Rock You like a Hurricane

Big Brown Truck
Best Cover Band
No, this isn't a band of UPS men. In fact, they may make you wonder if they're men at all, as they often pose the question "Are we not men?" And of course they answer, "No, we are Devo." Reprising the synth-pop of the futuristic quintet is the mission of these post-post-postmodern men, and they've whipped it good. Expect plenty of freaks and geeks and geeky freaks to be on hand for the jerky rhythms and synth chords. -- J.N.L.
St. Pete's Dancing Marlin, 8 p.m.

Bozo Porno Circus
Best Metal/Industrial
Nine musicians, performance artists and superfreaks make up the finely tuned Circus, where over-the-top showmanship meets musical talent head on. Although they could be called the Bondage Band, since shows include performances by the PornStarrz, a trio of fetish queens that engage in fire-eating, sexual reenactments and a variety of disturbing, demented deeds, Bozo Porno Circus doesn't rely solely on outlandish stage antics. They also have solid music skills. -- O.F.A.
The Brewery Tap, 9 p.m.

Texas Johnny Brown & The Quality Blues Band
Best Blues
A recording artist for parts of seven decades and 11 presidential administrations, Texas Johnny Brown is the most seasoned musician still regularly working the scene. Brown got his start as the guitarist in Amos Milburn's band, and later backed Ruth Brown, Bobby Bland and Junior Parker. Though he recorded a handful of sides for Atlantic in the '40s, his solo career got started in earnest about 50 years later with the release of two fine albums that showcase his clean, suave picking and swinging arrangements. But it's not just his guitar case that's packed with dynamite -- so too is his songbook. After all, this is the man who wrote the Bobby Bland classic "Two Steps from the Blues." -- J.N.L.
Hard Rock Cafe, 9 p.m.

Hayes Carll
Best Folk/Acoustic, Best C&W, Local Musician of the Year, Song of the Year ("Highway 87"), Songwriter of the Year
Yes, all of these yahoos who pose as Texas artists nowadays claim to be following in the tradition of Townes Van Zandt, even though most of them can't even spell his name. Woodlands native Hayes Carll is one of the few who can legitimately make the claim, which is not surprising, since he grew up as a songwriter around Van Zandt's old running mate Wrecks Bell. With his hot new band that includes Australian bluegrassers Kym Warner and Carol Young, the sly, humorous, word-playing Mr. Carll is one of the fastest-rising figures on the entire Texas music horizon. -- W.M.S.
Hard Rock Cafe, 6 p.m.


Sean Carnahan
Best Dance DJ
You gotta love ol' Sean Carnahan. Even when at his most prima donna-esque, the boy is still an entertaining sight to behold. He and his Tastylick Records brethren still convene over at the Davenport Lounge on Wednesday nights for an evening of laid-back grooves. And during the week you can find him at residencies at The Social and the newly introduced Barcode. But Carnahan is still a social surveyor at heart, and if you wanna be hip to all the parties and clubs around the city, you can always log on to his long-running Web site 77002.com. All-seeing, all-knowing, all-doing -- Sean Carnahan is a supreme being of leisure if there ever was one. -- C.D.L.
Boaka Bar, 7 p.m.

Ceeplus
Best Lounge DJ
This hip-hop-loving skate punk traded in his deck more than ten years ago and bought a pair of Technics 1200s and a mixer and immediately began honing his skills in some of Houston's earliest below-the-surface hip-hop spots. He booked groups like the K-Otix and Freedom Sold at some of their first gigs, in venues ranging from hole-in-the-wall juke joints like Hoi Polloi's Hip Hop Coffee Shop to elite dance clubs like Power Tools. To this day he remains the man with the plan behind many of the hip-hop jams going on inside the Loop, though he certainly doesn't limit his playlist to the urban stuff. Expect to hear everything from Trans Am to Boards of Canada to Anticon to Scratch Acid, and if you're lucky he might even spin some 50 Cent, albeit, backward. -- M.S.
Boaka Bar, 6 p.m.

 

Chango Jackson
Best New Act, Best Rock en Español
Ask the members of Chango Jackson how they describe their sound, and they'll just shrug their shoulders. All they know is that nobody else in the rock en español world sounds anything like their blend of punk, metal, jazz and the odd polka that bassist/singer Mojo Jackson calls "cock rock for the new millennium." Their apocalyptic live shows always have a different theme -- over the last year, they have taken the stage in pimp attire, cowboy duds and, on day one of the "Shock and Awe" campaign, chemical suits and gas masks. -- J.N.L.
Slainte Irish Pub, 5 p.m.