Annual Hash Bash Concert: Blind Pig

Annual Hash Bash Concert

Where: Blind Pig, 208 S. First St. Who: The Macpodz with John Sinclair, UV Hippo, Chrystian Rawk When: 8:30 p.m. (doors) Saturday. How much: $15 (advance, $10) Info: www.blindpigmusic.com

Macpodz

Neither The Macpodz nor John Sinclair need much of an introduction to local audiences. The Macpodz play a kind of funky dance music they’ve coined “disco-bebop,” paying homage to kinky musical concoctions like the groovy, unstructured big-band instrumental works of the late Frank Zappa, with psychedelic tinges of sunglasses-and-Afro era Miles Davis. Since forming in 2007, the band has recorded several albums and, thanks to its energetic live shows, attracted a slew of foot-shuffling fans locally and across the region.

Poet, writer and political activist John Sinclair is probably best-known in Ann Arbor as the man who was arrested in 1969 for giving two joints to an undercover cop, then sentenced to 10 years in Jackson prison for his crime. His release was secured in 1971, three days after a high-profile concert in Ann Arbor that included appearances by John Lennon and Stevie Wonder, after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the state's marijuana laws were unconstitutional. He has performed his spoken-word show with The Macpodz several times in the past, including last year’s Hash Bash show at the Pig.

U.V. Hippo or, more formally, Ultraviolet Hippopotamus, a five-piece from Grand Rapids, bills itself as “Michigan's premier improvisational progressive rock band.” UV Hippo's third album, “Square Pegs Round Holes,” was awarded Homegrown Music Network’s 2011 Album of the Year honor and spent several consecutive months in the Top 25 of Jambands.com U.S. National Radio Chart.

According to the Chrystian Rawk website, the band is either “a derivative, post-grunge, ABABCB song form, guitar centered rawk band” and “a 4 piece Oakland, Calif.- based outfit committed to the honest fight for sanity in face of the many metaphysical crises of early adulthood.” Take your pick, or check ‘em out at www.chrystianrawk.com.

Tags: Blind Pig, Hash Bash, John Sinclair, Macpodz, Monroe Street Fair, local music, music

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FATTENING FROGS FOR SNAKES 2011