This Week's Best Concerts

It’s summertime, and that means time for vacations. If you’re headed for California, keep an eye out for a road sign that has become an internet sensation. It’s a sign alerting drivers to the upcoming exit for Donner Lake, named after the infamous Donner party, a group of 19th century settlers that encountered hardships on the trip west. What kind of hardships? Well, legend has it that these folks had to resort to cannibalism during the frigid winter of 1846 to stay alive. Kind of a proto-“Yellowjackets” thing.

Recently, the California Highway Patrol put a photo of the sign on its Facebook page, amused, perhaps, by a small blue and white insignia bearing illustrations of a knife and a fork attached to its lower left corner, indicating that drivers will find restaurants when they take the exit. Commenters on Facebook quickly piled on, with one saying, “I heard there is a party going on up there.” Not to be outdone, the CHP responded, “Slowly dwindling, but yes.”

Ticket Alert

Are you a fan of music and horror movies? Then do we have a show for you. On Wednesday, November 1 (the day after Halloween, but close enough), prog rockers Goblin will be at the Heights Theater, performing their soundtrack to the 1985 horror film Demons while the movie plays on the big screen. Rounding out the program is a greatest hits set, featuring music from horror classics such as Dario Argento’s Suspiria. Tickets are on sale now, and they will probably go quickly. And did we mention that Demons concerns a movie screening that is invaded by demons? As Count Floyd used to say on “SCTV,” “Really scary, kids!”

Concerts This Week

Steve Earle is a songwriter’s songwriter. Inspired in his youth by Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville, with his tunes recorded by artists like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez and Emmylou Harris. He soon had a recording contract of his own, going on to release over 20 albums in a span of over 40 years. In addition to his musical activities, Earle is a political activist, a novelist and an actor (he was the substance abuse counselor that got Bubbles off junk in “The Wire”). Earle will perform on Thursday at the Heights Theater, with Anders Parker opening.

Given that their biggest album was called Enema of the State and featured a buxom nurse snapping a latex glove on the front cover, Blink-182 has never been confused with more thoughtful rockers like the Who or Neil Young. Since hitting it big in 1999, the band has gone through breakups, reunions, cancer, a plane crash and a marriage to a Kardashian (that would be drummer Travis Barker). Nevertheless, they are still out on the road, playing their brand of pop-punk and transporting audiences back to those heady days of the new millennium. Catch Blink-182 on Saturday at Toyota Center.

Booker T. Jones is a legend. The man wrote “Green Onions” while he was still in high school, backed a ton of artists (Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Albert King) who recorded on the Stax record label and produced Willie Nelson’s Stardust album. And that’s just the tip of the musical iceberg. You can catch his act on Friday at Miller Outdoor Theatre. Many have tried, but no one plays the Hammond organ like Booker T.

Miller Theatre is on a hot streak (pardon the use of the term “hot” these days), with Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk rolling in on Saturday. The band was assembled as a one-off for a performance at the New Orleans Jazz Festival in 2003, but the show was so well-received that Neville and his crew pressed on, combining influences from Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic with songs that address contemporary problems, all without losing the groove. In the process, Dumpstaphunk created what is now the best funk on the planet. That’s a bold statement, but, after seeing the band play at Jazz Fest this year, I’ll stand by it.