Several area nightspots have St. Patrick’s Day (Thursday, March 17) revelry scheduled.
Juanita’s Cantina Ballroom goes indie, offering an all-ages show with Ohio-based breakout band Lovedrug. Michael Shepard, David Owen, Matthew Depper and Matthew Putman are four “thinking man” rockers who have been compared to the moody musicians of Spiritualized and Sunny Day Estate. Their debut album, “Pretend You’re Alive,” debuted late last year at No. 4 on Billboard’s Internet rock chart. Opening at 9 p.m. will be Heber Springs band Grand Serenade and local act American Tourist. Admission is $7.
There are a couple more Irish acts booked to get your jig on: Lark in the Morning and Hell’s Kitchen.
Lark is playing at the Afterthought on Thursday. If you haven’t heard them, you’re in for an Irish-flavored treat with traditional Celtic instruments like fiddles, bagpipes, dulcimers and such starting around 8 p.m. Admission is $5.
Hell’s Kitchen, Arkansas’s only Irish punk, rock and ’grass quintet, claims its appearance Thursday at Sticky Fingerz will be the band’s last public show. Admission is $5.
And while he’s not Irish or even Irish-influenced, Lucious Spiller is certain to make you want to get up and dance. Spiller, who has been playing a variety of local spots lately, will appear Thursday at Cajun’s Wharf starting around 9 p.m. Admission is $5.
We don’t know how they’re getting there, but they are definitely going to the Bad Place: The nasty crew of Nashville Pussy, who are known to break the rules of social and sexual propriety (with glee), will be stopping at Little Rock on the backswing of their South by Southwest Conference show with an appearance at Sticky Fingerz Wednesday, March 23.
The band includes Blaine Cartwright (guitar/vocals), Ruyter Suys (lead guitar), Jeremy Thompson (drums) and bassist KatieLynn Campbell, who permanently replaced Nashville Pussy’s former fire-breathing Amazon Corey Parks a few years back. They combine ultra-energetic Southern hard rock with a fleshy, obscenity-enriched stage show.
To get an idea of what we’re talking about, their past CD titles include “Let Them Eat P*ssy,” “High as Hell” and “Say Something Nasty.” But they’re not complete social outlaws; in 1999 Nashville Pussy was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for “Fried Chicken and Coffee.”
As a side note, Parks went on to partner with former US Bombs vocalist Duane Peters to form Die Hunns, releasing “Long Legs” last year.
The Paybacks, a great Detroit-based rock band that we saw a couple of months back, will open at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $10.
They’re going to Hell in a flatbed truck and proud of it: Virginia-based Alabama Thunder Pussy plans on setting things ablaze on the Sabbath with its White Lightnin’-induced, down and dirty, distorted “truck stop rock” and stoner metal on Sunday, March 21, at Juanita’s.
ATP’s albums include “Rise Again,” “River City Revival,” “Constellation,” “Fulton Hill,” and “Staring at the Divine.” Local acts Rwake and RPG open the 18 and up show at 5:30 p.m. Admission is $7.
White Water Tavern on Monday, March 21, will host Mahjongg, an experimental polyrhythmic punk and funk quintet that mixes weird electronic sound blips with a ’70s funk and a danceable Latin feel. All members are multi-instrumentalists and they tag-team instruments in Chinese fire-drill style during their sets: swapping keyboards, violin, bass, drums, guitar and even cowbell. Mahjongg has two CDs, “Machinegong,” and “RaYDONcoNG,” which will officially be available the day after the group’s show here.
They’ll start around 10 p.m. and cover is $5.
Funky Java, in the Lakewood Village shopping center in North Little Rock, has recently expanded its menu to include live music with the joe on weekends. The coffee shop will offer local and regional singer/songwriters on some weekends starting at 9 p.m., usually with no cover charge.
Christian hard rock artist Benjamin Del Shreve performs a solo set on Friday, March 18. Upcoming at Funky Java: Jon Cook on Thursday, March 24; the Roasted Overtones on Friday, March 25, and Chris Loggins on Saturday, March 26.
Most shows have no cover charge and are non-smoking and alcohol-free. For more information, call 753-9695.

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