised to take its place alongside the better-established and equally maniacal Blood Brothers. Expect the Catheters, on the other hand, to play an extra-cool (though no less aggressive) set, replete with a strutting sense of rock and roll showmanship that is zealous and impressive, if not the least bit transcendent. If you don't have fun at this show, you're dead already. JEFF DeROCHE

SAINT ETIENNE
(I-Spy) Terry Hecker loves him some Saint E! See page 73.

EASY BIG FELLA, MAH JONG
(Tractor Tavern) Easy Big Fella are a bunch of happy, easygoing guys who play happy, easygoing ska tunes. This Seattle-based ska band (yes, you read that correctly) just released their fourth album on Moon Ska NYC, entitled Tasty Bits & Spicy Flicks. It's chock full of danceably skankin' tunes, meaning they're sure to have the room swinging tonight. MEGAN SELING

NEW DIGS, GUN AND DOLL SHOW, TUT
(Graceland) If nothing else, San Francisco's Gun and Doll show promise to be an occasion. Part performance art, part bona fide rock band, the Gun and Doll Show aim to revive the notion of spectacle on the club level. Luckily, the band hasn't forgotten that theatrics without real songs simply equals schtick, hopefully ensuring themselves a shelf life. Whether you like the rock, the art, or both, you should definitely get your money's worth out of this show. BARBARA MITCHELL

JURASSIC 5, DILATED PEOPLES, THE BEAT JUNKIES
(Showbox) Junkies, by definition, are sick people. They get so addicted to their particular drug that they shoot it in their toenails and rub it in their gums. It's like that with the dozen or so rappers who make up the current Word of Mouth tour. They are complete lyrical addicts, leaving behind family and friends to roam the country, rhyming late at night about concrete, riboflavin, or whatever else they can manage. It's a hard life for them, but the rhymes are good, so let's hope they never make it to rehab. NATHAN THORNBURGH

AIKO SHIMADA, JR BAND, LAURA VEIRS
(Rainbow) Aiko Shimada's ethereal vocals and impressionistic lyrics might leave you in a befuddled state, like reading a Buddhist koan. Backed by a band of jazz musicians, her music curls around itself like a seashell, drawing you ever inward. She'll only be playing a few more shows this year, so you'll want to catch her before she goes into hibernation. Arrive early so you won't miss the down-home, lovely vocal stylings of Laura Veirs. KREG HASEGAWA

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, BICYCLE THIEF
(KeyArena) In their wise old age, the Peppers are sticking mostly to ruminative, been-there, shot-up-and-screwed-that ballads like "Scar Tissue" and "Californication." STP, on the other hand, aren't made of such strong stuff--poor Scott Weiland struggled so desperately for cred, he wound up the Robert Downey Jr. of alt-rock, and the band's grungerific hitmaker reputation became completely overshadowed by his endless rounds of rehab and jail stints. Now he's all skinny and glammy with romantic dark circles under his eyes, and the Pilots sound (if anyone cared to notice) like an enjoyable, fabulously unoriginal hybrid of Zeppelin, Alice in Chains, and Iggy-lite. LEAH GREENBLATT

CARMINE, TIJUANA BIBLES, JODIE WATTS, JOSH WHITE
(OK Hotel) All too often, bands reach a certain plateau and just sort of level out--or they start to royally suck. Thankfully, Carmine and Josh White are not only still around, but they continue to get better and better. Lineup changes seem to have given both bands a new lease on life: Carmine's self-released album For Fun, Study or Profit is full of self-assured, radio-ready guitar pop, and Josh White continues to find his strength by embracing his atmospheric '80s roots. BARBARA MITCHELL

MING & FS
(I-Spy) Just when you thought they couldn't possibly invent another subgenre.... It's called "junkyard drum 'n' bass," and to Ming & FS, its de facto inventors, that means a tight, bumpin' blend of jungle, breakbeats, and hiphop, some turntable trickery, and a teasing taste of jazz and electro. Boasting two records of their own, the NYC pair, with their admirable studio skills and keen sense of proportion, artfully tweak several somewhat limited genres, making the whole greater--and a lot more fun--than the sum of its parts. LEAH GREENBLATT

PETER GREEN SPLINTER GROUP, JOHN MAYALL & THE BLUESBREAKERS
(King Cat Theater) From Chuck Berry to Tito Puente, musical pioneers are as much a product of rich musical surroundings as they are of individual genius. So it was with Eric Clapton, who was just one of an entire generation of tough-luck, postwar Brits who found a creative outlet in the American blues. John Mayall taught many of those British blues men, and his revolving Bluesbreakers group featured Clapton as well as later guitarists Peter Green and Mick Taylor, who themselves went on to play in Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones, respectively. They won't all be at the King Cat on Saturday, but John Mayall, the man who was as important to British blues as anybody, is worth your patronage. NATHAN THORNBURGH

JETS TO BRAZIL, PEDRO THE LION, J MAJESTY
(Graceland) Jawbreaker's major-label swan song was a masterpiece of emotionally charged punk-pop--an intelligent, honest reaction to living in a fucked-up world. But Blake Schwarzenbach's post-Jawbreaker project feels like a pale imitation of his previous band. Jets' latest album, Four Cornered Night, is full of too many songs that try too hard to be clever, and, as a songwriter, Schwarzenbach appears to have replaced emotional immediacy with occasionally kitschy new-wave overtones. It's good, but it feels like coasting. BARBARA MITCHELL

LIVING DAYLIGHTS
(SCCC) It's a dirty truth about jazz that women have long been discouraged or outright excluded from doing anything except vocals. That's why you could list an entire alphabet of famous sax players, from Adderly to Zorn, without mentioning a single woman. Seattle is helping to change that, with a strong array of female jazz groups and a few superstar horn players, particularly Jessica Lurie. Her latest work with Living Daylights is an intriguing mixture of Gypsy melodies and intelligent grooves, and their gig at Seattle Central Community College should be the best straight-ahead jazz in town this week. NATHAN THORNBURGH

MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES, FLOGGING MOLLY
(Showbox) The Bosstones have often stretched around and crossed over the musical boundaries of ska, while opening act Flogging Molly sound so unoriginal they might as well just advertise themselves as a Pogues cover band. However, the Bosstones paid their dues and have earned the right to make some poppy hits, and the Pogues fucking rocked, so no one should mind that a Los Angeles band is writing and playing songs that sound exactly like the Pogues' slurred punk rock poetry. NATHAN THORNBURGH

PAUL HUMPHREY'S OMD REVISITED, THE CINEMATICS
(Breakroom) Look, nostalgia is fine and dandy, but charging people close to $20 to see a performance that features only one original member of your band is highway robbery. That said, if you never got enough of OMD and have $20 for it, this is as close to the real thing as you'll ever get. BARBARA MITCHELL

JOHN VANDERSLICE, THE NO-NO'S, BLUEBOTTLE KISS
(I-Spy) Australia's Bluebottle Kiss are a diamond in the rough, tossing off beautifully dissonant gems of off-kilter pop. The good-natured, noisy punk-pop of the No-No's is always a treat. And rounding off the bill is San Francisco's John Vanderslice, whose former band MK Ultra were favorites of Jeremy Enigk, and whose delightfully off-kilter solo album, Mass Suicide Occult Figurines, was recently released by Barsuk Records. BARBARA MITCHELL

LAIKA
(Crocodile) England's Laika bring their genre-bursting eclecticism to the Crocodile tonight. It grooves, and you'll want to move to it, but it's not quite "electronica." There are actual songs, instruments, and human beings in the mix, and if you can come up with an easily digestible catch phrase for the result, you'll be doing better than any rock critic thus far. Their latest album, Good Looking Blues, is their best yet, even if the bizarre decision to put the originally-amusing-but-now-thoroughly-annoying computer virus parody "Bad Times" to music briefly derails the blissfully tripped-out vibe. BARBARA MITCHELL

VICTORIA WILLIAMS, MARK OLSON
(Century Ballroom) Victoria Williams is a real sweetie-pie. See page 77.

SIL2K: MICHAEL BISIO & DAN BLUNK CD RELEASE, DENNIS REA, LISA DeFRANCE & MELANIE NOEL
(I-Spy) Tonight's feature is a CD-release party for Michael Bisio and Dan Blunk. Expect time signatures to accelerate and decelerate on a whim, and lots of wicked sax solos. Guitarist Dennis Rea (Axolotl, LAND) will make a rare solo appearance on the lap-steel. Dennis' cerebral style is somewhere between prog-rock and surly metal, but it's always 100 percent proletarian. KREG HASEGAWA

FIVER, EARLIMART, EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT
(Crocodile) This Modesto, CA combo's first album was produced by Jason Lytle from Grandaddy. They've toured with local heroes Death Cab for Cutie, even releasing a Budweiser-fueled single's worth of inter-band collaboration under the name "Death Cab for Fiver." And their new album, Strings for Satellites, was produced by Fuck's Kyle Statham. Oh, and they're really good, too. Think of them as the middle ground between Grandaddy's spacy expansiveness and Death Cab's low-key introspection. And buy 'em beers. Lots of them. BARBARA MITCHELL

OLD BLIND DOGS
(Tractor Tavern) With the departure of longtime frontman Ian Benzie and funky drummer Davy Cattenach, it appeared as though the Old Blind Dogs had finally been put to sleep. Last year's release, The World's Room, finds the Dogs resurrected, with a trio of new hands and a sack full of traditional Scottish numbers in tow. While known for their heavy percussion and unconventional use of harmonica and saxophone, the new album takes the band back to its roots with an exploration of old Scottish standards. NATE LEVIN

PETE ESCOVEDO LATIN JAZZ ORCHESTRA W/ SHEILA E.
(Jazz Alley) Though Latin percussionist and bandleader Pete Escovedo is a superstar in his own right (having performed with the likes of Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock, and Tito Puente), his drumming maniac of a daughter Sheila E. will claim a great deal of the Jazz Alley spotlight this evening. Sheila has played with her father on a professional level since she was a teenager, and if you're a fan of what she's done with Prince and as a solo artist, get a rhythmic earful of the eclectic Latin grooves that she and Pete whip up as the Escovedo family. JEFF DeROCHE