• Courtesy of the Artists
• Achilles Wheel

It's Cinco de Mayo, which we all know is the celebration of the Mexican army at the Battle of Puebla. We here in majority white mainstream America celebrate this day by not knowing a thing about the Battle of Puebla and treating this holiday as the Mexican St. Patrick's Day. We have a good number of local shows to choose from for tonight's festivities but as far as I can tell, none are playing up the Cinco de Mayo angle too hard. Ultra Secret is at the Mad River Brewery at 6 p.m. and, as usual, it's a free, all ages show. At 7:30 p.m. you'll find the JD Jeffries Band at the Fieldbrook Market playing classic hits and originals for this also free and all ages show. Just a half hour later — and perhaps inadvertently helping to prove my Mexican St. Patrick's Day point — we've got The Vanishing Pints playing at the Redwood Curtain Brewery, also for free. Local guitar-slinger (and Pink Floyd and Tom Petty aficionado) Piet Dalmolen tipped me off to San Francisco indie-rock band Go By Ocean, who are stopping by Humboldt Brews at 9:30 p.m. tonight, and he highly recommends you check them out. Opening this $10 show is Love Bush. Tonight the Mateel in Redway is hosting a fundraiser for Tools for Change, which distributes new and used tools to rural villages in West Africa, with music starting around 8:30 p.m. Musicians Keith Greeninger and Joe Craven will be starting the show off and then Achilles Wheel will close out this fundraiser. A $20 donation will be asked at the door and you know it's going to a good cause.