Tim’s Picks: It’s what’s happening this weekend
Jazz with Wynton Marsalis, drag, chamber, the return of Hard n’ Heavy and a Rec Room series begins. Your guide to what’s going on.
By Tim Brouk / For Based in Lafayette
Veronica’s Drag Race, 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, Rat Pak Venue, 102 N. Third St., Lafayette — She may not have the bank account of RuPaul, but Veronica Fox is like our own Mother Ru in terms of promoting shows, showcasing less experienced talents and keeping the drag scene fresh. Fox’s latest creation is a localized version of “Drag Race,” the popular drag queen competition and reality show hosted by RuPaul. This weekend, Fox will introduce local and regional contestants Binxxx, Whortney, Cole DeBrew, Magic Mike, Lil Majesty, Anitta Postman and Cryptina as they perform routines for the judges and audience. They will also showcase their personalities and talents that go into their drag personas. One will win while the others must sashay away.
After the closure of Lafayette Brewing Company, One Size Fits All, Lafayette’s own improv comedy troupe, quickly pivoted to find a new venue for its 21+ events. Rat Pak Venue will now be hosting these shows, which are always new, fresh and based from audience suggestions. One Size will still perform regularly at Civic Theatre of Greater Lafayette for its all-ages events, but major propers to Rat Pak for taking this long-standing group of funny people. One Size’s first Rat Pak show is set for 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. $12.
Frank Muffin with THIS and Moore-Benge, 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, The Arts Federation, 638 North St., Lafayette — A new all-ages, local concert series kicks off this weekend in downtown Lafayette. REC Room LIVE, inspired by the nonprofit recording studio of the same name within The Arts Federation (TAF), will extend local musicians’ presence at the area arts center. Lafayette rock stalwarts Frank Muffin will be a perfect first headliner for the series, having performed its epic ELO tribute in that same space back in 2023. Opening will be new rock band THIS and solo acoustic pop from Moore-Benge, a recent user of the REC Room studio. $10, $5 for students.
Hard n’ Heavy Showcase with The Mound Builders, We’d Be, Salem’s Childe and Graveripper, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, North End Pub, 2100 Elmwood Ave., Lafayette — Before The Doom Room, before members of Salivus could even read and before most every weekend having a metal show somewhere in Lafayette, there was the Hard n’ Heavy Showcase, a monthly concert at the old Jerilee’s Pub — now North End Pub — that gave local and regional bands a chance to play a bar in Lafayette. Most Greater Lafayette bars back then would be like those stiffs in a Twisted Sister video clutching their pearls at the sound of just one blast beat. Booked and promoted by Mark Slone and his big-haired alter ego Roger Rockitt, these showcases were often the only source of live local heaviness we could get in the mid-to-late-‘00s. This weekend, Hard n’ Heavy is back for its 20th anniversary and will feature an interesting mix of acts: It will be the triumphant return of We’d Be, a melodic death metal band that ruled here from 2012-2022, and the return of Graveripper, which is led by former Lafayette guitarist and vocalist Corey Parks. The other half of the bill consists of bands that feature members that played the first Hard n’ Heavy’s way back in 2006. While The Mound Builders have ruled the Lafayette metal science for well over a decade, it was the old metal trio Black Damp, which featured Mound Builders guitarist Brian Boszor, that played the first Hard n’ Heavy. The Mound Builders will welcome guest guitarist Kenny Stinson for a few tunes. Stinson was in Kevorkain’s Machine that played that first showcase. Kokomo’s Salem’s Childe had members that played early Hard n’ Heavy’s as well. While Hard n’ Heavy’s don’t come around as much anymore, they helped make what the metal scene here is today: strong, loud, diverse in sounds — and hard and heavy, of course. $10
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, Elliott Hall of Music, Purdue University — The cancellation of the annual Purdue Jazz Festival last weekend due to winter weather was a bad note for area jazz fans, but one of the nation’s most popular living trumpeters may help remedy things. Wynton Marsalis, Pulitzer Prize and nine-time Grammy winner, will lead the famed Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in one of the biggest jazz shows at Purdue in some time. Marsalis and his musicians will blaze through big band standards and new tunes alike. Based in New York, the Lincoln Center is one of the top venues for jazz in the country so it’s great that some of the best jazz musicians save us a plane ticket and come right here to Purdue. Speaking of, the Purdue Jazz Band will perform an opening set on the region’s largest stage, which will be an experience the student musicians will never forget. $5-$25. Tickets.
“Music of Many Places” with Tippecanoe Chamber Music Society, 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1, St. John’s Episcopal Church, 600 Ferry St., Lafayette — An ensemble of local and regional classical musicians will perform a program of American, English and eastern European folk songs, which celebrate those respective regions. These chamber musicians will perform pieces for piano, baritone and strings including Antonin Dvorak’s “Piano Quintet in A Major,” American 20th century composer Samuel Barber’s “Dover Beach” and “Santa Fe Songs” by Ned Rorem, a composer born in Richmond, Indiana, that was best known for his “art songs.” $20, free for students. Tickets.
Tim Brouk is a longtime arts and entertainment reporter. He writes here (almost) weekly, tracking things to do for Based in Lafayette.
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