Wednesday, Jan. 16, Soundgarden at Terminal 5, $16
Three years later, it would appear that the Soundgarden reunion is here to stay. Hey, it keeps Chris Cornell off the streets and too busy to make ill-conceived Timbaland collaborations, for which we should be grateful. Contrary to all natural laws of the universe, Cornell can still hit the freakishly high notes of the Badmotorfinger days, and Kim Thayil's guitar tone can still crush you like a slab of cement dropped from on high. These two simply need each other. It's up to you to decide whether you still need them.
Thursday, Jan. 17, Travis Edegy of Pictureplane, Kitty Pryde, Alexangra Gamlin of AFRO-PUNK, Russ Marshalek and Sophie Weiner of Silent Drape Runners at 285 Kent Avenue, $10
This is a weird show. For some reason, 285 Kent Avenue is hosting a "Panel Discussion" to celebrate the one year anniversary of rap meme Lil' B's infamous NYU lecture. OK then. If you have strong opinions about Lil' B (or Kitty Pryde for that matter) and a free evening, it might be worth it to drop by, if for no other reason than to figure out why this is a thing that is happening.
Friday, Jan. 18, Spider Bags, Gross Ghost, Lazyeyes at Cameo Gallery, $7
Spider Bags are a rollicking country-friend punk band in the vein of The Replacements and Drive By Truckers. Most of the lyrics center around the dumb things songwriter Dan McGee does while drinking. This is the type of show that even if you didn't order a beer, you will at some point look at your hand and realize there's a beer in it, somehow.
Saturday, Jan. 19, Morrissey, Kristeen Young at The Capitol Theatre, $49.50
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We've already used this space to discuss the eternal brilliance of Morrissey, so let's take a moment to talk about Kristeen Young. She's a St. Louis-bred singer songwriter who was doing the punky-goth piano cabaret thing a good five years before The Dresden Dolls rolled around. She's got loopy charm to spare. As near as I can tell, her career plan for the last several years has been opening for Morrissey. Seriously, every time he tours she is always the opener, nearly without exception. One wonders if her main goal as a moody teenager was to one day open for Morrissey, and once she achieved this goal then she would be happy forever. If so, good for her. We all deserve to get what we want.
