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Grieves and Budo with special guest Krukid »

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• Canopy Club »
  708 S. Goodwin Ave. Urbana, IL 61801
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Music Among the Vines/Blues & BBQ Festival presents Candy Foster and the Shades of Blue »

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• Alto Vineyards »
  4210 N. Duncan Road Champaign, IL 61820
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The Surfabilly Freakout presents The Creepshow featuring Vvvvv! and The Brains »

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• Highdive »
  51 Main St. Champaign, IL 61820
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New Ruins , Ohtis , Santa »

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• Bentley's Pub »
  419 N. Neil St. Champaign, IL 61820
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It seems that we’ll see the return of the house party this Friday, though I’m not sure where it is supposed to have been. The lovely folks at Smile Politely (dot com) will host a rock show at 610 W. Hill St. in Champaign. The event is all-ages, starting at 7 p.m., and BYOB (with IDs being checked). It is also free, which makes it pretty awesome even before finding out about the bands playing. Brooding rockers with a fantastic new album New Ruins are set to headline the event, sharing the house’s space with Common Loon (who are sitting on an outstanding new record of their own), Tractor Kings, Casados, John Hoeffleur (formerly of the Beauty Shop and currently of the usually mispronounced last name) and Jorge and Thee S-Words (a fairly new addition to the local scene). House parties can be great for meeting other music fans and seeing bands in an extremely intimate setting, so grab a six-er or a coffee and stop by.

Former local hip-hopper Krukid is making a pit stop in Urbana on Friday to open up for the Grieves with Budo show at the Canopy Club (7 p.m., $8). Stop in and see what kind of new material he’s coming up with out in Las Vegas. You can also find him Saturday night at Cowboy Monkey with DJ LEGTWO and DJ Limbs. It’ll be nice to have him back in town, even if only for two nights.

As the hours pass, Friday offers even more great stuff. Mike ’n’ Molly’s will roll out the beer garden setup for an 8:30 p.m. show from Vvvvv! (now even more exciting with the addition of an exclamation point, which hopefully won’t lead people to think that they’re of the same ilk as most of those lame, flash-in-the-pan indie bands who can’t stay away from the exclamation point). Fire Dog and Elevenfold will also play, and there will be a cover, it just seems that no one knows what it will be.

Still dwelling on Friday, Bentley’s is set to offer fantastic blues from the Impalas. Dawna Nelson is apparently something akin to the house vocalist at Bentley’s, with at least three groups playing there regularly. This time around, the Impalas will feature Ian Shepherd on the drums. Ian is an Indianapolis resident now, but during his stint in CU, he was a part of groups such as Temple of Low Men, G. Lee and Jet Blonde, Funky Butt Drum Club and many others, and he carved out a reputation for being one of the best and most versatile drummers around. You can search him on the Internet and find lots of great drum videos. He can’t seem to keep himself away from CU, though, and makes regular trips back to grace crowds with his chops (he was the guy back behind the drums as “the Gimp” during Curb Service’s Pulp Fiction soundtrack set at this year’s Great Cover-Up). Head on over to Bentley’s Friday to see if he’s still wearing all that leather. It’ll cost you three bucks, and the downbeat is at 8:30 p.m.

Lots of artists will band together Saturday at Mike ’n’ Molly’s to help raise money for a new, permanent tower for WRFU 104.5 in Urbana. The station’s current tower is temporary and about to go away, so the plan is to raise enough money to buy a brand new one, and this show is one of the big parts of the plan. The Duke of Uke, John Hoeffleur, Jack Pine Savage, Cody Sokolski, Eleni Moraites, Tree Thump and many more will contribute time and (hopefully) fans to the cause. More info can be found at http://www.myspace.com/whatmattersbenefit. WRFU is a community radio station that is always looking for volunteers of all kinds, so check it out.

Bentley’s gets a little crazy Saturday night with three bands for four bucks. How will they fit? Well, it’ll be interesting to watch, I’m sure. Santa is set to open at 10 p.m., followed by excellent Bloomington-Normal band Ohtis, with New Ruins in the anchor position. More indie rock than you can shake your fist at!

Saturday is a big day for one local musician in particular, as Elsinore drummer Dave Pride will get married. Congratulations to Dave and Kelly. Good luck in married life.

Having finally made it over to the Rose Bowl last Sunday to catch the Surreal Deal, I have to once again highly recommend checking them out. The band is comprised of guys who have all pretty much mastered their instruments, which means some pretty epic jams happening up there. They closed the set last week with the long version of “Layla,” which truly melted faces. The Rose Bowl is such a cool and different place to hang out for a night. I don’t think there’s any other place in CU like it. The Surreal Deal plays from 9 p.m. to midnight, and there is no cover.

Mike Ingram can be reached at forgottenwords@gmail.com.