Newt's rock 'n' roll weekend planner, Vancouver edition, April 24 to 26

by Steve Newton on April 23rd, 2015 at 4:34 PM

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The last couple of r 'n' r weekend planners have been mainly devoted to big arena shows by the likes of Def Leppard and Fleetwood Mac, but this time around there's no calls to go out and just try to enjoy yourself in the company of 12,000 other party-hearty humans. Smaller gigs are the thing this weekend, starting with Mac DeMarco at the Vogue on Friday.

I gotta admit, I didn't know squat about MDM until I saw him last month on my fave late-night talk show, Conan. I loved the gap-toothed guy's casual approach and wacky vibe, not to mention the "no shirt, no shoes, no problem" attitude of his guitar messiah, Andrew Charles White.

Stand on it, Andy!

Speaking of wicked guitarists, they haven't gotten much better than Django Reinhardt, whose gypsy-jazz style of music will be the attraction at April in Paris, which runs from Friday to Sunday at St. James Hall. The final night features Van Django, a local quartet comprised of guitarists Budge Schachte and Finn Manniche, violinist Cameron Wilson, and bassist Brent Gubbels.

Stand on it, Budge! (I once had a parakeet called that.)

Staying in a smokin' instrumental vein, over at the Heritage Grill in New West on Saturday you've got your Speeding West, which sounds a lot like Speedy West, the name of an amazing pedal-style player of yesteryear.

Speeding West is a project put together by local overachieving fretmaster Scott Smith, who isn't content playing in a bunch of other acts like Rich Hope and the Blue Rich Rangers, Terminal Station, Just a Season, and Rock and Roll Circus (the latter got the Newt Nod in one of last month's rock 'n' roll weekend planners).

Smith formed the group with recently relocated NYC guitarist Luca Benedetti, bassist Jeremy Holmes, and drummer Nino DiPasquale.

"The guitarists cover a wide range of material drawn from their own originals as well as their collective appreciation of Western Swing/Country Jazz, Rockabilly, Boogaloo, and Latin Styles," reads something from the Internet. If that's the case, expect to hear something along the lines of this:

Stand on it, Speedy!

And if that's not enough guitar action for ya, come Sunday night you can get your punk-rock ya ya's out with Agent Orange over at the Rickshaw. The trio out of Orange Country, California, still includes original guitarist-vocalist Mike Palm, and if you're lucky he still remembers how to play "Miserlou", "Pipeline", and "Mr. Moto".

Stand on it, Mike!