BENEFITS & GIGS
ON THE MOST recent Ides of March, Minneapolis police officer David Loeffler was struck by a drunk driver while on duty, losing his lower leg in the accident. Tonight (Wednesday), an Edge-sponsored lineup bands together at the Fine Line for a Loeffler benefit: Flipp, Tim Mahoney and the Meanies, Maggi, and Pierce & EJ. Glam-happy Flipp will be more festive than usual, wielding copies of their brand new major-label debut, Flipp (Hollywood). It's the Cheap Trick record that never happened, pulling out all the stops in the Flipp campaign to conquer the world. $7 at the door; music at 7 p.m.; 338-8100... On Friday, the U of M's Great Hall in Coffman Union hosts the ska party of the month with Let's Go Bowling and The Siren Six!. The bowlers are longtime heroes of third-wave ska, and lately they've been warming crowds up with party-prone instrumentals. It's a good enough excuse to check out local ska's current kings, the Siren Six! (formerly Stinkfish), who have plenty of comic attitude and instrumental flair on The Voice With a Built-In Promise (Kingpin). Duluth's Fluxskapacitor (donchya just love those ska-pun names?) opens. $10/$8 U of M students; music at 8 p.m.; 625-7666... The '90s punk-rock version of the "Go West, young man" imperative brought the two Fargoians of godheadSilo to Olympia, Washington--a town whose record label, Kill Rock Stars, could appreciate the crushing noise a couple of chaps, several bass cabinets, and in-your-face drumming could make. But when godheadSilo switched to Sub Pop, they made the rather forgettable Skyward Triumph, a blurry mixture of Unwound-style vocals and Black Sabbath-style bass (only the title track's funky, rot-gut session with Calvin Johnson saves the record). They'll be in town Friday with openers Shiner, whose lead singer Alan Epley cops sounds so much like Jawbox's J. Robbins it's no surprise that Lula Divinia found its way onto Jawbox's label Desoto. But what really makes the album is Tim Dow's drumming upheaval; he makes the music thick, makes it thin, and makes it spin, like Michelins on ice. Call for price. 9 p.m. 400 Bar, 400 Cedar Ave., Mpls.; 332-2903... Some bands may be one-hit wonders, but the Violent Femmes became a one-album wonder with their '82 self-titled debut; their early '90s single "American Music" was the closest they ever came to recapturing that ol' adolescent charm. Drummer Victor DeLorenzo left the band a couple of years back to go solo, crafting last year's credible pop album Pancake Day, while the remaining Femmes turned "Blister in the Sun" into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Still, with lead singer Gordon Gano an aging, dyed-in-the-wool Christian, it's worth going to the band's Sunday show if only to hear what meanings Gano will give to the line "Why can't I get/just one fuck?" $15/$17 at the door. 5 p.m. All ages. First Avenue, 701 First Ave. N., Mpls.; 338-8388. (Simon Peter Groebner/Christina Schmitt)
JAZZ BEAT
A MEMBER OF Jimmy Heath's quartet and the Heath Brothers ensemble, Mark Elf is a guitarist not widely known to jazz listeners outside of Boston and New York, but highly respected among his peers. His fourth CD as a leader, A Minor Scramble, includes folks like Nicholas Payton, Bennie Green, Louis Nash, and Dennis Irwin, and often features a loping, assured sense of swing reminiscent of Wes Montgomery. He's an accomplished stylist content to let greater musical concerns sublimate his ego. $8. 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday/$5 at 8 p.m. Sunday. Artists' Quarter, 366 Jackson St., St. Paul; 292-1359... A Menomonie, Wisconsin product, twentysomething pianist Ethan Iverson has been creating a little splash in the jazz world since moving to New York City, where legendary tenor man Dewey Redman contributed to
his latest CD. He'll be in town with a trio
on Thursday at 9 p.m. at the Artists' Quarter, St. Paul; 292-1359. Cover is $3. (Britt Robson/ Tom Surowicz)
