Get Out 

Thursday, August 11
Paris Street, Drunk Stuntmen, Chest Pains
The Cave
I knew I loved Paris Street--the one-man band of Nashville's Carl Polgar--the minute I opened the envelope. Inside, an 11-song CD-R was slid between two stapled slabs cut from a Miller Genuine Draft (High Life is better, Carl) six-pack. It got better upon listening, as Polgar sings heart-on-sleeve, silly sad songs about forgetting the flowers and old girlfriends that romantically puked on road trips. Elliott Smith lo-fi aesthetics meet The Mountain Goats' pitch and wit. If you're still standing, Drunk Stuntmen play on the late side. Tips/7:30 p.m. --GC

Friday, August 12
The Port Huron Statement, The Rachel Nevadas, Eyes to Space
Kings
Eyes to Space will nerd-pop and space-rock you into submission, while the Port Huron Statement takes the power pop of Chip Taylor's former band Sticky, roughs it up, and drags it even more underground. But I'm here to preach the gospel of Richmond, Va. trio The Rachel Nevadas, who are nervous energy personified, charmingly nerdy and properly reverent when it comes to the almighty power of the hook. 10:30 p.m. --RC

Saturday, August 13
The Rev. Billy C. Wirtz
Blue Bayou Club
"Songwriter. Ex-wrestling manager. Humorist. Musician. Ren & Stimpy fan. The Reverend Billy C. Wirtz is a true Renaissance man for the '90s." Or so I wrote somewhere around mid-1993. Add journalist to the list and replace the decade, and that mini bio holds true. Wirtz continues to play like and look like Jerry Lee Lewis after raiding Porter Wagoner's closet, and no matter what the year, throngs will still be yelling for "Mennonite Surf Party." $18-20/9 p.m. --RC

Shannon O'Connor
Saturdays in Saxapahaw
Shannon O'Connor's new record Low in Paradise nestles her into the traditions of country's great ladies. She's been around Chapel Hill for years, foiling folk casualness over twangy notes. This concert series is located on the hill over the Rivermill and the Haw River in downtown Saxapahaw. Free/6 p.m. --CT

Sunday, August 14
Fake Swedish, Taz Halloween
Local 506
The Sunday hangover from Sleazefest--your ticket from Friday or Saturday gets you in free. Fake Swedish will be unveiling their new lineup with former Ghost of Rock drummer Rock Forbes replacing Jett Rink's Dave Perry on skins. Despite the pounding pedigree, Forbes is more than capable of providing the swivel that the band's bluesy, '60s-style garage psychedelica requires, according to singer/guitarist Joe Romeo. Opener Taz Halloween's sultry, satiny torch singing is always a delight. $6/10 p.m. --CP

Monday, August 15
Robert Earl Keen
Cat's Cradle
Like his college buddy Lyle Lovett, Keen's been able to build a career out of a steady stream of good albums and brief moments of mainstream popularity (as with his humorous redneck ode "Merry X-mas from the Family"). Keen's eye for detail has gotten, er, keener with time, and his last two albums have been exemplary Texas Country albums, working a mix of twang, folk and blues in the tradition of Terry Allen, Jimmy Dale Gilmour and Townes Van Zandt. Abigail Washburn opens. $22/9 p.m. --CP

Tuesday, August 16
Adam Price, Louis
Wetlands
East Coast, West Coast ... fight! These two artists may be from the two opposite poles--N.Y. and L.A. --but they share a love for lilting harmony and pop sensibilities. Chapel Hill ex-pat Price knows the architecture of a hook, having studied it meticulously as songwriter for Mayflies USA and The Comas. Welcome back, dude. $6/10 p.m. --CT

Wednesday, August 17
The High Dials, Hopewell
Local 506
Montreal's High Dials harken back to the Elephant 6 collective in their appreciation of '60s melodicism from the Byrds to the Beatles, with a bit of the Pretty Things tossed in and occasional flashes of '90s British psych-pop acts such as The Stones Roses. Hopewell features members of Mercury Rev and favor a swirling, spacey-psychedelic folk that crosses Pink Floyd and the Flaming Lips. $7/10 p.m. --CP

Big Pretty & The Red Rockets, Overproof
The Pour House
Quickly becoming one of the Triangle's premier good timin' acts, Big Pretty & The Red Rockets will get you smiling and moving as they do the same, with a peppy guitar/accordion/strings/bass/keys jive full of hip-happy love-me-too's and roots rockin' reggae. Sometimes the vocals get a bit too chipper, and the Barenaked Ladies rhyming can be a bit on the Dockers side. But hell, go on, have a mug. $5/10 p.m. --GC

Edwin McCain, Emerson Hart, Kevn Kinney
Lincoln Theatre
The idea of these three artists swapping songs is just crazy enough to work. McCain and Hart will show up with the big radio hits in their pockets ("Solitude" for the former and "If You Could Only See" with the band Tonic for the latter), but elder statesman Kinney will walk away with the audience in his. Vaughn Penn opens, with no one to swap songs with. $15-20/8 p.m. --RC