Thanksgiving Eve To-Dos: Big Silver/Jim Mize, Wild Turkey Wigout and Rodney Block
BIG SILVER / JIM MIZE
9 p.m., White Water Tavern. $5.
Roots pop-rockers Big Silver have been holed up for ages having babies, playing in other bands and recording a new album. That record, Tributary, is set to come out sometime in the not too distant future on Max Recordings, so now the dudes are starting to step out to brush the cobwebs off their Stratocasters. So: Look for new songs tonight. Plus, one Rock Candy's favorite gravelly-voiced singer/songwriters, Jim Mize, is on the bill, too. Really, even though he's definitely a singer/songwriter, with a voice as battered and broke down and affecting as you'll hear and with literate, plainspoken lyrics, that's almost too precious of a description for him. Jim Mize is something more visceral: a thunderstorm, a starless night, the burn after a whiskey shot.
TURKEY WIGOUT
9:30 p.m., Sticky Fingerz. $5.
For the eighth year in a row, Sticky Fingerz and Wild Turkey team up to present the “Turkey Wigout,” a night-before-Thanksgiving getdown with lots of prize giveaways, a frozen turkey dinner, Wild Turkey (of course) and three fine indie-rock bands. Former VHS or Beta guitarist Zeke Buck leads People Noise, a Louisville-based indie rock act that recalls the spindly guitar workouts of Smashing Pumpkins and the feedback-laden shoegaze of My Bloody Valentine. Local indie-rock band Big Boots rose from the ashes of Sugar and the Raw. The new act follows in the footsteps of its forebear with ambitious arrangements, though with a sharp, pop-rock sensibility rather than the alt-country SATR dabbled in during its later years. Mason Maudlin's big, mournful voice leads the way. Mammoth Orange is a group of young North Little Rockers, several of whom played in the popular band Tin Fire Radio. They play moody, experimental instrumental rock.
RODNEY BLOCK
9 p.m., Afterthought. $7.
Rodney Block is smooth. Even with all the forceful breath needed to play the trumpet, he always manages to look cool and collected when he's blowing his horn. Which is even more impressive since his tone is probably unmatched in Central Arkansas. Block usually gets pegged as a jazz artist, but you'll also hear traces of hip-hop, bebop, funk, soul and gospel in his music. The native Arkansan honed his talent in Kansas City, playing in most of the city's premier venues, before returning to Arkansas several years back. Block gigs regularly, but often for private events and benefits. This Thanksgiving eve performance will be a rare chance to see him in a cozy, intimate space away from the brouhaha of socialites mingling.
