Plugging into Phoenix: decker., Exploding Oranges

Memorial Day Weekend is upon you and you must ask yourself "What am I doing Memorial Day Weekend?" You can ask that on a Thursday and maybe make some split-second decisions on Friday night. But woe to you who ask this Sunday morning, when Memorial Day Weekend has already passed you by and there is nothing to look forward to but looking at scary "60 Minutes" correspondents' craggly faces on hi-def TV. Do something about it now, while you still have a choice.

Here are some sure to be memorable Memorial Day Weekend shows coming your way.

Friday, May 22 — decker. @ Pho Cao

The always lower case but upper echelon decker. is back, making what is touted to be one of the few Valley appearances this year at Pho Cao in Scottsdale this Friday. And no wonder since the Sedona-based songwriter has been turning up in all sorts of different places including the New York subway system. Here at the Broadway-Lafayette stop, decker. and his bandmates perform a subterranean version of "ODB." Note how only two people putting their palms together creates the perfect-sounding clap track when you're in the middle of a tiled terminal. No wonder doo wop groups spent hours dialing in their sound in these walkways. I know some of you kids hear the words doo and wop and immediately think one thing — that public television is having another fund raiser. Sigh...

Supporting decker on this bill are Mr. Mudd & Mr. Gold, Companeros and the Lonesome Wilderness, who just issued a new free downlable single of "Tropicana" this week

You can see them perform it here at a Rogue show from last year. Before you really needed a vacation.

Friday, May 22 — Exploding Oranges "Unpeeled" EP Release Party

Anyone with kids under the age of 10 will see the name Exploding Oranges and be forced to think about those Annoying Orange videos where corny jokes are disseminated and the occasional citrus detonates. Thank goodness musician and songwriter Joel Ekdahl has given us a different orange association. Exploding Oranges is a loose aggregate that features members Terry Garvin, Ty Sheldon Jose and whatever local-music friends happen to be on hand. And there will be a lot of local musicians on hand at this EP release party as there will be two stages offering continuous music all night. This is in celebration of the not-released-yet-at-press-time-but-soon EP "Unpeeled." Here is a song which may or may not be on it, carrying the Exploding Oranges high level of quality indie-folk you've come to expect. Which may not carry the weight of the Sunkist Growers' Seal of Approval but clearly we are comparing oranges and Exploding Oranges here.

As mentioned earlier, this show is a two-stage affair and joining Exploding Oranges on the main stage of the Rogue will be the VanJacks, the Britt Devs Band, Manic Monkeys, the Eiffels (from California) and Lawnchair, whose own self-titled EP made lots of local best-of-2014 lists for its six songs. But let me be the first to give it accolades for its cover, which features a grumpy cactus in a lawn chair, guzzling beer with a sunflower who has just gotten his bottom region watered by a leg-lifting pooch. As award winning covers go, it's Grammy worthy!

On the acoustic stage will be Kevin Doll, Tessa Karrys and Page the Village Idiot, who may have found the one universal gripe that has escaped not only Morrissey but the entire canon of recorded country music. If you find yourself in a similar funk as Page who practically works for free, don't listen past the one-minute, 35-second mark to hear how much the Olsen twins' net worth individually is.

Saturday, May 23 — Dogbreth Tour Kickoff at Funny World

Tristan Jemsek's four-piece outfit is hitting the road for a few dates this summer, supported at this Funny World starting point by Red Tank! and Chandails. For now, enjoy Dogbreth in this clip from Trunk Space scarcely a week ago, performing "New Friend" from the last album, "Sentimental Health," and "Hoarder House," a song you might've heard on last year's Plan-It-X compilation, "It Came From Plan-it-X 2014." A word of advice to actual hoarders; if you're going through all your stuff, making various piles to "Donate," "Throw Out" or "Give to Friends," unless those piles actually leave the house you are technically still hoarding.

Saturday May 23 — Sistah Ui and Unified Memorial Day Weekend Show at Third Space

What better way to mark Memorial Day Weekend than to hear music from the 50th state, which never hurt nobody? Sistah Ui & Unified mix traditional Hawaiian music and Island reggae at Third Space Bar and Grill and will have you smiling quicker than you can say "Rock a Hula Baby." Here they are performing "Stir It Up" at Apache Gold Casino Resort last spring.