This Valentine’s Day, get ready to fall in love all over again – with the Weekend Watch series courtesy of the Gazz. Forget about your lack of Internet access due to high winds (sorry, Rudy) and the seemingly impossible odds of you actually winning those tickets to see Bon Jovi via the Gazz, and get out to see some cool area rock bands in Charleston, Huntington, and maybe even Morgantown. Or bands from Morgantown.

Let’s say you’re in Charleston on Friday night and you have to pick a rock show for you and someone else to go to. You’ve got your dollar bills all ironed up and your teeth brushed, and now the pressure is on where to go to rock out. There are a couple of cool looking rock shows Friday we know of that would make choosing hard. But thanks to the Weekend Watch program, you’re good.

First, Bud Carroll and the Southern Souls come to town for a show at the Empty Glass. Whatever you call his style — Appalachian soul, neo-Apalachian blues — he rocks. You may have read a nice feature article on the former American Minor member in the Gazz recently. He and his Southern Souls (Jimmy Lykens, bass; Steve Barker, drums) have been steadily establishing themselves between here and Huntington, and their vibe would seem to be a perfect fit at the Glass (410 Elizabeth St., 345-9893). Show starts at 10 p.m.

Also Friday, a pretty cool Morgantown act comes to town for a weekend stint of shows at Sam’s Uptown Café. Joe Prichard, best known for his work in Morgantown’s The Recipe, comes to town with his Joe Prichard Band, which features Morgantown rock prodigy Billy Matheny. If you miss them Friday, they’ll do it again Saturday night. The more Morgantown acts that come to Charleston, the better, we say. Get Joe Manchin involved! Get to Sam’s, located at 28 Capitol Street, around 9 p.m. and bring money.

Let’s say you live in Huntington, and you’re jealous of the Charleston residents who got to go see Bud Carroll at the Glass Friday. You’ll have your chance Saturday night when he comes to Paradox Rift (2127 Manchester Ave.) for a show. Get there around 8 p.m. and cover is $5.

The crazy thing about this edition of WW is that our pick o’ the week is on a Sunday. The Dig-Its and Sarasota, Huntington punk bands each, are set to release new CDs on this night at the V Club in Huntington. If for some reason you missed the Dig-Its and their version of classic punk rock-n-roll at the Parrot recently, now’s your chance. The Concept (Charleston punk) joins the bill with a band that has to be my early nominee for Best Band Name 2008 — Amish Electric Chair. Hilarity. They’re a punk band from somewhere in Ohio. The V Club is located at 8^th St. and 6^th Avenue in Huntington. Be there by 8 p.m., and cover is $5.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.