From Middle Eastern Music to West Coast Acid Rock, Westside Venues Have It All This Week

By Tomm Carroll
Music Critic

Fri., Feb. 4 - Thurs., 10 -- It’s another top rankin’ week in clubland on the Westside with a wide array of live music to choose from. Here are the weeks’ best bets:

Friday
In a remarkable recording career that spans three and a half decades, Kenny Rankin has established an impressive set of credentials as an insightful songwriter, a distinctive guitarist, and, above all, a world-class singer possessing an uncanny ability to cut straight to a song's emotional heart.

Without doubt, it is the live stage that brings out the best that he has to offer, and it's been far too long since his unique interpretive talent has graced the Westside. But the wait is over. Rankin performs a solo show this evening at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica.

Friday
Incorporating the ancient mysticism of Middle Eastern music with the wizardry of modern technology, Iranian-born vocalist, composer and performance artist Sussan Deyhim creates a haunting, resonant and deeply moving fusion of East and West.

This versatile artist has lent her trademark vocal improvisations and lushly layered harmonies to Peter Gabriel’s score for The Last Temptation of Christ as well as to projects by Bill Laswell, Bobby McFerrin, Branford Marsalis, Mickey Hart and DJ Spooky. Her one-woman show Vocodeliks will take the audiences on a musical and visual odyssey across time tonight at UCLA’s Royce Hall on the Westwood Campus

Opening for Deyhim is former cellist for Bang on a Can, Maya Beiser, who has redefined her instrument with a repertoire that cuts across cultures and genres. Evocative, theatrical and spiritual, Beiser’s multimedia solo performance will feature the Los Angeles premiere of a Steve Reich multi-track cello piece, as well as new works by Osvaldo Golijov, David Lang and Louis Andriessen.

Saturday
Still need to work off those extra pounds you put on over the holidays? For fun and exercise, you can’t beat dancin’ up a calorie-reducing sweat to the great local heroes, Billy Vera and the Beaters, who make their first visit to Rusty’s Surf Ranch on the Santa Monica Pier this year to headline a swingin’ R&B show. The opening act is a band called The Famous Celebrities.

Saturday
From Colorado comes a totally unique musical experience. The Two High String Band is an exciting amalgam of a number of musical styles -- part Norman, part old-time string band, part folk, part bluegrass, part cowboy, part crazy. And the end result is a totally new music, featuring impeccable playing and singing often likened to the “dawg music” of David Grisman. You can hear them this evening at Culver City’s Boulevard Music.

Sunday
And speaking of Grisman, you can hear the music of his onetime collaborator, Jerry Garcia, tonight and virtually every Sunday at 14 Below in Santa Monica. For it is this evening that Cubensis, the tie-dye-hard Grateful Dead tribute band holds court.

Monday
Big Bands are back -- and Culver City’s Jazz Bakery has got ‘em, every Monday night. Tonight’s act is The Bruce Lofgren Big Band. Swing, why doncha?

Tuesday
Celebrate Carnival in style with the annual “Big Fatty Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras”party at Temple bar in Santa Monica. Bands include Sambada, which plays its Brazilian funk fusion. Also on board are Vida Vierra with Swing Brazil, Alma da Batucada and Capoeira Batuque, performing Brazilian music from samba to candomble. Delta Nove opens the evening with more sinewy Brazilian sounds.

Wednesday
If you’d rather celebrate Fat Tuesday a day late, check out C.C. Adcock and The Lafayette Marquis for a musical taste of some down-home N’awlins-style funk at Harvelle’s blues club in Santa Monica.

Thursday
Santa Monica’s 14 Below has a Human BBQ set for this evening. Don’t worry, it’s not cannibal night, it’s just a band! Also performing are Every Day and Red Light Halo.