Philadelphia Weekly

Grant-Lee Phillips plays Philly this week.

Wednesday November 18

Guy Fieri Road Show
Headbanging and acid reflux disease collide as Guy Fieri brings his traveling Road Show to the Merriam Theater. The host of Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives combines his love for greasy spoon cuisine and juke box rock for a live performance that will leave your ears ringing and colon twisting for weeks. As an appetizer, Aussie bartender Hayden “Woody” Wood will demo some high octane cocktails. Then, with the help of local food icon Tony Luke Jr., Fieri will serve up signature cheesesteaks and a cover of Skip Denenberg’s “Cheesesteak Song.” More flame-boiled favorites from Fieri’s cookbooks and some raunchy road stories round out the set list. So, button up your favorite tribal pattern bowling shirt, pop a Zantac, assume the swagger of a 311 roadie, and head for the mosh pit. Extra hungry? Grab a premium stage seat and catch some sizzling scraps. P.F.M.
7:30pm. $37-$250. Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St. 215.893.1999. kimmelcenter.org

The Emotron
In his biggest YouTube hit, the Emotron, a.k.a. Jason Kyle Knight, ogles the naked porn girls of 2 Girls 1 Cup, eventually becoming so worked up that he spews Yoo-hoo soda all over the keyboard. (The Yoo-hoo upchuck is apparently a signature move, and figures in several of Emotron’s videos.) His live show—which may include costumes, nakedness, obscenity, sex acts and a variety of body fluids—is similarly bizarre and offputting, drawing as much from Atom & His Package’s synth-punk-comedy as from GG Allin’s shock and eew. Not for the squeamish. Jennifer Kelly
8pm. $5. With Mose Giganticus, the Tanks. Tenderhooks + Mancruel. Danger Danger Gallery. 5013 Baltimore Avenue. www.myspace.com/dangerdangergallery

Laura Viers
The natural world is often the star of Pacific Northwest singer-songwriter (and one-time geology major) Laura Veirs’ music—birds and eels and oceans and cliffs and caves and constellations tumble together in surreal lyrics that actually speak to love, loss, and life’s mysteries if you stop to consider them. Veirs’ imagery is as captivating as her husky, cloudy voice and her sophisticated arrangements, which sometimes get alt-folky with acoustic guitar, banjo, piano and violin, and other times go pop in a ’70s Laurel Canyon kinda way while making room for jazz-tinged grooves and dabs of electronics. Veirs and band come to town with a whole new batch of arresting melodies courtesy of her new album July Flame, due in January. Michael Alan Goldberg
7:30pm. $18-$25. With Blind Pilot. World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St. 215.222.1400. worldcafelive.com

Dance Movie Double Feature
Let the old debate be again revived: Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly? Graceful and charming or energetic and forthright? Airy talk-singing or husky sorta-singing? Obvious hairpiece or probably-no-hairpiece? Unless you’re David Thomson, who wrote Kelly off as “cold and aggressive,” the answer isn’t easy. Alas, even choosing the better film in I-House’s “Dance With Camera: Astaire or Kelly” isn’t much easier. Top Hat is debatably the finest Fred and Ginger (Rogers, natch) outing—a peerlessly light, Art Deco-infused extravaganza in which the famed “Cheek to Cheek” is only the second least-awesome number. (It’s all about “No Strings.”) Meanwhile, the second least-awesome bit in Singin’ in the Rain—recently outed as Betty Draper’s favorite film—is that iconic title song, which almost feels  like an afterthought coming after the couch-hurdling “Good Morning.” Claws out, hoofing enthusiasts.  Matt Prigge
7pm. $5-$8. International House, 3701 Chestnut St. 215.387.5125. ihousephilly.org

Thursday November 19

Langhorne Slim
Folksy, fedora-wearing Langhorne Slim puts a slight twist on the troubadour tradition, mostly sticking to gentle folk picking but occasionally breaking into a reedy, punk-infused shout. Whether that’s enough to set him apart from hoards of Dylan-Guthrie-Seeger wannabes is open to argument. His latest album, Be Set Free, set off a debate in Paste Magazine with one reviewer calling it a modern day Tea for the Tillerman and another “mediocre, and sometimes painfully inept.” This latter gibe, though, is how some people feel about Paste itself, so why not give Slim the benefit of the doubt? J.K.
9pm. $12. With Dawes. Johnny Brenda’s. 1201 N. Frankford. 215.739.9684. johnnybrendas.com

Friday November 20

The Watson Twins
Once flanking Jenny Lewis on her solo debut, the ever-fetching Watson Twins proved their knack for coy pop and breezy soul on 2006’s Southern Manners and last year’s Fire Songs. Signing to Vanguard should give a sense of their old-soul sound, and Chandra and Leigh will return in early February with Talking To You, Talking To Me, their third album since leaving Lewis’ wing. Really, it’s probably just a matter of time before they re-team with Lewis and a few other friends in a female version of Monsters of Folk. Then the two supergroups can tour together and clamber on stage as one big family-band-style revue. Doug Wallen
7pm. $16-$18. With Joshua Radin + the Kin. Trocadero, 1003 Arch St., 215.922.5483. thetroc.com.

Hamiet Bluiett & Kahil El’Zabar
When he gets going, baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett could probably take down a house with his gutsy, barrel-chested sound. A cofounder of the World Saxophone Quartet and the St. Louis-based Black Artists Group, he’s played a major role in avant-garde jazz from the ’60s on, working with everyone from Mingus to Marvin Gaye and exploring African-American music in all its connectedness. Percussionist Kahil El’Zabar, a bit younger, chaired the influential Chicago-based Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in the early ’70s. He continues to front the Ritual Trio, Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and Infinity Orchestra, and it’s his very adaptability that should make this duo parley with Bluiett come alive. David R. Adler
8pm. $12. Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th St. 215.545.4302. arsnovaworkshop.org

Saturday November 21

Giovanni’s Room Read-a-thon
Although tested by the evil triumvirate of Wal-Mart, the Kindle and the recession, Giovanni’s Room is still standing strong—but not quite as strong as it used to. The bookstore is among the oldest and biggest of its kind in America, and it’s starting to show: A weakening in the historic building’s front wall costs roughly $50,000 to fix. But the embattled bookseller is rising to the challenge with a slew of fundraising events, including the upcoming Read-A-Thon, half of whose proceeds also go to the Lambda Literary Foundation. Twenty authors, from comedian Bob Smith, to lesbian literature heavyweight Radclyffe, will give readings in different sections of the store.  Ultimately, owner Ed Hermance expects that the community will be what saves Giovanni’s Room from the fate of peers like Robin’s Books. “Many have said that coming to this threshold was a turning point in their lives,” says Hermance. “Our customers just feel like this is home.” Gerald Johnson
7pm. Suggested donation: $20. Giovanni’s Room, 345 S. 12th St. 215.923.2960. giovannisroom.com.

Grant-Lee Phillips
Once the frontman of raucous ’90s roots-rock combo Grant Lee Buffalo, singer-guitarist Grant-Lee Phillips has quietly forged a solid and occasionally pretty thrilling solo career over the past decade in which he’s refined his love of Neil Young and classic country music into a more elegant and evocative folk-pop sound. Now in his mid-’40s and having recently become a father for the first time, Phillips has certainly mellowed, but fortunately he hasn’t gotten boring (like Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, to whom Phillips is often compared). The strings-kissed ballads and brisker tunes on Phillips’ lush, upbeat new Little Moon range from tender (but not cloying) to urgent (but not desperate), and his smoky croon only gets better with age. M.A.G.
7:30pm. $22-$34. With Winterpills. World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St. 215.222.1400. worldcafelive.com

DJ Too Tuff Benefit
When word of incarcerated local gangsta rapper DJ Too Tuff’s battle with thyroid cancer hit the streets in September, the hip-hop community reached out to help. Beat Garden Entertainment’s Octavius “Big O” Mitchell hosts a benefit concert in his honor to help him with his rising legal and medical bills. Local acts show some love for Too Tuff and the Tuff Crew with performances from B. Kane, Clean Guns, L. Allen, Sick Six, Rockie Reyes, Triple Nickels, Poynt Blank and many more, as well as special appearances from H3O and Too Tuff’s childhood friend MC Mechanism. In the meantime, the troubled star is standing trial for aggravated assault charges. Hopefully, the judge will show some love too. Sherri Hospedales
10pm. $10. Tacony Billiards, 6201 Keystone St. 215.338.4733. beatgardensite.com

Sunday November 22

Melt-Banana
Melt-Banana have been known to cram as many as a dozen songs into a minute or two, their explosions of pick-blurring, chipmunk-singing punk frenzy measured in seconds and punctuated by polite “thank yous” at every break. One of Japan’s best noise punk outfits, Melt-Banana have been shrieking and spazzing since the early 1990s, layering abstract guitar sound over speed-freaked, subversively melodic punk choruses. If you’re not paying attention, you may not even recognize their crazy covers—a cartoon-voiced jitter over Toots & the Maytals “Monkey Man,” a super-fast romp through Queen’s “We Will Rock You”—but there’s no mistaking the electro-shock energy in this trio’s live set. J.K.
7:30pm. $12. With Satanized. First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St. 866.468.7169. r5productions.com

Precious Places
Philadelphia is littered with plaques commemorating important placeswhere revolutionaries once scratched their powdered brows. We call them landmarks and sell quill pens in the adjacent gift shops. But what about the storied places where Edgar Allen Poe didn’t brush his teeth? The shared corner gardens, the murals of jazz musicians, the playgrounds? The watering holes where we do much of our living and dying? These are the unprotected places that all too often disappear, replaced by pharmacies or apartment complexes. The Precious Places Community History Project provides regular Philadelphians with cameras and lighting kits and offers them a chance to document their neighborhood landmarks. The Scribe video center sponsors a free presentation of the films produced by nine local teams. Not every monument warrants a plaque, but their stories ought to be told. P.F.M.
2pm. Free. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 118 N. Broad St. 215.972.7600. pafa.org

Monday November 23

Heavy Trash
Having plundered the blues last decade (Blues Explosion, Boss Hog) and punk the one before that (Pussy Galore), Jon Spencer has since turned his attention to rockabilly and early garage. Heavy Trash is his duo with Matt Verta-Ray (Speedball Baby), but it’s no hackneyed guitar-drums affair. Both wield axes, and live there’s an upright bassist and drummer. That said, it’s a rollicking, barebones setup, as heard on three albums thus far. Spencer’s exaggerated vocals and bawdy allusions are of course the focus, but there’s an unmistakable reverence to tunes like the “Chapel Of Love”-inspired “Gee I Really Love You.” A novelty, maybe, but with grit and chops to spare. D.W.
8pm. $8. With Jukebox Zeros + Delco Nightingale. Kung Fu Necktie, 1248 N. Front St. 215.291.4919. kungfunecktie.com.

Tuesday November 24

Devendra Banhart
First things first: Devendra Banhart finally hacked off the giant beard, so he doesn’t look so much like a member of the Manson family anymore, and now he’ll have to find a more conventional place (like his pockets) to stash the drugs and crystals and Vegenaise and drawings of bizarre owl-men he almost certainly sketches while waiting for his appointment with the medicine man. Maybe the clean-shaven look coincides with Banhart’s leap to Warner Brothers for his new What Will We Be, though to my knowledge the label hasn’t instituted a Steinbrenner-like ban on facial hair. Dude’s tunes are a bit more groomed these days too, though he still kinda sounds like Cat Stevens on a psych-tropicalia head trip. M.A.G.
8pm. $25. With Luke Rathborne. Electric Factory, 421 N. Seventh St. 215.627.1332.livenation.com