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Veteran psychobilly rockers Nashville Pussy rock The Ritz on Feb. 15.

SAP CENTER
San Jose | sapcenter.com

Marc Anthony
Feb 8
Salsa music has no bigger presence on the world stage than New York-born superstar Marc Anthony. Having turned 50 last fall, the charismatic Grammy-winning vocalist and actor obviously has grand things on his mind. Why else call your latest tour "Legacy"? He has not released a new recording since 2013's triumphant 3.0, but America's favorite salsero now has close to three decades of artistry to draw from. That's quite a legacy.

BING STUDIO
Stanford | live.stanford.edu

Leyla McCalla
Feb 8
She came from a family of Haitian activist refugees, but Leyla McCalla has emerged as the most American of musicians. Known as both a commanding vocalist and a fine cellist, McCalla was inspired by the poet Langston Hughes, honed her craft as a street musician in the French Quarter of New Orleans, and eventually signed on with the celebrated all-black string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops. On her new album Capitalist Blues, she's now engaged in another quintessentially American activity: protest.

Justin Vivian Bond
Mar 8-9
You got Bieber, you got Timberlake and then—for something completely different—you have that other Justin. This veteran transgender cabaret performer has put together a glorious career in queer-friendly venues, bouncing merrily between San Francisco, New York and London. Known for the unforgettable alter ego Kiki DuRane, and for collaborations with Rufus Wainwright and John Cameron Mitchell (of Hedwig and the Angry Inch fame), Bond has crossed genres into film and memoir, but is most at home on the stage.

Meow Meow & Thomas Lauderdale
Mar 20
One of them—the one who named herself after a kitty's mewlings—is an Australian-born cabaret singer known for her particularly surreal stage persona, and the other is the founder of the saucy Portland lounge band Pink Martini. Together, Meow Meow and Thomas Lauderdale form a mini Coachella of camp, delightfully dancing through a variety of styles, bringing a perverse sense of humor and a transgressive kind of sexual danger to the art of chantuesing. Imagine if David Lynch directed Cabaret.

THE RITZ
San Jose | theritzsanjose.com

Mudhoney
Feb 9
Pull at the tap root of Nirvana, Soundgarden or Pearl Jam and eventually you'll get to Mudhoney, the often overlooked pioneering band of the "grunge" era destined to go down in history as Kurt Cobain's favorite band and primary influence. Maybe because they never got the payday of their most famous brethren, even 30 years after their debut recording, Mudhoney is as rowdy and aggressive as ever. Just check out their latest album, 2018's Digital Garbage, which is as angry and dirty as anything they've ever done. Mellowing with age, apparently, is for whiskey and millionaires.

Nashville Pussy
Feb 15
It would surprise exactly no one that Nashville Pussy is a crazed, psychobilly band from the Deep South, and not, say, a chamber ensemble from Vienna. The band is as raunchy and deranged as its name indicates with such gems not likely to be embraced by your mom as Hate and Whiskey and Hell Ain't What It Used to Be. The band's female guitarist has even done time with a notorious band called—we kid you not—Dick Delicious & the Tasty Testicles. That's the southern redneck version of gangsta.

CITY NATIONAL CIVIC
San Jose | sanjosetheaters.org

El Tri
Feb 15
No band looms larger in the story of Mexican rock than El Tri, still fronted by illustrious guitarist Alex Lora who is entering his sixth decade of cranking it up to 11. (Dude even has a statue in his hometown of Puebla, Mexico). El Tri is an offshoot of the band Three Souls in My Mind which first started gigging back in the acid-flashback heyday of the late 1960s, and today proudly carries on the tradition of blues, metal and psychedelic rock long after other bands have been carried off into rock & roll heaven.

Gordon Lightfoot
Mar 5
In the 1970s, nobody had the lonely, wistful, untamed Man-of-the-West thing down quite as well as Gordon Lightfoot. The Canadian singer and songwriter scored a string of hits in his time, the most unlikely one being an interminably long story-song about a shipwreck in the Great Lakes. Now in his '80s, Lightfoot is still touring, mindful that his old-soul songs fit well with the reflections that come with the twilight years. That Carefree Highway apparently goes on forever.

SCHULZ CULTURAL HALL
Palo Alto | paloaltojcc.org

Marina Maximilian
Mar 19
As a precocious pre-teen, Ukraine-born Israeli vocalist Marina "Maximilian" Blumin borrowed her stage name from Russell Crowe's heroic role in the 2000 film Gladiator. In the years since, she has risen to meet the high expectations of that moniker with a career that has taken her from classical piano to jazz singing to becoming one of Israel's most charismatic stage performers. She was touring at 15 and winning TV competition shows at 20, and is only now reaching her musical prime.