Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra

Second Chance Benefit

Second Chance San Diego will be raising funds and awareness to stop the cycle of incarceration and poverty with a packed bill that includes Deep Sea Thunder Beast, Hurricane Kate, Black Cat Sabbath, and headliners the Fictitious Dishes, who organized and will host the event. Founded in 2014 and based in North Park, the Dishes are an all-female, non-fictitious band whose members have played in local groups like the Dirty Legs, Revenge Club, and the Unruly Bangs, as well as Mandarin Dynasty (now in Portland, OR) and Love Lashes. “As far as musical stylings go,” says the band, “the general indie pop/rock descriptor is probably the easiest to apply, though we have been described as ‘femmepunk.’” An album called You Could Never Be Enough was released in 2015, followed last year by their Frontier Literature EP. Only 50 physical CDs were made for the latter release, each with a unique design hand-created by the band members. “The collage-style artwork features a lot of cats, because Taryn [Popplewell, vocals and guitar] likes them,” says Liz Malloy. “Jacquie [Bazinet, bass and vocals] is more of a dog person. I’m allergic to both. Maggie [Sleeper] plays drums. The art also includes imagery relating to the record content.” Admission is $8 or three full-sized hygiene products, with all door proceeds going directly to Second Chance San Diego.

Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra

In 1996, SDSU English Department alumni Michael Buchmiller, aka Professor B. Miller, created the Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra, an electro-experimental duo pairing him with a singing robot he calls SPO-20. He’s still using old Windows XP programs to synthesize SPO-20’s vocals, so that the diode duo can cover Andy Kaufman, Talking Heads, Kraftwerk, They Might Be Giants, Blues Brothers, the Cure, Devo, and Spinal Tap. They also perform original conceptual sci-fi- and horror-inspired works like “I Stole Your Daddy’s Time Machine,” “What Is the Most Expensive Way To Feed A Zebra,” “Wolfman Rides a Unicycle,” and “Haunted Rental Car.” A self-titled four-disc set was released in 2008, and they were nominated Best Electronic at the 2009 San Diego Music Awards. Subsequent albums have included Experiments with Auto-Croon and last year’s Stop by the Supermarket EP. Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra will debut their newest album Go Caroling, and the evening will also feature Lion Cut’s release party for World Cat Domination.

Gary Heffern

It been almost exactly a year since the frontman of local punk heroes the Penetrators convened an all-star ensemble for what was billed as his farewell performance, Gary Heffern’s Last Waltz, where he was backed by Cindy Lee Berryhill (returning to the scene after a long hiatus while caring for her late husband, rock journalist Paul Williams), Ray Brandes (Tell-Tale Hearts, Mystery Machine), David Doyle (Unknowns), David Fleminger (the Answers, Alvino & the Dwells), Victor Penalosa , (Zeros, Flamin' Groovies), and Kevin Ring (the Shambles, Manual Scan). A film of the event will make its debut at the Casbah. Heffern, who currently lives in Finland, made his local mark in the 1970s with Monotone & the Nucleoids but rose to prominence during his stint with proto-punkers the Penetrators, which included several future Beat Farmers, including Country Dick Montana. His solo albums have included guests such as Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and REM’s Peter Buck, as well as Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), Alejandro Escovedo, and Peter Case. Performers include Last Waltz vets Gary’s Kids, with Brandes, Berryhill, Ring, Fleminger, and Doyle joined this time by Penetrators drummer Joel Kmak (also of the Farmers and Powerthud).

Kiefer Sutherland

Some may think Kiefer Sutherland’s all-time greatest performance was that time he got drunk and tackled a Christmas tree to death in a viral video that threatened to do to his career what all the bad guys in TV Land couldn’t do to 24’s Jack Bauer. However, much like his action alter ego, Sutherland keeps bouncing back for one more run, with new TV shows and even a handful of moderately well received music releases. As far as thespians-turned-troubadours go, he’s no Johnny Depp, but his gravelly delivery and onstage intensity make for a more entertaining evening away from the boob tube than you’ll get from any number of Quaids, Crowes, Paltrows, or Bacon Brothers. Having made his recorded full-length debut in 2016, his sophomore album from earlier this year, Reckless & Me, is a country-ish singer-songwriter showcase drowning in honky-tonk, with a distinctly Canadian take on gospel blues that favorably compares with geographical contemporaries such as Levon Helm and The Band. He’s earned Americana radio play with recent singles like “Open Road,” “Something You Love,” and “This Is How It’s Done,” with a rowdy black and white performance video for the latter track that looks like a cross between vintage MTV-era ZZ Top and the country bar chicken-wire scene in The Blues Brothers.

Hellyeah

Dallas-bred heavy metal screamers Hellyeah went almost unnoticed back in 2015 when they opened for Slayer and King Diamond in Chula Vista, but they’ve gone on to become one of their genre’s leading and loudest lights. They’ve steadily been moving up the local venue hierarchy, from Brick by Brick to Observatory North Park and now this, their sophomore appearance at downtown’s House of Blues. This time, they’ll again be augmented by guitarist Tom Maxwell, who had to bow out of last summer’s tour due to a hand injury. The group is supporting their sixth studio album Welcome Home, released in September along with a single for “Black Flag Army” and featuring drum tracks recorded with the late Vinnie Paul before he died in 2018. The HOB show will see Paul replaced by Stone Sour drummer Roy Mayorga, who is now apparently doing full-time double-duty with Hellyeah.