This Week's Best Concerts

Readers of a certain age will remember that, when Charlie Brown was buckling under the weight of existential angst or perhaps a recent troubling development, he would exhale in a weary fashion, onomatopoetically rendered as *Sigh.* I am having one of those moments right now, after reading that Best Buy has begun removing CD’s, DVD’s and Blu-Ray discs from the company’s retail locations and its online commerce site.

As Houston Press scribe Jeff Balke noted last week, the online streaming of music has just passed the 20-year mark. While it is a wonderful thing to be able to call out a song title and, seconds later, have it come bursting out of a cell phone or smart speaker, the streaming era has, if nothing else, demonstrated the inherent value of physical media. Oldsters have been gnashing their teeth over the lack of album art and liner notes for some years now, but a more pressing problem lies in the fact that there is a wealth of music and video content that will never be streamed and is danger of being lost to the ages.

The nonprofit ARChive of Contemporary Music in New York saw all this coming and has accordingly amassed a collection of over three million audio recordings. Trouble is, the organization is being forced out of its headquarters / storehouse in upstate New York due to zoning restrictions which stipulate that the land must be used for agricultural purposes (ARC HQ is informally known as “The Piggery”). So far, no individual, company or foundation with deep pockets has stepped up to give these recordings a new home.

“OK, Boomer,” some millennials may say, “get over it.” I reply by quoting Joni Mitchell. She is a singer-songwriter who…oh never mind, once said, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”

Ticket Alert

Missing the ‘80s? If that is your nostalgia jam, then the Totally Tubular Festival will be right up your alley. Thomas Dolby, Tom Bailey (Thompson Twins), Modern English, Men Without Hats, The Romantics, Bow Wow Wow, Tommy Tutone and The Plimsouls will all be on the bill Wednesday, July 10, at the 713 Music Hall. Presales begin on Thursday, with the general sale on Friday. Don’t forget your Members Only jackets, parachute pants, leg warmers and, for God’s sake, something in neon. I mean, you wouldn’t want to look weird or anything.

Punky popsters Third Eye Blind will hit the road this summer, stopping at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Saturday, August 3, with Yellowcard and Arizona opening. The general sale begins on Friday, but presales are up now, if you have the secret password or the proper credit card.

Concerts This Week

Manx (indicating that he’s from the Isle of Man) guitarist Davy Knowles will play at the Dosey Doe Big Barn on Thursday. Knowles’ influences are of the highest order (Mark Knopfler, Rory Gallagher and Eric Clapton) and his chops are phenomenal, as evidenced by gigs opening for Jeff Beck, The Who and Joe Bonamassa. The concert includes dinner and a show, so come hungry!

Shake Russell has been a consistent mainstay on the Houston music scene for over 40 years, so we have to careful not to take him for granted. He will be at the Mucky Duck for an early show on Thursday, performing classics like “Deep in the West” and “You’ve Got a Lover.”

Mr. Big was formed around the talents of fretboard wizards Paul Gilbert (guitar) and Billy Sheehan (bass), but the band hit it big with the middle of the road single “To Be with You.” Nevertheless, fans can count on plenty of shredding when the band performs on Friday at the newly-opened Warehouse Live Midtown. The tour is billed as “The Big Finish,” but the band has consistently maintained a large and loyal fan base in Japan, so it remains to be seen whether this is actually “sayonara.”

New Jack Swing icon Keith Sweat will be at the Smart Financial Centre on Saturday, headlining a bill that includes musical compatriots Dru Hill, LeVelle and Johnny Gill. ‘Cause Knowledge is Power: Sweat started his professional life on Wall Street, working his way up from the mailroom of brokerage firm Paine Webber to a job on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.