Greetings loyal readers! I hope everyone made it through Hurricane Sandy without any major damage or losses. How many more American cities will have to be underwater before we decide to do something about our energy deathwish junky mentality? Anyone with a drop of foresight saw this coming a half century ago, but I guess we just hadn’t squeezed the last dollar out of the last drop of oil yet, so nothing could be done, right?

Remember in Superman comics, when he was a babe in a basket on his home planet of Krypton, before he came to Earth and got super? Remember the origin story? His father, a leading scientist, warned that Krypton was going to be torn apart by internal stress, in other words, earthquakes and tsunamis. Politicians laughed at him! As a young child, I thought this was unrealistic, because if a leading scientist had such a dire warning about the fate of a planet, surely he would be believed, right? Guess not! We are definitely living on the Bizarro World (look it up)! Ah well, 12/21/12 is right around the corner. It’ll be interesting to see if anything happens.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program!

This week’s live music picks are as follows.

Wednesday, November 7 – Big things are going on tonight! PHIL LESH’s invasion of the East Coast begins tonight at The Wellmont Theater in Montclair, NJ. The first of three nights at this venue, the tour continues Sunday night with three nights at Roseland Ballroom in Manhattan, and finishes with four nights at the historic, newly reopened Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY, next week. It’s hard to top that, but I believe ROKY ERICKSON at The Bell House in Brooklyn does! At least for rarity of appearance! Roky was the main man for the legendary Texas Psychedelic band, Thirteenth Floor Elevators, and before returning to the music world a few years ago, spent a longer career in and out of mental institutions. The last time I saw him, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top sat in! That’s what I’m tryin’ ta tell ya. The man’s a legend in Texas, and anywhere else where they know good music! And up in Hudson at Club Helsinki, 80’s punk-dance band, HUMAN SEXUAL RESPONSE, rolls through!

Thursday, November 8 – Well, it seems like the only show in town tonight is the second night of PHIL LESH’s three at The Wellmont, so get thee over there!

Friday, November 9 – Phil winds it up at The Wellmont, but more importantly, TEA LEAF GREEN, a band who I’ve only heard a few songs from, but some of those songs are absolutely stunning, stop by The Brooklyn Bowl for the first of a two night run. These guys are really good, really different, and you should really check them out! In Manhattan, LITTLE FEAT and LEON RUSSELL co-headline at Hammerstein Ballroom, and upstate, OZ NOY, ANTON FIG, and WILL LEE are at The Falcon in Marlborough. More info at www.liveatthefalcon.com.

Saturday, November 10 - ROBERT RANDOLPH AND HIS FAMILY BAND bring their magic to The Bearsville Theater in Woodstock for another great WDST produced show. They’re on some run over there! Check the schedule at http://www.bearsvilletheater.com.

Sunday, November 11 – PHIL LESH begins a three night engagement at Roseland Ballroom, and the Bluegrass legends known as DR. RALPH STANLEY AND HIS CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS are at City Winery, both in Manhattan, and guitar virtuoso, KAKI KING, makes a rare NYC appearance at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn.

Monday, November 12 – PHIL LESH continues at Roseland, MADONNA is at Madison Square Garden, and LIVING COLOR celebrates what would have been Jimi Hendrix’s 70^th birthday at City Winery.

Tuesday, November 13 – PHIL LESH closes out his run at Roseland and KAKI KING stops by Le Poisson Rouge, both in Manhattan.

Wednesday, November 14 – THE WHO make their first appearance at Barclay Center in Brooklyn.

Thursday, November 15 – PHIL LESH starts a four day run at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester and The Museum of Modern Art begins a two week retrospective of THE ROLLING STONES in cinema, with showings of some really rare Stones movies. This runs through December 2. More info at www.rollingstones.com.

Stay warm, stay dry, and stay rockin’! Have a great week!

Fred Perry is the owner of Reservoir Music Center on Route 28 in Kingston, and founding member of Alt-Country supergroup, The Brooklyn Cowboys, is from a 3rd generation musical family and lives in the Hudson Valley, where he does what he can to promote live music.