What's Going On: 4/14, 4/15, 4/16 & 4/17, 2016

CoolDad Music Presents: The RocknRoll Hi-Fives, Creamer, Jay Monday at APYC on Saturday, 4/16.

Taxes, Record Store Day, Lots of Shows

Hey! Guess what. April 15th is a holiday -- Emancipation Day -- in the District of Columbia. That means you have until April 18th to file your tax return. You can kick back and take in a few shows, then cram it all in on Monday. With one exception, I'll be pretty scarce out there this weekend as CoolMom has left for another of her business trips and it will be mostly CoolDad / CoolDaughters time. You, though, don't have to miss a thing.

Big D and The Kids Table come to Brighton Bar on Thursday with Counter Punch, Doped Up Dollies, and Teenage Halloween. It's acoustic night at Clash Bar in Clifton with Steve Burks, Chris Skel, Dan Daniels Leroy, Where Is My Spaceship, and Alan Page. Photographer Bob Gruen and Lenny Kaye regale you with stories at House of Independents. The Saint and Princes of Tides host another night of no live music with Captain Fun Ron Santee and Owl Doom Emily Bornemann spinning the tunes.

On Friday night, Flyermile, Experiment 34, and Ashes To Oranges hit Brighton Bar. Psychiatric Metaphors and The Off White make their way up to The Citizen in Jersey City for a show with The Double Negatives and Wicked Hollow. New Brunswick's In The West hosts Weird Fantasy Band, Dasher, Horoscops, Glazer, and Arsenic. Paper Streets do Brooklyn at The Gutter with Best Behavior, The Head, and Ludlow Ejacula. dollys are in Philly at The Storefront with Frontyards, Paperhaus, and Chad Avery.

On Saturday night, there's a really good Hub City Music Festival event at Court Tavern. Things kick off with a panel discussion on how to succeed as an indie rock band featuring Keith Roth, Joe Steinhardt, and Mike Mehalick. The whole thing is moderated by veteran music / entertainment writer, Bob Makin. The discussion is followed by a show featuring The Roadside Graves, The Battery Electric, The Vaughns, Cold Weather Company, and Professor Caveman.

Also on Saturday, Tom Barrett and Janet LaBelle perform at Iris Records in Jersey City for Record Store Day. Nowhere USA in New Brunswick hosts a fundraiser for the extremely worthwhile Malala Fund featuring Morningside Lane, Rocky Catanese, Jean Pool, and The Vansaders. Semiotics take their weekend tour to Suburbia in Brooklyn for a show with Cutters, Brackish, and Nervous Dater. Denizens Of Soil are at The Saint with John Gilman, TrapBang, and Beatrix Potter Band.

That's still not all for Saturday! Over at Asbury Park Yacht Club, CoolDad Music presents our friends and the rockingest family band in the world, The RocknRoll Hi-Fives. If you haven't seen them, you'll want to. They will melt your smiling from ear to ear face right off. They'll be joining Asbury garage rockers, Creamer, as well as Jay Monday on that bill. It's, of course, free.

On Sunday, Nervous Triggers are at Brooklyn's Grand Victory with Heavy Negatives and Pisskvlt. Semiotics come home to Bruns with a show at J House featuring Hodera, Brackish, and Grayling. It's an Asbury Cafe show at The Saint with Willy Porter & Carmen Nickerson along with Neil Nappe.

Get out there and do your thing. See you Saturday at APYC.

THURSDAY (4/14)

Beet Shmerb (New Brunswick): Bird Hotel / Family Medicine / Wishwell, 8pm, donations

The Brighton Bar (Long Branch): Big D and The Kids Table / Counter Punch / Doped Up Dollies / Teenage Halloween, 6pm, $11

Clash Bar (Clifton): Steve Burks / Chris Skel / Dan Daniels Leroy / Where is My Spaceship / Alan Page

Court Tavern (New Brunswick): Carnivora / Lethal Affection / Casket, 8pm, $10

House of Independents (Asbury): Bob Gruen / Lenny Kaye, 8pm, $20