Continued: Basilica Block Party: Tonight, with no green grass

As local band reunions go -- and, let's face it, some local bands go for it too often for "reunion" to mean anything -- tonight's performance by the Jayhawks at the Basilica Block Party is a big one.

It's their first hometown performance with original co-vocalist Mark Olson since 1995, right before Olson quit the band. It's only the second time with keyboardist Karen Grotberg, who played in the best-remembered mid-'90s era of the band. And it's the first advertised local performance by any lineup of the Jayhawks since 2003. It also might be their only one for the next six years.

It feels pretty significant to the band members themselves, too, even after they already played a few other reunion gigs together in Spain since last summer.

"It definitely means more to us doing it here," bassist Marc Perlman said. "At least, my phone's been ringing off the hook over this one."

Adding to the momentum of tonight's show is the fact that the band's first-ever anthology, "Music From the North Country," just came out Tuesday on Sony-distributed American Recordings. The new set includes one CD with 20 best-of tracks and another with 20 outtakes and demos, plus a DVD featuring videos and live clips. Rolling Stone already called it a "note-perfect set" in a four-star review.

The local reunion gig and the compilation CDs were still tentatively on the table in February, when Olson and the band's leader till its remarkably unbitter end, Gary Louris, played two shows at the Varsity Theater to promote their duo CD, "Ready for the Flood." Both singers made it clear then they're eager to play more Jayhawks gigs -- but not too many.

"I know we'll do more of it," Louris said. "Whether we make another record or do another tour, I don't know about that. That would be like trying recapture old glories on the football field. But I think we were a unique band in that we never really went downhill after Mark left. We just went in different direction."

Louris and Olson will return from another European tour, which included a stop at the Glastonbury Festival, just in time to hammer out one day of rehearsal with the rest of the band, also including drummer Tim O'Reagan. Both O'Reagan and Perlman have continued playing music post-Jayhawks, with O'Reagan issuing a critically praised solo album on Lost Highway Records in 2006 and Perlman recording and performing with singer Janey Winterbauer as Marc & Janey. Grotberg left the group in 1996 to raise her daughter.

Perlman said they have all remained friends.

"We never had any blowouts or anything like that," he said, talking glowingly about the recent Spanish gigs. "Everybody had a good time. It felt good."

As in Spain, Perlman predicted that the set list for tonight will mostly be cultivated from the Olson-era albums "Hollywood Town Hall" and "Tomorrow the Green Grass." He also predicted the band will do just a handful of other gigs in other cities to promote the new anthology. But in both cases, he added, "You never know. We kind of go with whatever works for everyone."

And like most of the fans, Perlman was disappointed to learn their Basilica set is on a different stage opposite the Black Crowes, who are old friends of the band and often call up Louris to the stage at their local gigs. There's only a 15-minute gap where their sets don't overlap.

"Gary's going to have to sprint to get over there," Perlman quipped. "I'd better warn him to get in shape."

When City on the Make's CD-release party was abruptly canceled at the 400 Bar last weekend, it set off rumors that the operators of the historic West Bank venue were closing up shop. In fact, the opposite is true. The 400 will go dark for the next few weeks, in which time co-operators Tom and Bill Sullivan plan to settle a deal with a close friend of theirs who's coming aboard as a new partner (one with deeper pockets).

"Plus, July always sucks for us, anyway," Tom said in his usual candor.

Under the new ownership deal, the bar could see some structural and sonic upgrades and other improvements, but the Sullivans plan to keep booking live music as their mainstay, especially road shows. Their first gig back from hiatus will be Texas wild man Scott H. Biram on July 23. Other upcoming bookings include the Butchers & the Builders, Slobberbone and Joe Pernice, plus one very big name in September that's under wraps for now.

Chalk up the City on the Make cancellation to a typical club/band dispute, but the band was able to move the show to the Bedlam Theatre and nobody got hurt. Not any more than a usual COTM gig, anyway.

Newly signed to Fat Possum Records' rawer, grittier subsidiary, Legal Mess Records -- the only label-signing announcement I think I've printed so far this year -- howling, guitar-grinding, horn-blowing, butt-kicking soul-rock octet Chooglin' has risen to the occasion with a sophomore album that's at once more refined and livelier and uglier than its debut.

The record deal afforded the band time at Creation Studios (see: Trashmen, Replacements), and it paid off with a classic, big-room, '70s coke-rock kind of sound. Band leaders Brian Vanderwerf and Jesse Tomlinson shred up their guitars as much as their vocal cords on full-tilt workouts like "Airport Bar" and "Take Your Sweet Time." Drummer Shawn Walker (also of Gay Witch Abortion) shows off his boogying side without losing his thunder, while the band's three-piece horn section is a showpiece throughout the disc, just like at Chooglin's renowned live gigs. The guys have a lot of those coming up, including a CD party Saturday at 7th Street Entry (10 p.m., $6), plus another set at next weekend's Deep Blues Festival, where they more or less earned their record deal last year.

1. The 757s had better watch their backs. There's another new band of local-music vets kicking up some noise together as the Valley Few, and a new EP they're promoting Saturday at the 331 Club (10 p.m., free) confirms they, too, are something to behold. The quintet is led by Mike Brady (ex-Accident Clearinghouse) and includes Walker Kong members Tony Mogelson, Kevin Riach and Peter Robelia, plus Paul DesCombaz, who played with Brady and some of the other guys in the short-lived, much-loved First Prize Killers. This is their most killer stuff yet. The eponymous debut kicks off with the snarly rocker "All the Good Girls Are Gone" and burns through four more scrappy, choppy, exuberant gems that sound like Television's tangled guitars with Kinks/Big Star pop melodies and the Hold Steady's haggard energy.

2. Speaking of comparisons, the promo sticker on Pictures of Then's new CD, "The Wicked Sea," promises traces of Dr. Dog, Wilco, Spoon and the Band. Frankly, the only one of those I hear is Dr. Dog's spacey boogie, and just faintly, but there is plenty else to get out of the 12-track sophomore effort. Iowan frontman Casey Call has a wiry voice that stretches from rock-star howl to full falsetto, and his brother Joe Call pounds out terrifically bouncy, stop/go rhythms. The brothers and their cohorts landed a couple tracks from their last disc on MTV ("The Hills," "The Real World") and have tour dates around the Midwest all summer. Their party is tonight at the Uptown Bar (10 p.m., $5).

3. With a moniker that suggests a black-clad death-metal band, Brutal Becomings is actually a new instrumental/experimental trio featuring drummer Peter Leggett (Heiruspecs), bassist Noah Paster (Aneuritical, Askeleton) and guitarist Steve McPherson (Big Trouble), guys more likely to wear Converse than black leather boots. Their debut, "White Lodge," offers a wild whir of spastic noise, charmingly lo-fi prog-rock and lots of other freaky sounds, all which sounds like it's way more fun to perform than listen to. But it's still pretty great for the latter. They're promoting the CD before Lookbook tonight at the 501 Club (10 p.m., free).

After several years dabbling with live instrumentation, Nordeast hip-hop duo the Unknown Prophets have made an entire record without their turntable and beat machines, which they will preview tonight at the Fine Line along with a new backing group. This is no slouch live unit, either. It includes Bill Mike on guitar (Haley Bonar, Bill Mike Band), drummer Greg Schaal (Sicbay) and bassist Matt Helgeson (Maps of Norway). Coincidentally or not, tonight's opener More Than Lights is Kanser's live-band offshoot (10 p.m., $7). ...

Saturday's gig at the St. John's Block Party in Rochester is one of only a handful of gigs the normally nomadic Cloud Cult will play in our area -- and only our area -- through the fall, and there's a good reason for that: Frontman Craig Minowa and his painter/bandmate/wife Connie are expecting a child in October. Their other shows include the band's first-ever appearance at the 10,000 Lakes Festival on July 24, plus another welcome usage of the Cabooze's great outdoor stage on Aug. 23 with Halloween, Alaska.

Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658