They’Ll Be The Spiders, And You Can Be The Fly

I just love this time of year. No, it has nothing to do with the weather. It’s because this is the time of the year when The Twistin’ Tarantulas come crawlin’ into town.

Yes, this bad-boy rockabilly band from Detroit returns to the Fort Spokane Brewery for a show Saturday night. It’ll be their third time through our neck of the woods. And if this show is anything like their last two — sweaty, rockin’ revelry — you won’t want to miss it. In fact, these guys remain among my favorite live acts.

For the uninitiated, The Twistin’ Tarantulas play retro rock, swing, jump-jive and punk — all with a swaggering good-time attitude. The band is fronted by Pistol Pete Midtgard, who plays the stand-up bass with a feverish intensity as the dance floor fills in front of him.

This time through town, the Tarantulas come bearing a brand new CD. “Welcome to Our Underworld” revs and rumbles from the swinging groove of “Two Dogs in The Street” to the punk attitude of “Kiss The Ring of The Man.”

“And then there’s a very generous helping of what we do best, which is hard-edged rockabilly,” says Pistol Pete.

Pete’s compadres in crime are Johnny Rebel on guitar and new drummer Gary “Machine Gun” Meadors.

The Twistin’ Tarantulas play the Fort Spokane Brewery on Saturday. The show starts at 9 p.m. Cover charge is $6. You might think about getting there early. Last year’s show sold out — for good reason.

Heavy and hard

Stuck Mojo, Reveille, Speak No Evil. They’re all at Ichabod’s North tonight and if you like your rock ‘n’ roll hard, heavy and in-yer-face, then you’ll be there too.

Stuck Mojo is a quartet from Atlanta that slams rap and hardcore together with Mack truck force, creating monstrous rhythms and searing riffs in the process.

The Reveille fivesome hails from Massachusetts and plays a similarly visceral mix of rap and metal. Speak No Evil — you guessed it, more hard rock.

The onslaught starts tonight at 9 p.m. Cover charge is $8.

Hot salsa

Get ready to dance. Thirteen-piece salsa group Nueva Era performs Saturday at Avalon Dance Studio. This group was started by Steve Guasch (a native of Puerto Rico) and Manuela Figueroa (who hails from Mexico). In addition to salsas, the band plays merengue, cumbias, boleros, cha-chas and more.

The show is open to all ages. It starts at 6 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children under 10. Avalon is located at 117 E. Boone.

More music

* Minneapolis band The Big Wu brings its groove-oriented funk, pop and bluegrass to North Idaho Saturday.

This quintet recently released an album called “Tracking Buffalo Through the Bathtub,” crammed full of easygoing, upbeat jams. So put on your Birkenstocks and head over to the Kamloops Bar & Grill in Sandpoint where The Big Wu will get a groove thang going this Saturday. You’ll find the bar at 302 North First. The music starts at 9 p.m. Cover charge is $2.

* For those of you who were hoping to see Michael Kaeshammer back in July, here’s another chance. The talented young pianist was ill and had to cancel his last show at Hobart’s Jazz Lounge. He makes up for it this Thursday by returning to the club for another try at showing you his romping boogie-woogie keyboard style. Kaeshammer is joined by drummer Damian Graham. The show starts at 8 p.m. Cover charge is $5.