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Weekend Picks: Urban music, enchanted parties and wakeboard rock
Friday: RJD2 at Emo’s. RJD2 a Philly-based DJ/producer/multi-instrumentalist has spent the bulk of his career on the underground hip-hop fringe knocking out solid releases since 2002. On his latest effort, the artist has branched out, applying his hip-hop sensibility to atmospheric indie pop material, augmenting MPC samples with guitars, pianos and his own voice. $15. —Deborah Sengupta Stith
Friday: Casting Crowns at the Erwin Center. Grammy and Dove award-winning Christian band Casting Crowns plays the Frank Erwin Center. The band is promoting their latest album, “The Altar and the Door.” $15-$75.
Friday-Saturday: Texas Relays side events. There are a mess of after parties, meet-ups and urban music events going on Friday and Saturday to celebrate Texas Relays weekend. This site has a good list. —-D.S.S.
Saturday: Urban Music Fest at Auditorium Shores. It’s year three for the concert on Auditorium Shores. Last year’s two-day event was hit by unseasonable weather (Day Two was postponed — and the makeup day went on under unfavorable skies, too). This year’s festival is one day, with gates opening at 11 a.m. and the music going until 10 p.m. On the lineup: headliner Jeffrey Osborne, comedian Hope Flood, Austin’s own Bavu Blakes, Philip Martin and Trey Songz, among others. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the gate. urbanmusicfest.com.
Saturday: The Roots at 40 Acres Fest. You’ve got to hand it to those crafty UT kids, as they tend to book killer headliners acts for their annual student-run extravaganza. This year it’s The Legendary Roots Crew, the group that set the standard for sample-free instrumental hip-hop back in 1993 and has been consistently cranking out stellar releases ever since. Occasional irritating keyboard solo aside, they’ve ripped every live performance I’ve ever seen. Free and open to the public. —-D.S.S.
Saturday: Questlove at the Whisky Bar. If the campus scene isn’t quite your speed, but you’d still like to catch a little Roots action, drop by the Whisky Bar later on in the evening for a special DJ set by the group’s drummer/music director Questlove. Hosted by Bavu Blakes and Pikahsso. $10. —-D.S.S.
Saturday: Enchanted Forest Dance Party with DJ Manny. If you’re bummed about missing last week’s sold-out Bassnectar show at Antone’s, you can catch a similar scene in the Enchanted Forest, an artsy South Austin hideaway, where individuality under the open stars is embraced and celebrated. DJ Manny will be dropping grooves and fire mistress Sage will bring the flames. The event is BYOB, but a $10 cover goes to “keeping the Enchanted Forest beautiful.” —-D.S.S.
Sunday: B.B. King at the Austin Music Hall. Finally, blues fans get the chance to complain about the acoustics and sightlines at the renovated Austin Music Hall, as 82-year-old living legend B.B. King takes to the stage with Lucille. Opening the show will be local soul belter Nakia and His Southern Cousins. Tickets are $56-$76 (this show is technically sold out). — Michael Corcoran
Sunday: ‘The Grind.’ at 18th Street and Congress Avenue It takes a whole lot of water to get the smell of boiling crawfish out of the parking lot at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Congress Avenue, where Swamp Thing happens the day before. Roadstar Productions follows up with ‘The Grind,’ featuring professional wake boarders in a 160-foot water tank, and such ‘alternative rock’ bands as EVE6, Mickey Avalon, Girl In a Coma, Fair To Midland and the Vanished. Festivities start at 11 a.m. Tickets are $9 general admission. — M.C.
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