Three-Bean Salad Blues

A frosty-haired woman resembling the one who taunted Henry Chinaski in Barfly stares at the band, barely moving her hips. Friends and family crowd the stage, tapping on cameras. Black Bone Child's trek from Austin — a homecoming for two members — feels triumphant. Bookings are solid, and the band's releases have been lauded by blogs and journals. Women who can probably mix a mean three-bean salad approach the stage in shorts, heels, and other rock 'n' roll duds. As a Bo Diddley riff opens sinewy stomper "Be Your Man," I flash on blues purist Seymour's reaction to the bar band in Ghost World. Seymour would undoubtedly be dismayed by BBC's unflagging supply of the kind of bump-and-grind to which I'm hesitant to react — hey, I don't want to be mistaken for a pole dancer.

Beer slopping from the tanker in his hand, a guy in a tie-dye tee shouts, "Yeah! Yeaah! THAT's what I'm talkin' about." Although everything's intense, songs like "Light Up the Sky" invite even more screams from the audience. "Light Up" has the kind of delayed shuffle propelling Human League's "Rock 'n' Roll" into reptilian splendor. Mostly, BBC burns too urgently for delays. Like a passel of hot-blooded southerners, it makes a good case for honorary induction — if not into Mississippi citizenship, at least unto the arms of Fat Possum. Kenneth's machine-gun harp and Donny's manic electric slide would sit well next to R.L. Burnside (effects version) or Jon Spencer. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised to see BBC give ZZ Top a run for its money.

• Concert: Black Bone Child
• Date: July 16
• Venue: Soda Bar
• Seats: up front, to the right