Besides the shows we told you about in this week’s issue, this weekend’s best bet is obviously those wheat-slinging warriors Kansas at Stafford Center tomorrow night. This clip should tell you everything you need to know. You’re my boy, blue!

Anyway. Let’s deal with tonight first, shall we? Recent Hootenanny star Joe Mathlete bids farewell to Houston – at least for now – tonight at Proletariat with Fishboy, Jenny Westbury and Ill Advisory. He’ll be back… we hope. UK finger-picker supreme Adrian Legg swings by Anderson Fair, while perennial redneck mother Ray Wylie Hubbard leaves the Snake Farm behind for the cozy confines of McGonigel’s Mucky Duck and Austin’s Aaron Watson holds forth for all the longneck-lovers at Spring’s Big Texas Saloon. Crescent City ballers Big Sam’s Funky Nation boogie down hard at the Continental Club, Zeppelin devotees Black Dog plant their four sticks – i.e the complete set from a certain reunion concert you may have heard about last month - at Fitz’s, Vanessa Peters and Front Porch Society go acoustic at Rudyard’s and Karina Nistal headlines the “Entertainment Is Dead” benefit for LULAC’s Artists Helping Young Artists program at Bohemeo’s.

Saturday, Meridian’s 999 Eyes Freakshow & Dirty Comedy Show is worth checking out on name alone, not to mention some of the featured performers: The Human Tripod, Lobster Girl and the Black Scorpion. Austin’s old-timey That Damned Band provides the music; Rob Mungle, Danny Rios and Sam Demaris the blue humor. La Porte’s Waterboys-evoking Buxton releases their A Family Light EP at Walter’s, capping a top-notch local bill of By the End of Tonight, Papermoons and Ghost Mountain. Copies of Buxton’s new and old releases are free with admission.

The Winchester Mansions, the Quarantines, the Factory Party and several more play a benefit at the Mink’s Backroom for Megan Williams, the 20-year-old girl who was abducted and horrifically tortured in West Virginia last summer. See here for more information on the show. Elsewhere, rocking trio SkyBlue72 and long-running riddim-riders D.R.U.M. split a bill at Last Concert Café, winsome local folk-rockers Orange Is In hit Rudz and Beaumont’s Tracy Byrd does the “Watermelon Crawl” up to the Cypress Saloon. Remember, if you go ten rounds with Jose Cuervo, please let someone else drive you home.

Sunday, Austin’s Suzanna Choffel and Houston native Sarah Sharp offer double the folk-pop at the Mucky Duck and KPFT’s Zydeco Dawn host Wilfred Chevis boogaloos the Big Easy. Finally, hitch up the wagon and “Sail Away” to Galveston Island for none other than the Oak Ridge Boys at the Grand 1894 Opera House. (The quartet, together in some fashion for some 46 years, also appears Saturday night.) True, true, the Grand ain’t exactly the y’all come back saloon, but it’s close enough. So hi-yo Silver, a-way!

Sorry, couldn’t resist. – Chris Gray