The Sacramento Beat: Trio of benefit shows highlight November concert calendar

As you may know, we’re big fans of fundraising concerts here at “Sacramento Beat” HQ, and we’ve got a few of them on deck in the early part of November, a couple here in Sacramento, and one well worth a trip down 99.

Local artists, message me on Instagram if you have upcoming shows, @adavis_threetosee.

November comes in hot with a weeknight Torch Club gig that finds Philadelphia electronic-funk inferno Minka linking up with local soul-funk inferno Joy & Madness. Praise for Minka’s last performance in Sacramento is effusive enough that we couldn’t ignore this one, a spin through his most recent record “Oops! All Bangers” buoys the allure of this Wednesday night get-down (8:30 p.m. Nov. 2. $10. www.torchclub.net).

Consider our benefit fandom cranked to eleven when we see “blues” and “schools” together in the same sentence. Blind Lemon Peel, the alter-ego of blues howler David Dot Hale, is presenting his “Not Yer Father’s Blues” extravaganza as a fundraiser for the Sacramento Blues Society’s Blues in the Schools program, as well as the similarly-missioned John Lee Hooker Foundation. This special early show finds Hale joined by a lineup including Steve Dunne, Rich Forman, AJ Joyce and Jeff Minnieweather, with brassmen Danny Sandoval & Dave Johnson (of Mick Martin’s Big Blues Band) also pitching in. Danny Sandoval and His Amigos are also performing a set as part of the festivities, as are Blues in the Schools teacher/mentor Kyle Rowland, Zach Waters Band, Amaya Lewis and others, with the aforementioned Mick Martin as your “special guest” for the evening (5:30 pm. Friday Nov. 4 at the Sofia, 2700 Capitol Ave. Doors 5 p.m. $23-$28. bstreettheatre.org).

“Not Yer Father’s Blues” sets up a massive weekend at the Sofia, with international star Antonio Sanchez coming to town Saturday, Nov. 5 ($25-$30). Known for scoring “Birdman,” the whimsical Sanchez is touring behind his newest release “SHIFT (Bad Hombre, Vol. II),” which features collaborations with the likes of Dave Matthews, Trent Reznor and Lila Downs. Another large-scale blues shindig bookends the weekend when local star Katie Knipp trots out her own 10-piece Big Band and also welcomes a few special guests of her own; the cat is out of the bag on Hans Eberbach, and we hear that Mick Martin won’t have wandered far after Friday night’s gig. (With Bellygunner. 7 p.m. Sun. Nov. 6. $23-$33. bstreettheatre.org/shows).

Across the grid at Old Ironsides (the venerable haunt which welcomed back live music last month), hard rock outfit Kill the Precedent is the headliner for this year’s installment of the long-running “F**k Cancer” benefit concert, hosted by local fixture Danny Secretion and benefiting the American Cancer Society (natch). Kill the Precedent has an all-covers set planned, with the Knockoffs (one of the innumerable bands Secretion has played in over the years), the Get-Sets and Natalie Cortez Band all performing (7:30 p.m. Sat. Nov. 5, 1901 10th St. $10. theoldironsides.com).

If you’ve ever listened to the soaring vocal dreamscape that blankets each and every La Luz record, you’d think it was insane (like, completely unhinged) that they’d ever dream of taking the vocals away. But that’s just what they did this year with “The Instrumentals,” a wordless version of their 2021 self-titled album. It gets you up close and personal (yet still completely lost) with their fuzz-surf retro rock galaxy, twirling through supernovas of organ and asteroid fields of jumping basslines, praying you never figure out which way is up (With Naked Giants. 8 p.m. Tues. Nov. 8 at Harlows. $20/$25. www.harlows.com).

Not sure about you, but I don’t think I’m capable of saying the word “Roc-Vemberfest” without holding up metal horns on both hands, especially since our old pal Scott Pemberton is headlining with his mad scientist’s brand of wild-eyed ramshackle funk/rock, and he’d want it that way. This Veteran’s Day weekend affair down in Lodi is spread across three different venues, Highwater Brewing, 5 Windows Beer Co. and Ollie’s Pub, with artists including Big Sticky Mess, Matt Jaffe, Dirty Pillows, December Pilot, Mike Torres Jr. Band and tons more playing over three days. The whole thing is a benefit for veterans, directly benefiting the Mighty Oaks Foundation (Nov 10-12. rocfest.eventbrite.com).

It feels like it’s been way too long since we’ve seen Chuck Prophet & the Mission Express ‘round these parts. We’ll cheekily trust that Sacramento was not the subject of his most recent record, “The Land that Time Forgot.” Like most of his work before it, the album is brimming with the throwback rock/pop architect’s vintage sweet snark. It’s become his proprietary blend of spacious, rambling sonic puzzles, plentifully bubble-wrapped in layers of warmth and honesty - all delivered in such a manner that you feel he might be deliberately toying with you, but never would a reason why emerge. (7 p.m. Sunday Nov. 13 at Starlet Room. $30. www.harlow’s.com).

The music and beer mecca of Claimstake Brewing is bringing back one of their old favorites in country punk troubadour Austin Lucas (6 p.m. Sun. Nov. 20, 11366 Monier Park Pl. Rancho Cordova. $20. www.brownpapertickets.com) and is also hinting at bringing back their cozy indoor shows come wintertime. We’ll keep you posted.

The ever-reliable At Ease Brewing in midtown is also sneaking in some live music of their own with a jazz night, featuring four piece outfit K*MCJazz (6 p.m. Sat. Nov. 12, 1825 I St. www.facebook.com/AtEaseBrewing).

Thumbing the calendar ahead a few months, we’re coming unglued over the lineup announcement for the 2023 installment of the Winter Wondergrass festival at Palisades Tahoe (March 31-April 2), which has jamgrass titans Trampled by Turtles and Greensky Bluegrass and blues/soul phenom Marcus King as headliners, with the Lone Bellow, Neal Francis, the Brothers Comatose, Della Mae, Mapache, Cris Jacobs, Dead Winter Carpenters and tons more on deck. We gotta calm down, it’s still five months out! winterwondergrass.com.

Grab bag: Venerable rock act Big Head Todd and the Monsters comes to Folsom’s Harris Center (8 p.m. Thurs. Nov. 3. $47-$67. www.harriscenter.net); Psych-folk rocker Luke Sweeney celebrates the release of his new album “Rishi” at the Starlet Room (with Baseball Gregg and Fitting. 8 p.m. Thurs. Nov. 10. $12/$14. www.harlows.com); Old Ironsides hosts Tim Baker, frontman of indie rockers Hey Rosetta!, touring behind his richly-layered new record “The Festival” (7:30 p.m. Sat. Nov. 12. $21. www.theoldironsides.com); Traffic frontman Dave Mason visits the Crest Theatre (8 p.m. Wed. Nov. 16. $39.50-$79.50), followed by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s “Wild and Swingin’ Holiday Party” the next night (7:30 p.m. Thurs. Nov. 17. $34.50-$68.50. crestsacramento.com/events); Bay Area barnstormers Poor Man’s Whiskey return to one of their favorite sports, Auburn’s Odd Fellows Lodge, a.k.a. the “Foothill Fillmore” (Sat. Nov. 19. $20-$25. www.eventbrite.com); Instead of Wal-Mart, spend your Black Friday with funk orchestra ORGŌNE at Nevada City’s Miners Foundry (8 p.m. Fri. Nov. 25. $30/$35. www.minersfoundry.org); The Lemonheads celebrate 30 years of “It’s a Shame About Ray” by playing the record in its entirety at Harlow’s (7:30 p.m. Tues. Nov. 29. $35/$40. www.harlows.com).

This story was originally published November 2, 2022 at 11:31 AM.