Jonathan Demme may have brought Jamaican reggae artist Sister Carol to the masses with supporting roles in Something Wild and Rachel Getting Married, but there’s no question—she’d reach American consciousness eventually. On the strength of her 1984 hit “Black Cinderella,” she started her own record label so sisters could do it for themselves. This Monday, she appears with the Yellow Wall Dub Squad, an all-star backing band, to celebrate International Women’s Day in strong, robust, reggae style. “In an industry that’s so based on ego, it’s really difficult for a woman artist to not sell the sex,” says DJ Jacques, producer of the event. “She seemed the most appropriate to headline an event that celebrates the real strength of women and not just the sexiness of women.” Sister Carol performs with the Yellow Wall Dub Squad on Monday, March 8, at Hopmonk Tavern. 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. 9pm. $15. 707.829.7300.Gabe Meline
The antique hanging sign on Highway 29 at Lincoln Avenue that reads “Calistoga” with a big red arrow might as well be changed to say “Jazz” this weekend for the Mustard, Mud & Music Festival. Showcasing over a dozen jazz combos in a variety of venues and restaurants downtown, the festival further cements Calistoga as a cultural hub of the Napa Valley. With wooden sidewalks! Filling the streets with jazz across two days is the blues saxophone of the Nancy Wright Trio, the Latin rhythms of Rolando Morales, the rising sounds of the Steve Dudgeon Quartet, the breezy vocals of Michelle Michaels and many, many more. Each ticket includes 10 wine tastings per day—whoohoo!—and all the jazz you can handle until sundown. It’s a perfect date idea on Saturday-Sunday, March 6-7, at various venues in downtown Calistoga. 1pm to 7pm. $25; $40 two-day pass. 707.942.6333.Gabe Meline 
Acclaimed hip-hop choreographer Gabriel Francisco knows all too well that the economy’s rough. With that in mind, Francisco and his friend Jimmy Hits talked the owners of the old Swensen’s building on Santa Rosa’s Third Street—you may also remember the “doomed location” as Viva Mexico, or a series of Chinese restaurants, and most recently, GG’s Earth & Surf—into letting them host Kaleidoscope, a monthly art and dance series. At its inception in February, the normally empty storefront jumped shoulder-to-shoulder with live painting, dancing, chatter, music, and actual community-building. It’s far better for a city to have something like this going on than another “For Lease” sign collecting dust, and it’s a cheap and awesome mashup of art, DJs and dance. Kaleidoscope goes down on Friday, March 5, at 630 Third St., Santa Rosa. 9pm to 2am. $5; free before 11pm. 
While plenty of bands finely hone a brilliant, rapier meta-sarcasm, people like Moss Henry are recording direct, sympathetic albums like Roll the Bones. Unable to be isolated by world events, Henry on his third full-length folk album chimes in on subjects ranging from the 2006 mine disaster at the Sago Mine in West Virginia (“Sago Mine Disaster”) to domestic static (“What Have We Got?”) to the inexcusable torture policies of the Bush administration (“It’s War”). “It is my fervent hope,” he writes, “that Bush and his associates will be held accountable for their war crimes.” Recorded with a local all-star cast—Blair Hardman, Randy Quan, Dave Zirbel, Doug Adamz, Kevin Russell, Tim Haggerty and more—the album sounds great, but what rises to the surface is Henry’s sincerity, even when making jokes about the size of one’s car in relation to. . .well, you know. Henry plays a record release for Roll the Bones on Friday, March 5, at the French Garden Restaurant. 8050 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol. 7pm. Free. 707.824.2030.Gabe Meline 
Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, Lutan Fyah grew up only 15 minutes away from Kingston, the center of all reggae music. But those meager miles have translated into the reggae singer’s most notable asset, in that he is no slave to tradition. (Grace Jones was also born in Spanish Town.) Not only has Fyah reworked songs by the Fugees and Dr. Dre, but in 2009 he teamed up with UK dubstep sensation Rusko for his upbeat Babylon, Vol. 2 compilation. Better yet, before he leaves for France later this month to play large theaters, he’s dropping in on Fairfax for a tiny nightclub appearance at 19 Broadway. With a vicious attack on the mic and a can’t-stop-won’t-stop style, he’ll be poised to set the roof on fire. Witness Jamaican artistry in action on Friday, March 5, at 19 Broadway Niteclub. 19 Broadway, Fairfax. 9pm. $15-$20. 415.459.1091.Gabe Meline 
Spring has edged its spritely nose around the corner, teasing all of us with its weekend weather and outdoor ambiance. I say we take it for all it’s worth. This Sunday, perhaps. How about driving the kids into Yountville? I know—you’re thinking, “It’s too fancy there.” But park at Ranch Market and pick up some cheap sandwiches. Ditch the car and walk down Washington, past the off ramp and onto California Drive. Stroll along the tree-lined promenade and ogle the golfers at the Vintners Golf Club course hooking their drives after not playing all winter. Find a bench, take in the fresh air and eat the sandwiches, and then keep walking up to the Veterans Home’s wonderful Lincoln Theater to get a great deal on the kids for the Moscow Circus, performing in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday, Feb. 28. Lincoln Theater, 100 California Drive, Yountville. 3pm. $29–$39; children 12 and under just $12. 707.944.1300.Gabe Meline 
Soon after Barack Obama was elected, ex-Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra composed a 7,592-word missive instructing the president-elect, point by point, on how to properly run the country. Never mind that Biafra didn’t vote for Obama; the rabble-rousing punk icon has never possessed any qualms about speaking his mind. An ugly legal battle 10 years ago all but eliminated the possibility of a proper Dead Kennedys reunion (the other three have been trotting out the classics with what Biafra calls a “scab singer”), but Biafra returned surprisingly last year with his new band the Guantanamo School of Medicine, featuring members of Faith No More and Victims Family. Their album The Audacity of Hype harkens to the days when Biafra was running for mayor, getting lambasted by Tipper Gore and singing “Kill the Poor”—in other words, it’s funny, intellectual, scathing, passionate, sarcastic and political. He appears with the band on Saturday, Feb. 27, at the Phoenix Theater. 201 E. Washington St., Petaluma. 8pm. $15. 707.762.3565.Gabe Meline 
“Jazz was the first music,” Kelly Joe Phelps once told an interviewer, “that I was aware of that was improvised. That alone was enough to make me do literally nothing else for nearly 10 years.” Certainly, Phelps’ recorded output hasn’t reached the soaring heights of exploration that his early idols Miles Davis and John Coltrane once so constantly strove for and oftentimes reached, because after his jazz immersion he hit a bump in the road: delta blues. Based in Portland, Ore., the finger-picking guitarist now journeys along a unique hybrid trail of folk music, where free improvisation points the way as much as strict technique. And others have noticed. Phelps has guested on albums by Townes Van Zandt, Greg Brown, Jay Farrar and Tim O’Brien, among others, and just released his eighth album, Western Bell, last year. He plays an in-store concert with country/folk singer Corrine West on Friday, Feb. 26, at Schoenberg Guitars. 106 Main St., Tiburon. 8pm. $20–$25. 415.789.0846.Gabe Meline 
In its former life as Shakey’s Pizza, the unassuming building near a freeway overpass fed pepperoni and cheese to parents and arcade-game-playing kids alike. For the last several years, it’s been known as Los Caballos, a Latin nightclub hosting mariachi, salsa and reggaeton bands, but this Thursday the kids are back. Discovering new and uncommon places to play is a longtime tradition for the local underground community, and in a rare and needed move, the club is all-ages with a separate bar for those over 21 during the CD/cassette release show for Santa Rosa’s StarSkate. Named for another lost local kids’ wonderland, StarSkate play a furiously creative brand of instrumental rock, fronted by the labyrinthine mind of Guy Henry and fueled by a closely entwined rhythm section formerly known as the duo Batman vs. Predator. Fresh off a nationwide tour, they should be well oiled and smooth, like Swiss bearings. There’s even a bicycle caravan leaving the 440 Club beforehand to get to the show, which also features the Iditarod, Summer Blondes, A Pack of Wolves and Stalin’s Moustache on Thursday, Feb. 25, at Los Caballos. 3125 Cleveland Ave., Santa Rosa. 8pm. $5. 707.525.0161.Gabe Meline 
FOLLOW US
