Busy weekend of music - Saturday & Sunday picks

Continuing with a strong weekend of music around town ....

Saturday
A good excuse to drop by Music Millennium today is that Lloyd Jones will be doing an in-store performance to promote his new CD, Highway Bound .... starts at 2:30 pm

Early music choices include the Portland Playboys at the Secret Society, Level 2 at Mississippi Pizza, and David Ornette Cherry at the Jade Lounge ... all at 6 pm.  Beginning at 7 pm, Scott McCaughey finishes a five day run at Al's Den in the new Crystal Hotel ...

For later evening music ...
The 100th birthday of the iconic bluesman Robert Johnson will be celebrated at the Alberta Rose Theatre with a host of Portland notables including Curtis Salgado, Joe McMurrian, Mary Flower, Paris Slim, Little Sue, Terry Robb, and Bob Shoemaker.  Should be a pretty deep evening of interpretations of Johnson's tunes .... 8 pm, $20

Wanda Jackson, one of the pioneers of rockabilly, will be at the Roseland Theater. She has a new CD, The Party Ain't Over, produced by Jack White ... a classic who can still bring it. .... 8 pm, $25.

Rob Stroup & The Blame and Naomi Hooley will be at Biddy McGraw's ... 9 pm, no cover

Tie your dancing shoes tight to jump, jive, and swing with The Sportin' Lifers at Duff's ... 9:30 pm, $??

The Alan Jones Sextet will be at Jimmy Mak's with a couple sets of adventurous post-bop jazz  ... 8 pm, $10

The Jade Lounge has the Gypsy cabaret sounds of Padam Padam ... 8 pm, $5

It's time to be up on the goodfoot at The Goodfoot's 4th annual All-Star Tribute to James Brown ... 9 pm, $10

Lost in the 80's? ... then you should head to the Aladdin for The Psychedelic Furs ... 8 pm, $30

Sunday
Steve Earle has a released a really fine new T-Bone Burnett-produced CD, I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive, and is doing an in-store appearance at Music Millennium this afternoon at 3 pm ... advance purchase of CD guarantees admission. Steve and his band, The Dukes (along with wife, Allison Moorer), will be appearing on June 10th at the Crystal Ballroom. Cool solo "Tiny Desk" performance here from NPR.

What sounds like a very cool show at The Portland Playhouse tonight is Fernando and the Parson Red Heads doing a very "unplugged" performance ... as in using no PA at all ... relying on a quiet space and hushed audience to weave some acoustic magic .... 8 pm, $7

... and, two indie folk-pop darlings, Thao and Mirah, team up for a CD, tour, and a stop at the Wonder Ballroom tonight ... 9 pm, $15