This week: race cars, VOCAB, Blake-ie

Chicago psych-folk group Blake/e/e/e (pronounced “Blake-ie,” says their not terribly helpful publicist) will join the similarly eclectic Indy-based Beat Debris and country swingers The Roundups for a little musical accompaniment to May 2’s First Friday Herron show at Big Car Gallery. Blake/e/e/e’s debut Border Radio is a fine, genre-shattering listen, and also the first release on Zionsville-based Freefolk Records (www.freefolkrecords.com). Admission is a $5 suggested donation for the 10 p.m. show.

The spoken-word event VOCAB has been holding down the first Tuesday of the month at the Casba (6319 Guilford Ave.) for a little over a year. This week, the featured speaker is N’Saychable (sound it out) with El Carnicero and Scott Metallic on the turntables. The mic is, of course, open for all who care to share, and you’ll save $2 on the $5 cover if you spit something out. It all starts at 9 p.m.

Also Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., soul rock chanteuse Jennie DeVoe is headlining the third annual Firestone Racing Evening of Giving at the Music Mill. It’s a large-scale fundraiser — $40 per ticket with donations encouraged — benefiting Racing for Corey, Indiana Children’s Wish Fund and IRL Kids. Ages 18 and over only.

Last week: Furnaces, Acorn, German opera

Kudos to those who showed up for the Fiery Furnaces show April 22 at Locals Only, a last-minute addition to the schedule of the Brooklyn-based band. They apparently weren’t too pleased with their last gig locally, and very nearly passed us by. It’s fortunate that they didn’t because they ended up putting on a great show, with the rich and jammy counterpoint of keyboard (the String Cheese Incident’s Kyle Hollingsworth) and piano (Matthew Friedberger on the stand-up one in the corner of the Locals stage), as well as Eleanor Friedberger on vocals and electric guitar, and very solid drums by Bob D’Amico.

Action Strasse was game to open, with Vess Ruhtenberg just back from his Austin gig with the Zero Boys, which you can and should read all about at www.nuvo.net/travelblog. (Jeff Napier and Melonshe followed the Boys south for an amazing show and saw concerts by Bobby Bare Jr. and Stephen Makmus for good measure.) Guitars by Zeps and Ruhtenberg were solid; Vess’ mostly political if slightly cryptic utterances served as oblique song introductions throughout a tight and catchy set. See the photo recap at nuvo.net.

Fewer folks showed up to the Acorn show Thursday, so many missed a terrific and nuanced performance by the Ottawa-based band, which covered most of the material from their Glory Hope Mountain (released domestically this year). Opening were Ryan Reidy from Sisters and Christian Taylor from America Owns the Moon, both accompanying themselves on the electric guitar. It’s hard to get too excited for a slim crowd, but both acquitted themselves well, with Reidy closing his set on a Madonna cover (and playing a Sisters tune I like very much), and Taylor working up new material against his pleasantly off-kilter guitar style.

Click over to nuvo.net/music if you care to read what I thought about the McFerrin/DeJohnette/Corea concert Friday night at Clowes. In a few words, I loved it, especially the backwards German experimental opera.