Thursday night specials are always sweet, and we’ve got the scoop on a new Ladies Night at The Empty Glass in Charleston. Huntington’s Jeff Ellis comes to town Thursday night to help the Glass celebrate femininity with no cover for the ladies. Show up around 10 p.m., and as long as you can prove yer a lady (a relative term, sure) yer in scot free. P.S. Ellis competes Saturday night over at the Cultural Center theater in the state Capitol Complex in the international finals of the 2008 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest – check it out here. We hear it’ll be a fine concert.

FRI 10.10

Charleston’s honky tonk trio Buckstone travels to Huntington for a show at The V Club (641 7^th Ave.) with the Davisson Brothers. Up in Morgantown, Larry Keel brings his flatpicking mastery to 123 Pleasant Street with his backing band Natural Bridge; cover is $10 in advance, $12 at the door. One Hundred Hurricanes joins Ripley’s Dog Soldier and San Francisco indie rockers LoveLikeFire (one word) at Club Octane (formerly Fuel) on Walnut St. in Magic Town; show starts at 10 p.m., cover is $5.

SAT 10.11

The number one country western vampire troubadour known as Unknown Hinson comes to The V Club in Huntington Saturday night. If you’ve missed him at any of his recent stops in Charleston, make it to this one out there. 10 p.m., bring gold.

Buckstone returns to town for a show at the Glass Saturday. See if they have any copies of their recent CD, which we’d recommend. Up in Morgantown, Sandra Black (Magic Town indie) plays 123 Pleasant St. with Lake and Ocean and True Colour of Blood. Yes, they spell color with a “U” like the Brits do. 10 p.m., cash money.

SUN 10.12

There’s a special punk rock show at Club Echo (1318 4^th Ave.) in Huntington Sunday night, with Huntington’s awesome punk rock four-piece Sarasota joining Huntington’s Down Goes Frazier and Keyton.

FRI 9/19
Out in Huntington, there’s a cool show at Club Echo (1318 4th Ave.) with former Misfits frontman Michale Graves, Charleston punk band The Concept, Portsmouth, Ohio psychobilly act The Baskervilles, and Divinity of Afflictions. You may have read Bill Lynch’s article on Graves in a recent Gazz article a few months back; if you missed that show, get to this one. Cover is ten bucks from what we hear.

Let’s say you’re like us and totally dig reggae, dub, or anything like that. Well, get to The Empty Glass in Charleston (410 Elizabeth St.) Friday night for Shayar and Krooshal Force. If you missed ‘em recently at The Glass’ picnic series at Coonskin Park, now’s yer chance. They come through town every now and then and if you’re looking for an excuse to lively up yourself, get yer butts to Charleston’s historic East End around 10 p.m.

Up in Morgantown there’s a cool roots rock show with the Charlottesville, Virginia-based Hackensaw Boys and Wheeling’s Trainjumpers playing 123 Pleasant Street. The cover is $12, which isn’t bad. Morgantown rocks, it seems.

SAT 9/20
Is the Glass the coolest bar in Charleston? On Saturday night, the answer is yes. Three of our favorite area bands converge on the East End’s historic venue for a night of madness fueled by your favorite legal beverages. The Dig-Its (Huntington punk), The Big Bad (Charleston horror punk) and the newly revamped Heptanes (Charleston psychobilly) round out a lineup that scores high on our scientific punk rock show meter.

The Blue Parrot (14.5 Capitol St.) in Charleston has Ten Carp Lie (Charleston alt-rock) and Civil State, a relatively new five-piece rock outfit from Charleston Saturday night. Baltimore’s five-piece funk rock All-Mighty Senators come to Morgantown to play 123 Pleasant St. Saturday; cover for that one is $12.

SUN 9.21

Huntington keeps the sabbath waaay more punk than you Sunday night, starting at the new Shamrock’s Irish Pub (formerly Marley’s Doghouse; 2050 3rd Ave.), as The Concept, New Clear Future (Ravenswood thrash), and Huntington three-piece Crash Notice join Boston-based punk band Ashers for a really cool show. 9 p.m., 18-and-up, cost is just $5.

At The V Club in Huntington Sunday, some of our favorite punk bands will play the second Punk Rock BBQ, including Sarasota, The Dig-Its, The Big Bad, and The Bible Beaters start rocking around 6 p.m. While these aren’t really established, big name type bands, at least you get food, which is always good in this economy. The V Club is located at 741 6th Avenue in Huntington, get there early in the evening, like 7 p.m. or something, be 18 or older, and the cover from what we hear is $6.

Part of our mission statement for the Weekend Watch series is to clue area readers into cool Thursday night rock shows. You’re checking out The Gazz (dead-tree version or the www kind) wondering if there’s any cool shows tonight (Thursday) and the answer is a big 10-4! And yes, we hated the new X-Files movie. Read on… (more…)

On the agenda Saturday night was the new X-Files movie, followed by a swing by of The Empty Glass in Charleston to catch Huntington’s Black Knots and The Big Bad. The movie sucked, but the bands rocked. The night started out with us catching the 9:40 p.m. X-Files at Park Place Cinemas or whatever it’s called now (check thegazz.com’s blue homepage MovieFinder to find out). The movie basically had nothing cool in it. That’s all I’ll say about it cuz this ain’t no movie review blog.

After getting out of there around midnight we swung through the drive-through at Wendy’s on Charleston’s historic East End. Why am I telling you all this? It’s because — after seeing the Knots, all the buildup and wait was worth it. Just like reading this post. (more…)