Thursday

Get your string thing on tonight — sounds dirtier than I planned it — down at The Jam in Arcata where local string bands Thursday Night Bluegrass and The Gatehouse Well take the stage around 9 p.m. for a $5 show. Be prepared to cut a rug. At the famous Logger Bar in Blue Lake, you'll find a music ensemble of third year Dell'Arte students who have formed The Dirty Dozen. They're on at 9 p.m. for free and I'm told the band is comprised of folks from "Zimbabwe, Greece, Korea, India, Sweden, Denmark and all over the USA." Please don't ask to see their papers at the show.

Friday

It's National Beer Day — because Humboldt really needs a day to celebrate beer — and should that be enough to twist your arm into guzzling some suds, head to the Mad River Brewery Tap Room at 6 p.m. to celebrate for free with the country stylings of Cadillac Ranch. At 8 p.m., Cafe Mokka welcomes back Belles of the Levee to enchant you with their tightly constructed vocal harmonies by the enchanted frog ponds. This one's also free and all ages. Family bands are on the bill at The Siren's Song Tavern: Roland Rock, a father-son, post-surf guitar/drum duo; Droll Weevil, a husband-wife-fronted rock band; and International Trash, a father-son rock/blues/groove band. This is probably an 8 p.m. show and it's got a $5 cover charge. The "More Bass Edition" of Elevate is at Humboldt Brews at 9 p.m. tonight. Devstep is stopping by town and will be supported by local DJs Skinny Pepperwood and Chopsjunkie, along with Rhizae. Get into this bass heavy show for $7.

Saturday

It's A Night at the Museum at the Clarke Historical Museum at 6 p.m. and outside of checking out what's in the museum — along with locally made food and drink — you'll be treated to Humboldt's own Cajun band The Bayou Swamis, who'll be playing at the $20 event. The artists formerly known as The Honky Tonk Detours and now known simply as The Detours return to the Mad River Brewery Tap Room at 6 p.m. as well. They'll be slipping some honk, some tonk, some rock and some roll into your ears, and all for free. The Fortuna Monday Club hosts La Nueva Ilusión, performing traditional Mexican dance music starting around 6:45 p.m. Bring $10 to get in and discover why these chaps are known as the "Kings of Cumbia." Local singer-songwriter Joanne Rand is celebrating the release of her 16th album, entitled Roses in the Snow & Drought, tonight at The Sanctuary in Arcata. She's backed by a local supergroup comprised of Piet Dalmolen on the six string, Rob Diggins on the fiddle four and Tim Randles on the 88. This celebration is also benefiting The Sanctuary to help them provide a space for creativity for the arts. A sliding scale of $10-$20 will get you in — consider that a deal for some of our most talented musicians. The celebration starts around 8 p.m. Two hours later, Chicago guitar player Bob Bucko Jr. stops by The Miniplex in Arcata to deliver his wide range of sound your way. He's got local support from "FEK/Future Friends," who I saw last Tuesday when they were billed as "Future Friends of Sound" and had a really interesting synth-driven sound with electronic drums, hand drums, guitar and saxophone. A $5 ticket price for this one.

Sunday

It's Big Day OUT! at The Mad River Brewery this afternoon starting at 1 p.m. It's a LGBTQ family friendly dance day with free tunes courtesy of DJ Goldylocks. A Green Week Pre-Party is happening at The Jam tonight at 9 p.m., where you'll get the Deep Groove Society vibe with locals Jsun and Marjo Lak who are glad to welcome Blackliquid from the U.K., along with Jonra. A $10 ticket price for this pre-party. DJs, songwriters and multi instrumentalists BoomBox hit the Arcata Theatre Lounge stage sometime after 8:30 p.m. tonight. They've been pulling out the backbeat, psychedelia and funk sounds since the early aughts. Their grooves are on display for $20 tonight.

Tuesday

I haven't heard of a show happening at the Eureka Municipal Auditorium in a while, so I was glad to hear that not only is something going on tonight, but from As Lions out of the United Kingdom. They just put out their debut album Selfish Age in October so expect to hear these new songs. I gave a few of the tunes a listen to and found it to have flavors of some '90s heavy rock, the dramatic themes of metal, and delivery of '90s pop punk. I could see high schoolers who see the world losing its luster getting into the music here along with some of the big-truck-driving crowd from Fortuna. From a little bit of digging online, it looks like the show is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. with Shinedown headlining with Cold Kingdom also on the bill for support. It also looks like you can buy tickets online from Ticketmaster (!?!) for $37.50 but I have no idea if that's the actual ticket price. A Bay Area band with slightly local roots, Front Country, is making a stop at Humboldt Brews at 9 p.m. With touches of roots country and bluegrass, this band is chock full of talent. Guitar wizard Jacob Groopman joins Leif Karlstrom on violin, Jeremy Darrow on bass, Adam Roszkiewicz on mandolin and former local Melody Walker on vocals. Catch 'em for a $15 ticket price.

Wednesday

In case you missed Piet Dalmolen playing with Joanne Rand's supergroup this past weekend, you have a chance to hear his solo guitar work at the Mad River Brewery at 6 p.m. tonight for free. Leave him a tip while he does his guitar looping magic for you. Merrick at The Miniplex tells me that "longtime local and late KHSU persona Jakob Sweden" is celebrating his most recent LP as Ensemble Economique tonight along with San Francisco sound artist Jim Haynes around 10 p.m. Bring $5 to this tour kickoff show for EE.

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

Andy Powell is a congenital music lover and hosts The Album of the Week Show on KWPT 100.3 FM Tuesdays at 6 p.m. He'll make it to all tomorrow's parties.