WEDNESDAY-SATURDAY • 28-31
GROWING PRETTY
BILDUNGSROMAN
As a 12-year-old girl, all Lucy wants is to hit the catwalks and strike a pose — but once introduced to a photographer named Jack, her interest quickly migrates to the other side of the lens. Growing Pretty, a play written by Michigan native Carey Crim, is a 19-year narrative of Lucy's life, and her ever-changing relationship with the aforementioned Jack. At 15, she falls in love with him, though he rejects her advances and hooks up with her mother instead. He does, however, give Lucy a camera, an object that becomes the inspiration for her life's work. And when they meet again, seven years later in New York ... what follows? The sighs and moans (trials and tribulations) of adulthood. At the Purple Rose Theatre, 137 Park St., Chelsea; 734-433-7673 for info. Tickets $25-$38.
THURSDAY-SATURDAY • 29-31
GREAT DETROIT HAMMOND B3 ORGAN FESTIVAL
GOTTA GET ORGANIZED
It's been a little more than half a century since a previously unknown Jimmy Smith rocked the music world on the previously unheard Hammond B3. The instrument roared and soared; it had funk and finesse; it bopped and rocked. No one knows the local Hammond masters like drummer Dr. Leonard King. With organist Lyman Woodard, he established the Lyman Woodard Organization as a quintessential Detroit band in the '70s and '80s. More recently, he's played with younger B3 wizards Chris Codish (in Oopapada) and Gerard Gibbs (in James Carter's organ trio). For what's hopefully a tradition in the making, King's organized a fest with all three. He's with Gibbs on Thursday, with Oopapada on Friday and with Woodard on Saturday. The Saturday gig includes Woodard Organization guitarist Ron English on guitar plus horns. At 9:30 p.m. on all three nights at Cliff Bell's, 2030 Park Ave., Detroit; 313-961-2543.
FRIDAY • 30
KIDS IN THE HALL
GRAMPS IN THE HALL?
They're the ugliest, nastiest, girl-drink-drunkingest thing to come from Canada since Neil Young. Our favorite five-man improv troupe emerges from the Pit of Ultimate Darkness (aka Kevin McDonald's film career) older, flabbier and with more difficulty concealing their body hair in women's clothing. There's no guarantee the show will open with Shadowy Men from a Shadowy Planet's theme music, but start humming their infamous surf punk melody, and everyone around you will hum along until it drives Bruce McCulloch into a screaming rage. Don't blame McCulloch, he's still looking for his pen. Joining McDonald and McCulloch are, of course, Dave Foley, Mark McKinney and Scott Thompson at 6:30 and 10 p.m. at the Royal Oak Music Theatre. 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; 248-399-2980; tickets $39.50 and $49.50.
FRIDAY • 30
NICK STRANGE DUO
FIONA APPLETINIS?
Jessica Oberholtzer has a lounge singer's voice — there's a soulful intensity that recalls the likes of Fiona Apple or, if we're being generous, Billie Holiday. Joined by guitarist and singer Dan Orcutt, the folky duo plays an easy melding of alt-country, jazz and calypso. Indeed, Nick Strange's ear-candy is perfect when paired with an appletini and a cute date. From 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Goodnight Gracie's, 301 W. Huron, Ann Arbor; 734-752-5740.
SUNDAY • 1
ISLANDS
BOP BOP BOP
Another saccharine-sweet, infectiously poppy indie rock band. Not that this is a bad thing. Following the breakup of the imaginative, impressive band the Unicorns (take a listen to 2003's Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?), members Nick "Niel" Diamonds and Jaime T'ambour reformed as Islands, with a newfound penchant for neo-psychedelia. Playing with AWOL One and Sister Suvi at 8 p.m. at the Crofoot, 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac; 248-858-9333; $10.
SUNDAY • 1
THE BREEDERS
DIVINE HAMMER
Done with her Pixies nostalgia tour for now, Kim Deal reunites with her sister Kelly in a reformed (chemically and musically) version of the Breeders. Sober, productive, recording and touring? Surely you can't be talking about the Deal sisters! Deal, Deal and the non-Deals come to town in promotion of Mountain Battles, the new album that many critics hail as their best since 1990's Pod. It's going to be big, maybe even "Gigantic." At The Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-7665; tickets $18; doors at 8 p.m.
MONDAY • 2
MUDHONEY
MUD-CRUTCH
Mudhoney's wicked guitar sound is enough to amplify and satisfy the angsty pee-pants, and their hard-hitting drums will be enough for any seasoned headbanger. On the Seattle grunge scene long before Nirvana, Mudhoney has re-emerged with their eighth album, The Lucky Ones. Their gee-rage rock has been innovating and inspiring other "Rain City" bands for more than 20 years. After years of label-hopping, it's understandable that such lyrics as "The past made no sense, but the future tense," appears on their new record. With special guests, the terminally great Easy Action at The Crofoot, 1 S. Saginaw. Pontiac; 248-858-9333; $15.
TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY • 3, 4
STONE TEMPLE PILOTS
STANDARD TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE ... ERR ... NO ...
Band splits and high school breakups are beginning to have something in common — they don't last. This time it's Stone Temple Pilots. Back together again, like it or not, with the original gang for the first time in nearly five years, STP has decided it's time to hug it out, bitch. After a split in 2003, heartbroken fans watched this thud-hook rock group say goodbye. Others cheered. Now, the STP guys are turning over a new leaf and truly dedicating themselves to the music, man. And, oh, yeah, a new album's soon to come. Hitting 65 cities across the nation and with Scott "don't-show-me-your-revolver" Weiland, the shows begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-961-5450.
ONGOING
THE BEST OF ME
THAT MOUSE LOOKS DELISH
Seasoned theatergoers know that when a playwright directs his own work, one must approach with caution. But with a talented cast of theater vets like Sean McGettigan, Molly McMahon and Amy Arena in the mix, a play is less likely to fall victim to an auteur's excesses. Lance Alan's esoteric play, The Best of Me, focuses on "Man" and "Woman," an eccentric, hermetic couple who — through their insistence to be entirely isolated from society — struggle for survival in their empty, boarded-up house. The play runs on Saturdays and Sundays through June 7 at the Zeitgeist, 2661 Michigan Ave., Detroit; 313-965-9192.
