This week offers a rather good mix of concerts for your entertainment pleasure. Blonde Redhead plays Granada Theater, horror punk outfit the Misfits play Gas Monkey Live, metal Gods Slayer play in the suburbs at Verizon Theatre, Jeezy (formerly Young Jeezy, but not yet Old Jeezy) is set to explain how he's seen it all at South Side Ballroom and Hoodie Allen will do rap stuff that your parents approve of on the very same stage. So make haste and get thee out to some concerts before we're all snowed in for the winter.
See also: The Old 97's Played an Impromptu Set at Twilite Lounge Last Night for Rhett Miller's Birthday
Big Gus & the Swampadelic 7 p.m., Monday, November 17, at The Free Man, 2626 Commerce St., http://www.freemandallas.com, Free There's music for free every day at The Free Man. It starts at 7 p.m. There's cheap booze and a kitchen that cooks up cajun style food, like fried gator. Tonight Big Gus & the Swampadelic play a set, of what they call swampy tonk. It's Americana and zydeco, a splice of creole centric rhythm and blues New Orleans with a focus on upbeat lyrics and a band of talented players to boot. H. Drew Blackburn
Blonde Redhead With dot Hacker, 8 p.m., Tuesday, November 18, at Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave., 214-824-9933 or granadatheater.com, $24-$45 In their earliest of days Blonde Redhead was your quintessential New York indie noise rock band, using their instruments and vocals to create something more along the lines of what the downtown cool crowd would consider art. They were most definitely not of the ilk of conventional hook-verse-hook and 4/4 time signatures. That was two decades ago and well, things change, even if not necessarily all that dramatically. In their later years Blonde Redhead has matured as something more kin to dream pop, which is a little more palatable than their early days. But, the art-rock sensibilities are still evident; no melodic structure could quite hide those brush strokes. HDB
The Misfits With Missile, 8:00 pm, Wednesday, November 19, at Gas Monkey Live, 10110 Technology Blvd Dallas, TX., gasmonkeybarandgrill.com, $18-$35 The Misfits are a legendary horror tinged punk group that also keeps Hot Topic in business with t-shirts. Like most bands given the gift of longevity, they've shouldered the burden of legal battles and lineup changes. But, they live on as a quintessential band that added complexity to a genre that was more or less meat and potatoes during it's inception in the 70's and 80's. So, sinister, loud, and fast, most importantly fast music will make it's way to Gas Monkey Live! this week for all you all black wearing misfits out there. HDB
Slayer With Suicidal Tendencies and Exodus, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 19, at Verizon Theatre, 1001 Performance Pl., Grand Prairie, 972-854-5111 or verizontheatre.com, $39.75-$44.75 Thrash metal peaked in the '80s. This isn't a jab to the genre so much as it is the fact. The '80s era of thrash gave the world Metallica, Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, Overkill and others. Above all else, it gave us the immortal Slayer. Slayer is a band whose approach to the taboo has only been matched by their worldwide acclaim. When Metallica was falling apart, Slayer continued to release albums true to form but also, more importantly, true to their fans. In recent times, the band has suffered an immense tragedy following the death of original member, guitarist Jeff Hanneman, as the result of an apparent spider bite. Rather than disband, the band has soldiered on in memorial and tribute to their fallen brother. Slayer comes to Grand Prairie with fellow thrash legends Exodus and Suicidal Tendencies in tow. James Khubiar
Captured! by Robots, 9 p.m., Thursday, November 20, at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, 411 E. Sycamore St., Denton, rubberglovesdentontx.com, $10-12 Insanity is on the horizon. Captured! by Robots is partly a band and partly a bizarre performance art project by Jay Vance aka JBOT. What he's done here is build a band, literally, by building robots. However, those robots turned on him and held him captive, hence the name. He is their human slave and now they (wait, he?) tour the country and play at dive bars and holes in the wall. Or so the story goes, anyway. This is probably the weirdest thing you'll see all year unless you caught GWAR last month -- in which case it will be the second weirdest thing you've seen all year. HDB
Jeezy 9 p.m. Friday, November 21, at South Side Ballroom, 1135 S. Lamar, 214-421-2021 or southsideballroomdallas.com, $59.50 The Godfather of modern Atlanta trap rap is returning to Dallas. Young Jeezy has been a star in the rap game ever since he released Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 in 2005. After that Jeezy has been through a lifetime of experiences: being on top of the rap world, his infamous feud with Gucci Mane, falling off the top and keeping up with today's rap game. Jeezy will be playing South Side Ballroom supporting his latest release, Seen It All: The Autobiography, which was released last September. But this is intended to more than a look down memory lane; Jeezy wants to remind audiences who ran these street all those years ago - and that he doesn't plan on giving up the game any time soon. James Khubiar
Leon Russell With Zack King Band, 7 p.m. Friday, November 21, at Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave., 214-824-9933 or granadatheater.com, $30-$49 There is likely no musician that has contributed more to the canon of American music than Leon Russell. While he enjoyed some modest pop success with songs like "Tight Rope" and "Lady Blue," as well as a No. 1 country version of "Heartbreak Hotel" with Willie Nelson, Russell's spent much of his decades-long career in working in the shadows for other musicians and his work is as diverse as it is excellent. In his extensive contributions as a session musician, he appeared on seminal works with the likes of the Byrds, JJ Cale and Delaney & Bonnie. At his show at Granada Theater, you'll get a glimpse of the man himself, playing songs from past and present, with a backup band that is just as talented as he is. Hot Tuna opens the night, setting a stage for an evening of some of the best bluesy classic rock around. Amy McCarthy
Rhett Miller With the Wind and the Wave and the O's, 7 p.m. Saturday, November 22, Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave., 214-824-9933 or granadatheater.com, $40-$100 He may receive his mail in another state but Rhett Miller of the Old 97's is a local boy in every way that really counts. When the 97's release an album, Miller and the boys hit seemingly every stage North Texas has to offer. When he wants to celebrate his birthday, he hits the coolest bars in Deep Ellum, which are owned by his buddies. Perhaps most importantly, when he wants to raise money for a cause that's near and dear to his family, as he has for the past few years now, he takes over the Granada to raise awareness of Cystic Fibrosis. You can take the hip-shaker out of Dallas but you can't take the Dallas out of the hip-shaker. And don't sleep on Austin roots act the Wind and the Wave; see them now in an intimate setting before they get Mumford-huge. Kelly Dearmore
Jacuzzi Boys With White Mystery and Ex-Cult at 8 p.m., Club Dada, Saturday, November 22, at Club Dada, 2720 Elm St., http://www.dadadallas.com/,$15 The official music video for the Jacuzzi Boys' single "Glazin'" features a bunch of lip-synching vaginas created by fans. Lest you thought the band wasn't really going all-in with the whole wild and crazy garage rock band thing, just keep that in mind. The band hails from Florida, the state that pretty goes in on anything and everything that's outrageous and which we would all trade for a sack of nickels. But after hearing these guys' music, perhaps we could work in a deal where they can stay in the U.S. HDB
Hoodie Allen With Chiddy Bang and Max Schneider, 9 p.m. Sunday, November 23, South Side Ballroom, 1135 S. Lamar St. Dallas, TX, 214-421-2021, $39 What type of person would get a bachelor's degree from an Ivy League school, land a job at Google and then throw it all away to become a rapper? A person like Hoodie Allen, apparently, because that's exactly what he did. This is somewhat commendable, because the potential gross income for folks in Silicon Valley is higher than pretty much every other profession, even pop stars. Since leaving Google for a career in hip-hop, Hoodie Allen has created a grassroots movement among fans of unassuming friendly rap and his debut studio album, People Keep Talking, climbed to the No. 2 spot on Billboard's top rap albums. Fellow non-threatening rap duo Chiddy Bang opens. HDB
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