“Cannons” that shoot koozies and t-shirts into concert crowds have been a staple of radio station promotions for quite a while, but a technological revolution that took place over this past weekend may just be a game changer. At the Kushstock festival in Adelanto, California, rapper Chucky Chuck used custom-made kush cannons to blow marijuana smoke over the audience. A firm known as ES Smokebusters constructed the devices, which performed flawlessly. “Fuck a fog machine,” Chuck posted on Instagram. Don’t get your hopes up for this sort of thing to happen at any upcoming Houston concerts, though, unless some brave performer is willing to flout the law. Kush cannons or not, some great shows are coming to town this week, offering something for every taste.
What to make of the Black Keys? They have gone from indie-darling purveyors of garage rock/lo-fi/neo-blues to chart-topping alt-rockers, consistently retaining a skewed, left-of-center perspective. Like Steely Dan, the band is actually a duo, with Dan Auerbach handling vocals and guitar alongside Patrick Carney on the drums. And like Steely Dan, they periodically hibernate in the studio (sometimes aided by Danger Mouse), emerging with multifaceted music that always keeps fans guessing. Their Dropout Boogie tour hits the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Saturday, with Band of Horses and the Velveteers opening. The Black Keys’ aesthetic is displayed in their latest video, “Wild Child” - something of a latter-day “Hot for Teacher” - featured above.
If you like your blues a bit outside, check out the Chris Duarte Group on Saturday at the Continental Club. Since emerging as something of a Stevie Ray Vaughan clone during the ‘90s, Duarte has crafted a style that includes a number of influences, among them jazz and punk. It sounds like a potential disaster, but the proof is in the musical pudding, as Duarte is one of the few guitarists who can channel both Jimi Hendrix and John Coltrane in the same song.
And what exactly is GWAR? Some say the acronym stands for “God What an Awful Racket,” but the band maintains that it is merely a shortened version of the collective’s original name, “Gwaaarrrgghhlllgh." Either way, Gwar (only one time with all caps up in here) might be described as the bastard offspring of Kiss (again, refusing to do the all caps thing on general principles) and provocateur GG Allin (google him if you dare and aren’t eating lunch), with a bit of Gallagher and his exploding watermelons in the mix. If you attend the show, don’t wear anything nice, or, for God’s sake, anything that requires dry cleaning. Audience members are warned that fake blood, semen, and urine will be flying throughout the proceedings. A note of subversive humor underlies the Gwar mythology, with a broad wink attached. Pustulus Maximus, Beefcake the Mighty, and the rest of the Gwar guys will befoul Warehouse Live on Saturday.
It is indeed a fortuitous occurrence that Gwar and Acoustic Alchemy are not playing on the same night, as the two bands doubtless have many fans in common. The esteemed smooth jazz outfit will perform on Sunday, bringing its guitar-based, mid-tempo stylings to the Dosey Doe Big Barn. Fun fact: Acoustic Alchemy first existed as a guitar duo, performing on Virgin Atlantic flights to the U.S. during the mid-'80s.
Since growing up in Houston’s East End (way before it was called “EaDo”), Rodney Crowell has traveled far and wide, achieving success as a songwriter, guitar player, and recording artist. His early songs “I Ain’t Living Long Like This” and “Til I Gain Control Again” are enough to generate some major “We’re not worthy!” bowing and scraping, but tack onto that fifteen number one records, Grammy Awards, and his undisputed OG status in the world of Americana, and that’s a career. Crowell is back home on Tuesday, performing at the Heights Theater, reading from his new book Word for Word, telling some stories, and playing some songs.