On Wednesday, May 6, guitar pioneer Alan Holdsworth played to a small yet enthusiastic crowd at The German House. Holdsworth is an extremely effects-laden player, yet he still hovers around discernable melodies as opposed to the sonic washes and soundscapes of those who use chorus and flangers and reverb. To deconstruct it completely, Holdsworth plays like a saxophone player with a guitar in his call-and-response approach. But on Wednesday night his playing was at times just call, call, call. The mind filled in the rest.

Got in on the Recession Procession Thursday night in the South Wedge and caught Gordon Munding's Son House Night at Beale Street. This jam has really grown, as there was a steady parade of instruments being carried in throughout the night. My night ended with 40 Rod Lightning at Downstairs at the German House (formerly known as The Keg). 40 Rod played a marathon set, and it's nice to see them get loose, and in some cases unravel. Tool, Judas Priest, and Metallica got twanged and countrified, as did the band's edgy originals. They're nice boys and all, but they sure do sing an awful lot about killing.

When I saw Rickie Lee Jones almost 20 years ago, she refused to play "Danny's All-Star Joint," a swingin' boogie-woogie number from her first album. When she called me last week, I brought it up, and added that it would be nice if she dusted it off this time around. Well, not only did she dust it off, she opened her set at Highland Bowl with it Saturday afternoon, and dedicated it to me. I almost squealed like a bobby-soxer. Jones' set was lackadaisical, as she led her band though arrangements that seemed more like whims. Her voice remains that mixture of innocence and hipster saavy.

By the time I bailed during Dr. John's set on account of the overhead inclemency, he was strolling mellow and low down. Dressed like a Mardi Gras pimp on Easter Sunday, the doctor parked between his piano and organ, and kept it relatively blue with his trademark rasp and snarl.

Sunday the weather continued to apply the suction. I was able to see The Goods in the most appropriate setting for the band's big sound: outside. It was the best set I've heard from this band ever, with just enough mean thrown in with the multi-dimensional sweet to keep it cool. Blue Jimmy followed, playing tight as ever, switching between country and world-ish pop. I love this band no matter what it does, but really dig Blue Jimmy's country the most.