01.15.10 – Agnostic Front - Thee Park Side

For its 25 birthday, these East Coast hardcore types are hitting the road. At this point it’s more nostalgia than spit and vinegar. But the story that’s taken Vinnie Stigma and Roger Miret from cult status afforded them by covering little known skinhead bands to international stardom is mirrored in punks various rises in popularity over time.

01.21.10 – The Black Lips/No Bunny - Great American Music Hall

The Black Lips have been on a crazy upward trajectory in popularity since 2005’s Let it Bloom. Trucking in garage and ‘60s pop can’t be said to be a brand new concept, but subsequent to the Lips attaining wide spread media fawning, there’s been another resurgence in garage-styled acts. The Bay’s No Bunny can’t be figured as a Black Lips disciple, but unquestionably have benefited from the Atlanta band’s popularity.

02.12.10 - Van Dyke Parks - Café du Nord

Best known for being Brian Wilson’s writing partner during the ‘60s, Van Dyke Parks released Song Cycle in 1968 and has since been searching for a way to surpass it. During the intervening forty years, he’s worked with everyone from the Mighty Sparrow to U2 and the Byrds. And while he hasn’t released a disc since the end of the ‘90s, Parks’ involvement in pop music deserves the same sort of deference as his one time writing partner.

02.14.10 – the Damned – Slim’s

Releasing England’s first independent punk single in ’76, the Damned should have been the face of British punk. And while the group has always had an international audience, it’s never been as popular as the Clash or the Sex Pistols. Despite possessing one of the truly great punk guitarists in the personage of Brian James, the Damned faltered during the ‘80s before being properly reconstituted during the ‘90s.

02.20.10 - Peter Rowan – Slim’s

Performing alongside Jerry Garcia in Old and in the Way as well as David Grisman while doing time in Muleskinner and Bill Monroe, who arguably created the bluegrass genre during the ‘40s, Peter Rowan never achieved the same sort of wide spread fame as his cohort. His moving through traditional sounds and into experimental combinations of bluegrass and reggae ingratiated Rowan to the stoner crowd and resulted in the guitarist working at a few Bonnaroos.

02.21.10 - Jorma Kaukonen - Great American Music Hall

As representational of San Francisco during the ‘60s Kaukonen’s Jefferson Airplane crafted some of the best known psych hits of the day. And regardless of the group’s subsequent dissolution and the guitarist’s formation of Hot Tuna, he soon high tailed it to South Eastern Ohio where he founded the Fur Peace Ranch. His homestead functions as a concert venue for Ohio University students down the road in Athens, but also as place to hold workshops with some of today’s best known blues players.

02.21.10 – Medeski, Martin & Wood – The Fillmore

Beginning as a group tied as much to Thelonious Monk as it was related to the Downtown jazz scene, MMW eventually embraced the patchouli tendencies of its improvisation and set out on a hippie odyssey that afforded the trio international success. Of late, though, MMW has recast itself as something of an experimental act releasing the three volumes of Radiolarian on its own imprint. The development and eventual refinement of its improvisational skills make MMW one of the most interesting, misunderstood and exciting acts currently touring.