Newt's rock 'n' roll weekend planner, Vancouver edition, May 22 to 24

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      This coming rock 'n' roll weekend is crammed with sold-out Vancouver shows.

      You've got your German folk-pop duo Milky Chance at the Commodore on Friday and Saturday: both shows SOLD OUT.

      British rock duo Royal Blood at the Vogue on Saturday: SOLD OUT.

      Indie-rock singer-songwriter Father John Misty at the Commodore on Sunday: SOLD OUT.

      Texas indie-rock band Spoon at Malkin Bowl on Sunday: SOLD the fvck OUT!

      Talk about a bunch of sell-outs!

      Now, one guy who hasn't sold out is Jim Heath--aka the Reverend Horton Heat--who has stuck with the same brand of high-octane "psychobilly" rock 'n' roll since blasting out of Dallas, Texas in 1990 with the Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em album on Sub Pop.

      Ten albums later and the Rev is still spreading the gospel of wild guitar-boogie, currently on a tour that visits the Rickshaw on Friday. If you're lucky he'll play "Five-O Ford", which was actually titled "Fucked-Up Ford" before some record-company weasels got their hands on it.

      “When I was learnin’ how to play guitar, ‘Hot Rod Lincoln’ was one song that you had to know,” Heath told me back in 1995. “And most people still couldn’t learn it just right, because that lick is kinda tough.

      "But I used to imagine that someday I would do the world’s fastest version of ‘Hot Rod Lincoln’, and so I practised it and practised it and practised it and practised it and then realized: why not come up with a whole new song? So I consider it artistic licence to go ahead and make up my own ‘Hot Rod Lincoln’ song.”

      Cool. And speaking of "Hot Rod Lincoln", I've been waiting years for a decent excuse to post this version of it by Pat Travers off his debut album from the Year of Our Lord, 1976:

      On Sunday Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters play the Sasquatch! Festival across the border at the Gorge, and there's always the chance he'll throw some Zep tunes into the mix. If not, other acts at the fest that day that could turn your crank include the aforementioned sold-out-in-Van Milky Chance and Royal Blood. The latter act is particularly rockin', and gets the highly coveted "Newt Nod" for having a guitarist with only four strings.

      And if you don't feel like heading Stateside this weekend, you can get a worthy buzz from Fort Langley stoner-rock trio We Hunt Buffalo on Sunday.

      The Les Paul-driven power trio--comprised of singer-guitarist Ryan Forsythe, bassist Brendan Simpson, and drummer Brandon Carter--plays the Hard Rock Casino's Asylum Sound Stage, with local troublemakers La Chinga opening up.

      And before you head out to the Hard Rock why not take in the Sunday afternoon screening of Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock & Roll. It plays at the Cinematheque as part of 2015 Best of DOXA.

      Pesky Americans and their rock 'n' roll-wreckin' wars.

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