In the mood for some live tunes this weekend? Here are my picks on where to go and what to hear:

FRIDAY

Forget about shows this Friday. Rest up. Saturday is where it is at.

SATURDAY

Blues guitarist Scott Holt spend 10 years cutting his teeth as a member of Buddy Guy’s band. He followed the solo road after that. Six albums later — including studio work with Little Feat and Tab Benoit — Holt brings his band to The Chesterfield, 1225 Fourth St., for a 9 p.m. show. $10 at the door.

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No, you have not somehow been transported back to 1996. Yes, that was the last time Sioux City-based Celtic folk rock group Jain Jeffer graced a stage, but this a reunion show that’s going down at the Sioux City Live Music Club (Eagles Club), 416 Jackson St. Guitarists Ray McAvoy and Jerry Kessler, vocalist Ruth O’Really and violin virtuoso Buckly Mills — in town from Nashville where he is a studio musician – take the stage at 9 p.m. $5 at the door.

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Each weekend Rhonda Capron, the namesake of Rhonda’s Speakeasy, 212 Cunningham Drive, books a regional band for customers who want to listen to live music and not pay a cover charge to do so. Noble. This Saturday at 5 p.m. she’s charging, but there is more bang for the musical buck going down. The annual Rhonda’s Rockfest features Board of Directors, Top Down, Toxic Brew, Going Nowhere and Small Change. $15 or $10 and two cans of food.

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If you have a sober driver you may want to considering heading up Highway 75 to Le Mars, Iowa, for the Summer of Underground music festival. Created as a way to highlight some of the lesser-known, more alternative bands that call Siouxland home, eight groups have been booked for the outdoor space around the Olson Event Center. And Remote, 66 Crush, Bullets for Babys, Lazer Rocket Arm, Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell, Killing Floor, 315 and Styles That Satisfy start at 2 p.m. $6

Sad news for anyone who has ever picked up an electric guitar. The father of the instrument, Les Paul, has passed. The Associated Press reports:

Les Paul, the guitarist and inventor who changed the course of music with the electric guitar and multitrack recording and had a string of hits, many with wife Mary Ford, died on Thursday. He was 94.

According to Gibson Guitar, Paul died of complications from pneumonia at White Plains Hospital. His family and friends were by his side.

He had been hospitalized in February 2006 when he learned he won two Grammys for an album he released after his 90th birthday, “Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played.”

“I feel like a condemned building with a new flagpole on it,” he joked.

As an inventor, Paul helped bring about the rise of rock ‘n’ roll and multitrack recording, which enables artists to record different instruments at different times, sing harmony with themselves, and then carefully balance the “tracks” in the finished recording.

With Ford, his wife from 1949 to 1962, he earned 36 gold records and 11 No. 1 pop hits, including “Vaya Con Dios,” “How High the Moon,” “Nola” and “Lover.” Many of their songs used overdubbing techniques that Paul the inventor had helped develop.

“I could take my Mary and make her three, six, nine, 12, as many voices as I wished,” he recalled. “This is quite an asset.” The overdubbing technique was highly influential on later recording artists such as the Carpenters.

The use of electric guitar gained popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s, and then exploded with the advent of rock the 1950s.

“Suddenly, it was recognized that power was a very important part of music,” Paul once said. “To have the dynamics, to have the way of expressing yourself beyond the normal limits of an unamplified instrument, was incredible. Today a guy wouldn’t think of singing a song on a stage without a microphone and a sound system.”

A tinkerer and musician since childhood, he experimented with guitar amplification for years before coming up in 1941 with what he called “The Log,” a four-by-four piece of wood strung with steel strings.

“I went into a nightclub and played it. Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut.” He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a tradition guitar shape.

In 1952, Gibson Guitars began production on the Les Paul guitar.

Pete Townsend of The Who, Steve Howe of Yes, jazz great Al DiMeola and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page all made the Gibson Les Paul their trademark six-string.

Over the years, the Les Paul series has become one of the most widely used guitars in the music industry. In 2005, Christie’s auction house sold a 1955 Gibson Les Paul for $45,600.

Yes, music fans, it’s Iowa State Fair time.

No, that doesn’t mean this writer is pumped to eat a variety of items stabbed with a stick. It means this writer is considering making the drive to our state capitol to catch a few of the musical acts booked on stages both free and costly.

The mix of grandstand and free stage entertainment is quite eclectic this year. Consider this, on one of the five free stages, one night Sioux City’s Orchestra performs. Days later hip-hop artist Coolio looks to take Hawkeyes on a fantastic voyage. The fair, it seems, really has something for everyone.

And pork chops on sticks.

Here’s who is booked to perform in Des Moines:

Aug. 13

Grandstand: Steven Curtis Champman and Jeremy Camp, 8 p.m., $27. Christian.

Free: The Nadas, Firefall, Trailer Choir.

Aug. 14

Aug. 16

Aug. 18

Aug. 19

Grandstand: Tractor pull.

Free: Hairball, Vocal Trash, Papa Doo Run Run, Jason Brown

Aug. 20

FRIDAY

Only four of the 2009 Fridays on the Promenade concerts remain. Up this week at the outdoor space surrounding the Roth Fountain, corner of Fourth & Virginia streets, is G.B. Leighton, an indie rock band hailing from the Twin Cities. Nothing flashy with these guys, just straight-forward rock music. What’s impressive about the band fronted by Brian Leighton is that the group has released 10 albums, selling over 70,000 copies. The six-piece group has achieved this without the backing of a record label. Bring a lawn chair to the 6 p.m. concert. $2 at the gate. Rain location is The Chesterfield, 1225 Fourth St.

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Taking off my unbiased journalist hat, I’m going to offer my opinion that Mat d. is one of the most talented musicians currently calling Sioux City home. As a guitarist he’s solid, but it’s the lyrics he pens that makes him a talent of note. For this 8 p.m. gig at Meet Virginia, 306 Virginia St., Mat d. leaves the backing band at home and strips down for an intimate set. FREE.

SATURDAY

If rain stays away, the riverfront should be a great spot to waste away Saturday. Rock cover band Wavelength would like to assist you in that effort. This band takes to the outdoor stage in Sioux City’s often overlooked scenic Missouri River beer garden at Jolly Rogers, 1110 Larsen Park Rd. (next to Bev’s), at 9 p.m. FREE.

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Finally, fans of the blues may want to visit Rhonda’s Speakeasy, 212 Cunningham Drive, Saturday night for a set by Mo’ Doogus that begins at 9 p.m. Mo’ Doogus formed less than a year ago and hails from Norfolk. Using the talents of a female lead singer, Mo’ Doogus covers everyone from Muddy Waters to Deep Purple. FREE.

In this Monday, Aug. 3, 2009 photo, Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler speaks to fans before at the start of the Legends Ride, in Deadwood, S.D. Tyler of Aerosmith suffered head, neck and shoulder injuries in a tumble from the stage at a South Dakota concert and joked about the fall as he was put into the helicopter to be taken to a hospital, a concert spokesman said Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Steve McEnroe)

From the Associated Press
STURGIS, S.D. (AP) – Aerosmith postponed at least one weekend concert after frontman Steven Tyler fell off the stage at a South Dakota show and suffered what a concert spokesman said were head, neck and shoulder injuries.

Tyler, 61, fell several feet while dancing around as the sound crew replaced a fuse that blew during the song “Love in an Elevator,” Mike Sanborn, spokesman for the Buffalo Chip Campground, said Thursday.

Buffalo Chip hosted the Wednesday concert during which an amateur video showed Tyler spinning around before falling.

A concertgoer said Tyler’s head was bleeding and he was holding his shoulder after the fall, but it remained unclear Thursday how seriously he was hurt. The frontman was airlifted to Rapid City Regional Hospital, Sanborn said. A hospital spokeswoman would not confirm whether Tyler was there, and a representative for Aerosmith’s publicity firm said only that the company was gathering information.

The band’s Friday concert in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was postponed. On June 28, Tyler hurt his leg at a concert in Uncasville, Conn., and the band postponed seven shows in July. Tyler also battled pneumonia before the tour began in June, while guitarist Joe Perry fought a knee infection.

Tyler, whose performances often include swaying and grinding on microphone stands adorned with scarves, was dancing on a catwalk Wednesday night that was connected to the main stage.

“He does a lot of dancing on the stage and he does a lot of stuff with his mike stand. He put his stand down and twirled around and stepped backwards off the stage,” Sanborn said.

Many in the crowd thought it was part of the act, said Jessica Kokesh, a University of South Dakota journalism student who covered the concert for the Rapid City Journal.

“We thought maybe he stage-dived into the crowd, but he didn’t get back up,” Kokesh said.

Tyler landed on a couple of fans, Sanborn said, and security rushed to help him. The crowd cheered when Tyler was helped up.

“There was like a big sigh, a collective ‘Whoa’ from everybody,” said Chuck Baker, 53, of Denver, who was about 20 rows from the stage when Tyler fell.

The rocker was taken backstage, where a physician attended to him. Later, Perry told the audience the show would not go on.

Jake Cohen was in the VIP area backstage and didn’t see the fall, but said he saw Tyler afterward.

“When they took him out, he was bleeding from his head and holding his shoulder,” said Cohen, a salesman for Tyler’s Dirico Motorcycles line.

Tyler, known for hits such as “Walk This Way” and “Dream On,” promoted his motorcycle line at Sturgis last year and was back to do the same and play at Buffalo Chip.

He was known for heavy drug and alcohol abuse in the 1970s and early 1980s. Every member of the blues-rock five-piece went to rehab in the mid-1980s, and the group staged an improbable comeback with the MTV generation. They were also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Just a quick reminder that Justin Kisor, brother of Jazz at Lincoln Center musician Ryan and son of legendary retired North High School Jazz Band teacher Larry, is set to play a gig with local group Mosaic at Momo’s Piano Bar, 528 Pierce St., tonight at 7 p.m. $3 at the door.

Tickets are now on sale for the Sept. 4 concert by award-winning country singer Neal McCoy at WinnaVegas Casino.

McCoy, known for such chart-topping hits as “Wink,” “No Doubt About It” and “Billy’s Got His Beer Goggles On,” has released 10 albums, three of which achieved platinum status. Performing a neo-traditionalist brand of honky tonk, this Texas-born half-Filipino/half-Irish singer earned the TNN/Music City News “Entertainer of the Year” award three consecutive times in the late-90s.

McCoy’s appearance at the Sloan, Iowa, casino is scheduled for 8 p.m. Sept. 4. Tickets cost $20 in advance, $30 at the door and an overnight hotel package is available for $140. Tickets are available by calling WinnaVegas at 800-468-9466 or by visiting winnavegas.biz.

I don’t know what’s going on lately, but it seems every musician rolling into Sioux City to perform wants to conduct an interview via e-mail. Convenient for them, sure, but awkward and boring for me.

So, to spice it up a bit (and mess with them for not giving me 15 minutes on the phone), I’ve been sending out rather strange questionnaires to musicians such as White Snake’s David Coverdale and now ZZ Top’s guitar slinger Billy Gibbons. Gibbons was a great sport about it, weighing in on everything from Texas to the ZZ Top girls from his videos.

Here are the 10 True or False questions I sent Gibbons and his responses. Enjoy.

1. True or False: The ZZ Top Girls from your ’80s music videos are kept in a “hot chicks” room in your basement.False. Their daughters down there.

S’more or less true.

3. True or False: The “F” in Billy F. Gibbons stands for “Freakazoid.”Good guess but the truth is that it stands for “Fonky.”

We support truth in advertising so hard to find fault with this approach.

5. True or False: You clean your 1959 “Pearly Gates” Les Paul with feathers plucked from the wings of an angel.

Absolutely true and then we shine it down with sweat gathered at intersection of routes 61 and 49 just outside Clarkedale, MS. Big mojo a gogo!

6. True or False: The Texas bank robber the FBI has nicknamed “The ZZ Top Bandit” is in fact Frank Beard in disguise.The ultimate disguise for the man named Beard who doesn’t wear his namesake.

7. True or False: You were a much better WWE RAW host than Shaquille O’Neal.

Because it’s true that Shaq is bigger and stronger than Dusty and me put together, we have no choice but to disagree.

8. True of False: In contrast to your hit song “Cheap Sunglasses,” Ray-Bans are your shades of choice.

We spread the dark around among numerous brands. Because they’re so easy to lose, we like to buy ‘em in bulk, especially those down ‘n dirty ones that are stapled to a cardboard display at truckstops that feature 25 cents-a-shot spray cologne in the men’s room.

9. True or False: Your daily driver is a Toyota Prius.

False. We got a plug-in ‘58 T-bird in the garage and a hydrogen-powered ‘65 Chevy lowrider parked out front.

10. True or False: It is now officially okay to mess with Texas.

False: IT’S NEVER, EVER OK TO MESS WITH TX.

ZZ Top performs at 8 p.m. tonight at the Tyson Events Center.

In the mood for some live tunes this weekend? Here are my picks on where to go and what to hear:

SATURDAY

This day belongs to the memory of Sioux City’s own rock star, Tommy Bolin. Tommy, as those of us born before 1970 may remember, grew up in Sioux City and left for Colorado at an early age to pursue music. The guitarist soon found fame, eventually joining Deep Purple and The James Gang. He also found time to release two successful solo albums. Although he passed away in 1976 at the age of 25 from a drug overdose, his memory lives on annually at the Tommy Bolin Fest. This year eight bands, many of which feature people who played with Bolin, are scheduled to perform at The Chesterfield, 1225 Fourth St., beginning at 1 p.m. The lineup is: Black Oak Arkansas, Tommy Bolin Tribute Band, Bobby Berge’s Bashers, 66 Crush, Small Change, Shallow Haze, Strategy and The Outlet. Cover at the door is $10.

SUNDAY

If there is a middle-aged woman in your life you already know about Michael Bolton concert at the Orpheum Theatre, 520 Pierce St. If the Sioux City audience is lucky, the man who ditched his long locks will debut a few songs from his album slated to be released in September. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. $44.50 and up.

Bad news for music fans excited for the free Big Head Todd & The Monsters gig slated for Aug. 8 at Preservation Plaza in Arnolds Park, Iowa.

Word from show promoters today is the concert has been canceled due to drummer Brian Nevin unexpectedly suffering from a medical condition that needs immediate attention.

No official announcement has been made about a replacement band, but I’ve heard from solid sources another booking is in the works.