Shangoya: More than a reunion

Of all the people involved with tonight's Shangoya reunion concert, Mary Erickson probably knows best of all that the event won't bring back the group's charismatic and influential singer and bandleader, Peter Nelson, who passed away in 2005. But she hopes it can at least bring something else back.

"Nobody is really playing live soca music or calypso music in the Twin Cities anymore," complained Erickson, who is Nelson's widow. "Of all the things I'd like to see this concert accomplish, it'd be to have people start playing this kind of music again."

Certainly, there were few if any bands playing Caribbean music in the Twin Cities back in 1972 when Nelson started performing around town with Shangoya, a year before reggae caught on stateside via Bob Marley and the Wailers' "Catch a Fire." A native of Trinidad, Nelson became the music's local torchbearer through his 31 years with the group. He died of a heart attack five years ago at age 59, just hours after playing a gig in Duluth.

Erickson and some of Nelson's former bandmates have been talking about this sort of tribute show for a few years. A sign of how much the world has changed in the past five years, they finalized plans for tonight's show after tracking down many former Shangoya players through Facebook.

"So many people passed through Shangoya over the years, it's been incredibly cool just to reconnect with them all," said Lance Pollonais, another Trinidad native who was a Shangoya percussionist from 1980 to 1992 and now performs with Innocent.

Some of the best-known Shangoya alums include Ipso Facto co-founders Wain and JuJu McFarlane, Mint Condition singer/drummer Stokley Williams and even Grammy-winning folk-rocker Peter Himmelman, who told me after Nelson's death, "I was this Jewish kid from St. Louis Park, but he brought me into their culture with open arms."

Himmelman won't make the show, taking place at Shangoya's mainstay club, the Cabooze. But the McFarlanes and Williams will be there alongside a couple dozen other former bandmates and associates, including Tony and Cyril Paul, Lynval Jackson, Prince Jabba, Aaron Jenkins, Charles Petrus and Chico Harris. Bassist Lloyd Cordner is coming up from Miami, and two other guys are even flying in from Antigua.

"This scene was kind of built up around Peter, so there's a lot of respect for him," he said.

Erickson believes plenty of fans will show up to pay their respects, too.

"I've been hearing from a lot of people who wanted a show like this to happen," she said. "People here have a lot of great memories surrounding Shangoya. The band reminds them of happy times, and I'm sure this show can do that again for them."

Bliss' blitz Much as Muja Messiah did last year when he put out two CDs a few months apart, soulful and mindful Minneapolis rapper Omaur Bliss drops a new disc this week, "Dirty v2.0," which he says "is basically a really fun promo album" to help set up another full-length disc he plans to put out in late October ("Dirty v3.0").

"If you think of it like a software application, this is the first version of the program, and then there will be an upgrade in a few months," quipped Bliss, who performs tonight at 7th Street Entry to promote "v2.0" (10 p.m., $7, with New MC and Yoni opening).

The rapper said he had to remake the bulk of "v2.0" in about a week's time after a fallout with a DJ working with him -- a week that he described as "very sleep-deprived and insane." That might have been a good thing, since tracks like the howling funk romp "What's Going On" and the wiry electronic "Soulclap" have a loose, bleary-eyed, semi-maniacal energy. The dance-heavy digital sound on "v2.0" will also be featured on "v3.0," Bliss said, "but it will have that and a lot more."

Random mix After tonight's Minnesota Zoo gig, Solid Gold's summer tour of interesting Twin Cities locations will bring it back to the Walker Art Center Aug. 27 for a free performance in the Sky Pesher space/sculpture (part of the free Target Thursdays at the Walker), followed a night later by a more conventional gig at the Varsity Theater. ...

Speaking of unusual locations, heavy rock jammers Fat Maw Rooney are putting on their own Fat Fest at the Coffee Mill Ski Area in Wabasha, Minn., Aug. 20-22, with the Everyone Orchestra, Hot Buttered Rum, Eoto, Pert Near Sandstone and many more. ... WookieFoot has another of its Harvest Fests lined up Sept. 10-13 at Harmony Park in Geneva, Minn., with Trampled by Turtles, the Pnuma Trio, Fat Maw and even more in the many-more department. ...

Wave-riding-rock trio Big Surf will celebrate the fifth anniversary of its monthly Surf Nights at the Hexagon Bar on Saturday with the 99ers and Iced Ink (9 p.m., free). ... Duluth fans got to see a two-thirds reunion of Hüsker Dü two weekends ago when Grant Hart and Greg Norton joined their fellow SST labelmates the Meat Puppets onstage. Alas, that's probably as close as we'll get. ...

Pioneering local DJ Freddy Fresh has joined the staff of McNally Smith College of Music, just in time to help launch the school's inaugural hip-hop diploma program this fall with Toki Wright. ...

And speaking of rain ponchos, another date to mark on the calendar is Aug. 22. That's when my favorite watermelon-imploding cover band Metallagher is finally booked to play a reunion gig at the Triple Rock. What a summer this is turning out to be.