Crabs are over. The students are returning. The end of summer draws nigh. In the meantime, we still have sunshine at the river and a bit of nightlife to soothe your soul.

Thursday: All doom, no gloom

Do you like heavy metal? War Möth (love the umlaut, fellows), featuring locals Wolf Navarro, Sean Ennis, Dan Davis and Kelly Brannon, brings the devil's music to the Jambalaya — the band would like you to "come and rock!!" Also, Dead Man's Tale, about which not much is known other than they are also local and also an "exciting heavy rock band." The doom begins around 9:45 p.m. Be 21-or-over, my lambs.

Friday: Your friends and neighbors

Humboldt Brews celebrates Local Band Night with surf rockers The Mother Vines, whose sound, at least on the track "Wild Free Country," inspired agreeable head-nodding by the people who happened to be sitting around my living room while I wrote this. Also Dead Drift, a band without a Facebook or Google profile — apparently they're local, what with the aforementioned "Local Band Night" and all — and the fun, fuzzy Fairy Rings, a band boasting the approval of Local Artist Cool Guy Jesse Weidel. Cover's $5 at the door, show is 21-and-over and starts at 9 p.m.

Saturday: Dance for fun, funk for a cause, 'snot rock'

I saw a movie once in which dancing was outlawed because it was, essentially, a sin. Inspired lust and stuff. But the killjoy adults were no match for teenage desire, especially once bad boy Ren McCormack came to town. Arcata has a lot of rules, but, thankfully, the powers-that-be will allow you to salsa, cha-cha, merengue and otherwise get your sexy on via coordinated hand, foot and, most importantly, hip movements. Where can you experience this sensory-heightening fun, you ask? At Mazzotti's, where a new monthly Baile'N Mazzotti's Latin dancing night allows an opportunity to make the most of the joint's rather fabulous wooden dance floor. Five dollars and an ID stating you are at least 18 years old will get you in. The dancing starts at 9 p.m.

Up the same way, another event that includes shaking your groove thing — for a cause other than just getting your juices flowing, you hedonist, you. Instrumental Flight is throwing a benefit for the O'Brien School for the Maasai (in Tanzania, natch!) in what is aptly named Funk Night for the Maasai. Your donations — $10 minimum to get in — will help Dave Klawitter get the school's new music department off the ground. Live music from the Get Down Crew and DJ Rickshaw with The Klaw and a light show by Marmalade Sky at the Jambalaya. Doors at 9:30 p.m., 21-and-over. Tons more info at instrumentalflight.com.

And then you've got your Pittsburgh "snot rock." In the form of The Lopez. At the Alibi. You know the drill. (The drill: $5, 11 p.m., 21-and-over.)

Monday: Two kinds of love

You need some goddamn good honky-tonk on a Monday night, yes, you do. Which is why you're going to suck it up and go out and see Flint, Mich. native Whitey Morgan and the 78's at Humboldt Brews. Tickets are $10, the outlaw twang starts at 9 p.m. and yes, 21-and-over.

Wait. What? Two serious shows on a Monday night? Oh, Humboldt. The way things work out. All right, here we go. Over at the Shanty, you've got Memphis' Ex-Cult riffing some punk like it's 1982 and they're in the garage next door, plus Zig Zags, similarly inclined but out of El Lay, local trippers White Manna and A-town's superchill TxExDx. Show starts at 9 p.m. and cover's $5. It's the Shanty — be of legal drinking age.

Ever so slightly ahead

In far more gentler options, The Littlest Birds arrive with cello and banjo in hand next Wednesday, Aug. 13, at Mad River Brewery, playing at the perfectly sophisticated time of 6 to 8:30 p.m. Sweet, lovely, old-time Americana tunes. Free.

On Thursday, Aug. 14, an all-ages show (hallelujah) takes place courtesy of the dedicated folks at the Placebo with the wailing gothy vocals and elegant drumming of The Spiritual Bat, Megathon Leviathan, the noise-heavy IDTAL and a sort of tragically romantic post-punk offering via The Disaffectionate. Show starts at 7 p.m. in the Ink Annex. No drugs or booze. Cover is $6 members, $8 non.

Etc.

Full show listings in the Journal's Music and More grid, the Eight Days a Week calendar and online. Bands and promoters, send your gig info, preferably with a high-res photo or two, to music@northcoastjournal.com.