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Aloha play a free show at Princeton's Terrace Club Friday night. The Harlem rapper, whose anti-establishment prose is aimed at upending political evils, made national headlines in 2005 with “Bin Laden” – a track featuring Mos Def and KRS-One that portrayed George Bush Jr. as a sadistic and opportunistic hatemonger who used terrorism as propaganda to instill fear in the American people when it was him who was responsible for “knock(ing) down the Towers” on 9-11. The song also accuses the president of funding the creation of Al-Qaeda and using the Muslim race as a scapegoat for his wicked ways. Three years later, and with a new prez in the White House, the Penn State alum – playing a free show at the Terrace Club (62 Washington Road, Princeton tonight – turned his attention to charity work, using the money made from the 54,000 entirely-independent sales of his “The 3rd World” CD to build an orphanage in Kabul. Show starts at 9. Akir opens. 18-plus.
The Aussie road warriors, whose classic stance on hard rock will remind you of early AC/DC, headline the Record Collection (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) tonight – their last show in the U.S. before heading back to the Thunderdome for an opening spot on Deep Purple’s tour. Show starts at 7:30. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $15 at the door. All-ages.
Bittersweet Duo
The acoustic jazz tandem headlines a free show for Trenton2Nite at the Trenton Marriott (1 W. Lafeyette St., Trenton) tomorrow night. Show starts at 5. All-ages.
The Brooklynites play an intricate, highly melodic, synthesized-sonic-style college-pop mix of Silver Apples, Sonic Youth and The Shins. The slow-building intensity of their new record, “Home Acres,” also gives off this Minus The Bear feel. The guys play a free show at the Terrace Club (62 Washington Road, Princeton) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. 18-plus.
Moneyshot
The local cover band provides the entertainment for the grand opening party for AJ’s Tattoo Shop at McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike, Lawrence) tomorrow night. Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
The Celtic crusher from Irish rockers Black 47 is known for his energetic stage presence, but many don’t know he’s also an established author. Kirwan, headlining the Record Collector’s (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) “Rock, Read … and Poetry” event tomorrow night, has written two Beatles-themed books, “Liverpool Fantasy,” a “What if?” of sorts story about an early-career Beatles break up, and “Rockin’ The Bronx,” a novel set in New York around the time John Lennon was shot. Show starts at 7:30. Paul Muldoon, a Pulitzer Prize winning poet and Princeton professor whose written songs for Warren Zevon, is also on the bill. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $15 at the door. All-ages.
After 20 years leading punk heroes Avail, the Virginia native has followed a new musical path – strumming beautifully crafted, historically-minded and Arlo Guthrie-inspired, blue-collar, country-folk tunes about boozing and freight-train culture. Barry, playing Asbury Lanes (209 4th Ave., Asbury Park) tomorrow night, just finished a tour opening for Against Me! His latest record, “28th & Stonewall,” is highlighted by the track “Prosser’s Gabriel,” which is about a failed slave uprising based in his Richmond hometown. In it Barry pokes fun at the students at Virginia Commonwealth University that park in lot built over the burials sites of those freedom fighters who died in that insurgence. Show starts at 8. Virginia’s Red Clay River and Asbury’s Gimme Drugs open. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $12 at the door. All-ages.
Choking vocal growls and erratic guitar grinds has this metallic Union crew gasping for air. The break downs are brutal, too, as it seems the boys like to mix up hardcore genres – jumping from slow-churning spazz-core to noise punk, even tossing up some melodies in the instrumentation and singing. The guys headline Championships Sports Bar and Grill’s metal massacre (931 Chambers St., Trenton) Saturday afternoon. Show starts at noon. Tickets cost $10. All-ages.
The Garden State alternative rockers get high on Ted Leo-type pharmaceuticals – party-hardy at McGuinn’s Place (1781 Brunswick Pike) Saturday night. For fans of melody-based college pop, Ben Folds, The Commons and Paul Westerberg. Show starts at 9. Tickets cost $5. 21-plus.
Schoolly D & International Super Sport
The Philly hip-hop legend – the first to incorporate mean-street imagery in his rhymes and essentially paving the way for future gangsta rappers – headlines the Record Collector (358 Farnsworth Ave., Bordentown) Saturday night. His 1985 underground hit “P.S.K. What Does It Mean” was the first hip-hop banger to depict gunplay, drugs and graphic sex in the storytelling. Strangely enough, while the track went on to inspire Ice-T’s “6 in the Mornin” – a defining gangta rap track in its own right – and countless other left-coast emcees, the drum-rattling beat made its way across the pond and was used in the formula to Siouxsie and the Banshees’ new-wave hit, “Kiss Them For Me.” It’s been 10 years since Schoolly dropped a new record, however, he’s stayed busy providing the theme music and occasional narration to the quirky Adult Swim cartoon “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” and making unannounced appearance at local hip-hop shows when his old school buds like Kool Keith hit Philly. A few years back, he collaborated with one-time Bad Brains guitarist Chuck Treece on the indie flick “Order of the Quest” – prompting the formation of the International Super Sport, a live funk, R&B and hip-hop mash with Schoolly on leads and Treece (McRad) on drums. Show starts at 7:30. Shore ska sharks, Mad Cats and Beehives, open. Tickets cost $15 in advance, $18 at the door. All-ages.
Boysetsfire’s post-millennium life is a bit more poppy and sappy, but still emocore in its hard-line musicianship that’s less Snapcase and more Samiam. Also for those who dig Avail, Burning Airlines and Texas Is The Reason. The guys join forces with Hillsborough death-metal demons Fire From The Alter at the Court Tavern (124 Church St., New Brunswick) Saturday night. Show starts at 8. Chambers and Mayor West play, too. Tickets cost $10. 21-plus.
\Scott Frost’s On The Beat concert listing appears in The Trentonian every Thursday. If your band is playing around town, email the On the Beat web line at djscott111@aol.com.
