Hold on to Your Thinking Cap, Longhair

Thursday 31

Messi, Puyol, Xavi, Furia, Manso — ¡Ole! Barcelona lounge lovers the Pinker Tones roll into Til-Two tonight behind their latest, Modular, a melting pot of world beats (and languages) with an electro-funk attitude. FIFA fans are surely aware of the Tones’ EA Sports anthem “The Whistling Song.” Oh, love, all I do is whistle for you. Let’s all wear our Barcelona FC jerseys, make the lads feel at home, hm?... The other big gig uptown tonight is SanFran band Sonny & the Sunsets at Soda Bar. You like silly psych-folk ditties, you’ll love Sonny’s stuff. With the success of last year’s Tomorrow Is Alright, the crew put pen to paper for Fat Possum and next week will release numero duo, Hit After Hit, another nostalgic tripper. This kill bill also features the Sandwitches, Earth Girl Helen Brown, and the Kabbs.... Best of the rest has Koffin Kats scratching out a psychobilly set at Brick by Brick...and Tin Can Ale House sets up Seoul indie kids (the shoegaze varietal) Galaxy Express, Idiotape, and Vidulgi Oooyoo, which means pigeon milk. For reals.

Friday 1

Charles Edward Anderson “Chuck” Berry, 84 years young, from St. Louis, Missouri, will bring his steady-rocking roadshow to Pala Casino Friday night. Mr. Berry’s best known for his pivotal role in rolling over blues to what we call rock, with timeless nuggets such as “Maybellene,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” and “Johnny B. Goode.” Mr. Berry was one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was recently voted in a Rolling Stone poll to be one of the top 100 artists of all time. My, oh my, the man’s a legend, and hear tell he still can strut the stage in his signature duck walk.... Else: Grammy-winning folk rocker and Righteous Babe Records runner Ani DiFranco will visit House of Blues with Bitch and the Animal’s Animal Prufrock. Bitch is on vaca.... Alt-pop three-piece Secret Apollo will play a farewell show at Whistle Stop. Where’re they going? It’s a secret... Traveling troubadour the White Buffalo roams into the Loft at UCSD. The burly baritone’s out to tout last year’s Rough Shod release Prepare for Black and Blue.... Shake that thang! L.A. big band Orgone will bring the funk to Belly Up with their Long Beach brethren Delta Nove.

Saturday 2

From “Gangsta’s Paradise,” Coolio takes the Ramona Mainstage. The 47-year-old rapper broke from the mid-’90s L.A. rap scene with that Grammy-winning hit, which has appeared in too many movies to recount and as recently as this year’s floppy Green Hornet. Since then, Cool’s records have cooled, so he’s turned to “movie acting and such.” More recently, 16 hours ago he tweeted that he’s “Kicking it in Dubai for a few days get ready for a concert.” Dubai to Ramona. Huh.... Still up north, you’ve got She Wants Revenge at the Belly Up in Solana Beach. The “dark-dance” duo’s got a record due to drop next month called Valleyheart. They prefer dark dance to darkwave, just so you know.... Speaking of dark, Black Heart Procession will play an early set (doors @ 5p) at Casbah after their friends from Invisible Creature present some fresh prints and give a talk on the state of graphic design and stuff. First 200 peeps through the door get a free show poster, which is pretty cool. Check it: apr2evening.tumblr.com...and stick around the club afterward for some pop-rock courtesy of locals-only: Little Hurricane, Get Back Loretta, River City, and Low Volts.... ’Round town: the Shakedown serves up retro-rockers Phil Alvin (Blasters), Eddie Nichols (Royal Crown Revue), and Hands Down South (Chulo Veesta, baby)...Olympia, Washington goth-pop trio Broken Water pours it on (ew) Tin Can Ale House behind Oaktown art punks High Castle and our own dynamic duo the Dabbers...Skid Row sans Sebastian slides into 4th&B behind Sledd...and Soda Bar sets up Ohio-based indie folkies Southeast Engine with local faves the Donkeys and Little Fowl.

Sunday 3

Rumor is Gary Heffern’s back in town, which can only mean that SD punk-rawk perennials the Penetrators will be pulling into the Casbah. For all the poop on them and that, click this: sandiegoreader.com/bands/penetrators/. The Loons and Social Spit will set it all up.... Best of the rest has jazz pianist Mose Allison tinkling the ivories at Anthology...singer-songer David Wilcox brings his latest, Reverie, to AMSDconcerts...the Brian Setzer Orchestra squeezes onto the boards at Belly Up...and Creed front guy Scott Stapp plays Sycuan. Dave Good’ll give you the goods on that in this week’s “Of Note.”

Monday 4

There’s gonna be some head-banging in Bay Park when Revolver magazine’s Metalliance Tour stops at Brick by Brick. Hold on to your thinking cap, longhair, as headliner Helmet’s laying out Meantime in its entirety. A ton of thinking-man’s metal — oxymoron alert! — on this bill, with Saint Vitus, Crowbar, Kylesa, Red Fang(!), Howl, and Atlas Moth. Now that’s what I’m talking about!... For the rest of you ussypays, Fresno indie-pop trio Rademacher’s at the Casbah...and alt-rocking Swedes the Sounds will be entertaining the Belly Up.

Tuesday 5

Austin, Texans the Preservation will plug in at Soda Bar Tuesday night with our own Black Oak Hymnal and El Monte Slim for a night of good ol’ Americana.... Philly rappers Ill Bill (Non-Phixion, La Coka Nostra) and Vinnie Paz (Jedi Mind Tricks, Army of the Pharaohs) as Heavy Metal Kings hit Casbah behind their brand-spanking new self-titled debut.... Up northways, you’ve got UCSD jazz combo the Evergreens at the Loft...and pro-surfer Rob Machado’s Melali at Belly Up, a movie-n-music affair, featuring surf-jazz bros. the Mattson 2. I full-on love these cats: myspace.com/themattson2.

Wednesday 6

The Penetrators’ Gary Heffern will kill two birds at the Middletown mainstay this week as he presents Heffern’s Blood on Fire. No Depression featured Heff’s lead thing “Hand of the Devil” a couple weeks back, calling it his “‘Jungleland,’ his ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond.’” Whatever. Cardiac Kidz attack first.... Uthawise: Hip-hop hit Talib Kweli’s Gutter Rainbows Tour stops at House of Blues...and heavy-metal sickos the Mentors will defile the Shakedown with their latest opus Ducefixion. The Screamin’ Yeehaws and Tim Raldo & the Filthy Youknowwhats will set it up.

— Barnaby Monk