thursday24
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy House of Blues, 9 PM
Marcus Intalex, Casper Smart Bar, 10 PM
friday25
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cDAN DEACON & JIMMY JOE ROCHE Nerd-riot instigator Dan Deacon has been fingered as the hot thing out of Baltimore, and he’s trying to drag all the current and former members of the Wham City collective—the scene that birthed him—into the spotlight too. If he can pull that off, he’s likely to end up as more than this year’s Paul Barman. For instance, he’s done his most interesting work with a filmmaker, Wham City’s Jimmy Joe Roche. Roche might be the collective’s best hope for a legitimate art legacy: on Ultimate Reality (Carpark), a new DVD he made with Deacon, his video work puts a little weight behind the usual neon blast wave of 80s signifiers. To the accompaniment of his friend’s epic, hyperactive video-game music, he creates layers of saturated psychedelic colors in frenetic motion, editing together footage jacked from Arnold Schwarzenegger movies at such a blitzkrieg pace you’ll be hard pressed to recognize anything besides Conan the Barbarian. Hollywood-style action and terror dissolve into a dazzling muddle of jet fighters, giant snakes, helicopters, and guys on fire—it’s like a feel-bad thesis on American violence gone rave. During this screening drummers Kevin O’Meara of Video Hippos and Jeremy Hyman of Ponytail will play along with Deacon’s soundtrack. Deacon will do his own set before the film, and Jason Ajemian opens with a solo performance. Deacon also opens both sold-out Girl Talk shows Saturday at Metro. 9 PM, Lakeshore Theater, 3175 N. Broadway, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $8. —Jessica Hopper
TODD RUNDGREN Todd Rundgren is a cult hero but not just for his work as a singer-songwriter. As a producer for everyone from Patti Smith and the New York Dolls to Meat Loaf and Hall and Oates, he helped shape the sound of the 70s and 80s. Ever the techno geek, he was among the first artists to develop a serious and sophisticated presence on the Web back in the 90s, and in 2006 he went before a Senate committee to argue against a digital rights act that would restrict the recording of webcasts. His testimony wasn’t as sexy as Frank Zappa’s snarky attack on Tipper Gore in ’85, but like a lot of his old hits, it was earnest and well crafted. This is Rundgren’s first solo tour since his outing with the, ahem, New Cars. He’ll play a second show at the same venue next Thursday, January 31, for which tickets are still available. 8 PM, Park West, 322 W. Armitage, 773-929-5959, sold out. —Monica Kendrick
The Changes, Bronze Double Door, 9 PM
