We’ve got a busy week on the concert front. Our favorite duo from New York arrives at The Meridian tomorrow night. They Might Be Giants have been making quirky alt/pop songs for grown-ups over 20 years now, and a few albums for the kids that us grown-ups enjoy, too. Wilco’s Friday night show at Verizon Wireless Theater is sold out, but if you’re willing to pay a little, you can still get your hands......

Tonight, catch Grammy award-winning R&B vocalist, singer/songwriter Jill Scott at Verizon Wireless. Frequent visitor Bob Schneider makes his trip from Austin a little bit shorter tomorrow by playing at the Cypress Saloon in northwest Houston. Local faves Orange Is In is opening, which makes for a great double-bill. Another local act, The Mighty Orq, will be presenting a lot of new material at his CD release show at the Meridian Friday night (you’ll probably......

Did we miss something? Let us know. Here’s the full week line-up. Local bands are noted by an asterisk (*): Wednesday • The Leo Trio/*The Haymakers/The Mighty Orq – rock | 9 p.m. at Rudyard's • Dead Meadow/*Sharks and Sailors/Southern Bellugosi – indie | 9 p.m.at The Mink Thursday • Bob Schneider/Mothers Anthem/Jake Andrews – pop/rock | 8 p.m.at Warehouse Live • Jimmy LaFave – folk/Americana | 7 p.m. at Mucky Duck • *Backbeat......

This is your last week to check out shows at The Proletariat before it closes for good. They packed their schedule with some great local bands. Be on the lookout for more information on these shows soon. Did we miss something? Let us know. Here’s the full week line-up. Local bands are noted by an asterisk (*): Wednesday • *Over Sea Under Stone/Geisert 8/*Judas Bear/*Antarctica Starts Here – indie/rock | 9 p.m. at The......

Tomorrow night, several 90's R&B hit-makers emerge on Reliant Arena for the Ladies Night Out Tour (this has been a popular theme this week). One of those is Bell Biv DeVoe. Bell Biv Devoe (also known as BBD, not to et confused with other 90's bands like NKOTB) arose from the ashes of New Edition. While Bobby Brown and Ralph Tresvant went solo, the other three members decided to form this group, which had......

Reigning “Queen of Funk” Sharon Jones [pictured] and her band the Dap-Kings will perform tomorrow night at Walter’s on Washington. The soul revivalists are touring in support of their critically acclaimed album, 100 Days, 100 Nights, a gritty homespun recording of retro R&B that has proven to be the group's breakthrough moment. Everything about Jones and the Kings is retro; from the way they record their music on a sixteen track, to their heavy touring......

Here's an abridged, holiday version of this week's music calendar. If you like Latin-rock, you're in luck. Tonight, Grupo Fantasma and their funky horn section returns to the Continental Club. Nearby, at Warehouse Live, Vallejo will be playing. Del Castillo visits Warehouse Live tomorrow night. Two good choices for Saturday: R&B songstress Erykah Badu performs at Arena Theater and Austin's Asylum Street Spankers - always a fun show - return to the Mucky Duck.......

A lighter week for concerts, but many home-state bred musicians are in town. Tomorrow night, we recommend San Antonio's Girl In A Coma, but if you prefer 90's rock, you might want to catch Dallas' The Toadies return to Verizon Wireless. Speaking of returns, Bandera's Robert Earl Keen brings his annual Christmas show to town Friday night. Saturday, Warehouse Live is hosting a few local bands, headlined by Million Year Dance. Not from Texas,......

With all the excitement surrounding the new Wu-Tang Clan record, what are some other bands you'd like to see return to the spotlight? We still say a prayer for a Fugees' comeback album, even though we know it's a lost cause. 8 Diagrams is the long-awaited new album from Wu-Tang, featuring the much-talked about Beatles' sample and guitar work by John Frusciante. Group members Ghostface and Raekwon have been vocal about their dissatisfaction with the......

Steveland Hardaway Judkins is in town tonight. Why aren't you excited? Wait, you might know him by his stage name: Stevie Wonder. That's right, the R&B/pop master graces the stage of the Toyota Center as part of the final leg of his current tour. In fact, we expect to hear a minimum of two Stevie Wonder tracks at every wedding party we attend, and not just because we actually request that the DJ squeeze it......

Our favorite at-work timewasters over at TMZ.com are reporting that Houston's pop/R&B princess herself has reunited with original Destiny's Child member Michelle Rowland to open an apartment building: The Knowles-Rowland Temenos Place Apartments, for people trying to improve their situations who might not otherwise have a place to live. Through her charity, the Survivor Foundation, Beyonce and her family are building and financing the building, which will be a 48 unit "short term to longterm......

For once, this week's music calendar is light on local acts, heavy on touring acts. Tonight, catch classic crooner Tony Bennett (who turns 80 this year) at Jones Hall. Tomorrow night, we recommend California indie rock band Rocco Deluca & the Burden at Warehouse Live. Mix things up a little bit Wednesday night and catch Austin's Belleville Outfit at the Duck, combining jazz, swing and Americana. Houston's own R&B legend Archie Bell will "tighten......

Kevin Russell Performs Solo Show with Fried Ice Cream at Under The Volcano A big thanks to one of our loyal readers, Chris Sarrat, for bringing this awesome event on our radar. If you have not heard the new Gourds record, you'll be surprised to hear horns on the first cut "How Will You Shine." Tonight, Houston-based 9-piece funk, R&B, and jazz group Fried Ice Cream's horn section will be playing with The Gourds' singer......

The end of summer break may be nearing for many, but that doesn't mean the good music is. In fact, we have seen some great new releases over the past few months, and we included some of those in this month's Houstonist iMix -- our collection of songs that we currently dig. The set starts with a track from Austin's own Spoon, from their latest album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. You'll also find indie-rockers......

As you get ready to head out for your July 4th holiday, we thought you might like to have some tunes to play on the way. Houstonist contributors have put together a collection of songs that are currently on the most played list on our iPod. There is a variety, so you should find something you like (and if you're open-minded musically, you'll probably like them all). This month, we have a couple of Houston......

When we first saw publicity shots of Marc Broussard a few years ago, back when his first full-length CD Carencro was released, we were afraid that he was going to be another teeny-bopper. It only took one listen to figure out that he wasn’t trying to be the next Justin Timberlake – this boy truly has soul. He proved it with “Home.” The Louisianan just released his follow-up to that sleeper-hit album. SOS: Save our......

Grady Gaines @ Sammy's on Main Starting tonight, Houston Blues Legend Grady Gaines will be rocking the already rolling venue at Sammy's on Main every Wednesday night. If you haven't made it to Sammy's yet, tonight would be a good time to break yourself in. Featuring some of the city's best blues, jazz, and R&B artists, Sammy's @ 2016 Main has been making Midtown sweat for almost two years. Best compared to the most fun......

Since George Clinton is headlining this weekend's International Festival downtown, we thought we'd feature one of his videos. At first, we thought about uploading one of his Parliament/Funkadelic live performances from the 70's, but the quality isn't that great. Then, we took our brains on a trip back to grade school (as if our brain isn't always there, anyway) and remembered how much we loved his first solo outing, the #1 R&B hit from......

Did you know that Houston has a one-hit wonder to call their own? Born in Houston, raised in Harlem, Oran “Juice” Jones hit the top 10 a little over 20 years ago with his hit “The Rain” (the song went to #1 on the R&B charts). He released several more albums after 1986, but none of them could produce a hit. The memorable part of this song is the last half, where he’s disses......

Well into the first week of the rodeo, we’ve seen performances from George Strait, Los Lonely Boys, and Reba. Tonight is Black Heritage Day, featuring Natalie Cole and R&B singer and songwriter KEM. So, we thought we’d feature Natalie Cole’s biggest hit, a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Pink Cadillac” most memorable song and video, her 1991 studio produced “duet” with her father, Nat “Unforgettable.” Natalie was apprehensive about capitalizing on her father’s name for......

Super Bowl Shuffle - video powered by Metacafe Houstonist is not picking sides on this weekend’s Super Bowl (well, at least not publicly), but we do feel the need to show the Chicago Bears Shufflin’ Crew’s “Super Bowl Shuffle” from the 1985-86 season for several reasons: 1) The Bears are in the Super Bowl this year, 2) The video is so campy, it’s funny 3) We have to support our fellow –ist site in the......

Ted Nugent wasn’t the only musician to visit the state capitol last week. Former Supremes member Mary Wilson also played the Gov.’s inaugural ball, but initially came to the state for a more serious purpose — to push the “Truth in Music” bill. The “Truth in Music” bill is aimed to stop cover bands from taking a name of a classic band, unless at least one member of the original group is part of the......

With five Golden Globe nominations and talk of possible Oscar nominations in the wings, the film adaptation of Dreamgirls is getting a lot of exposure. The soundtrack is currently on top of the charts, the movie is in the top five at the box office, and former American Idol star Jennifer Hudson is receiving lots of praise for her performance as Effie White in the movie. While Hudson’s singing in the movie is good,......

So yesterday, we talked about the recent run of bad press Houston’s Beyonce has received with Dreamgirls related news. As the saying goes, she’s probably crying all the way to the bank. Beyonce’s latest hit “Irreplaceable” is spending its fifth week on top of the Billboard chart and has also been the most downloaded song on iTunes for the past month. The song itself is probably the catchiest song from Ms. Knowles to hit......

Instead of vegging in front of the TV, or fighting the crowds at the mall, we suggest one of these concerts to pass away your holidays. Houston’s Allen Oldies Band is celebrating their 10th anniversary Wednesday night, allowing you to dance off some pounds before you fill up on turkey. Some great original local bands to catch this week include The Dimes and Something Fierce at Walter’s, and Ryan Scroggins’ ska band at Fitz.......

Back in March, we told you about Arbitron’s new radio metering device, the Portable People Meter, and how Houston was going to be the first market to implement the device this summer. Those plans have been put on hold while Clear Channel, Arbitron’s largest client (duh!), waits to see proposals from other companies. There are three other competitors, including one local company, Media Audit, Inc. The biggest disadvantage for the competitors is that their devices......

Tuesday Brother and sister act Trish and Darin reunite for a show at the Duck tonight. You may remember Trish (Murphy) more than her brother, after their duo stint in the 90’s, she went on to have a successful regional alt-country career. 8 p.m. at McGonigel’s Mucky Duck | info Wednesday Any band that’s brave enough to call their first album Greatest Hits has to have some major dusters. What else would you expect......

Before he had his own reality TV show, before he was in jail multiple times for drug charges, before he married Whitney Houston, and before he was a hot solo act, Bobby Brown was a member of the teen band New Edition. It was announced this week that Bobby Brown would be reuniting with the band in Houston this summer for the Essence Music Festival. We hope Whitney shows up, too – that media circus......

Arbitron has just released the latest ratings for Houston radio stations. Since their method of collecting data (written diaries by the few people who actually agree to take the time completing them) is ancient, the ratings reflect the listenership for Fall 2005. Here’s the top ten (based on listeners over the age of 12): 1. KMJQ (102.1 FM) Urban/R&B AC 2. KODA (99.1 FM) Adult Contemporary 3. KBXX (97.9 FM) Hip-Hop/R&B Hits 4. KLTN (102.9......

We found a Whitman’s Sampler of live music in town this week. Here are a few Houstonist recommends: Today Grammy winner Renee Fleming brings her soprano voice to the Houston Grand Opera tonight. We know, opera isn’t for everyone, but take a chance and you may be surprised. She’s likely to belt out her rendition of “Ave Maria” for the holiday season. 7:30 p.m. at the Wortham Center | tickets and info Wednesday If you......