Music Picks 

THURSDAY 7/28

BIG HEAD TODD, ANNE MCCUE

All due respect to vets Big Head Todd & the Monsters, the real don’t-miss attraction of this week’s Thursday Twilight Concert is singer-guitarist Anne McCue, a petite blonde Aussie with huge six-string skills and a voice as big as the Outback (and we’re not talkin’ Steakhouse). McCue’s seamless mix of haunting blues, lilting twang and flat-out rock & roll has knocked out like-minded artists like Lucinda Williams (a major stateside McCue booster), and her incendiary takes on Hendrix’s “Machine Gun” and “Voodoo Chile” intoxicate even the most hardcore Jimi purists. Todd and the boys had better be on their game. The Gallivan Center, 239 S. Main, 7 p.m. All-ages. Free. Info: 596-5000.

GLOBAL FUNK

They’ve dropped the “Council” from their name'too much political responsibility? San Diego’s Global Funk have taken the dodgy art of “jam” to frighteningly funky and genuinely jazzy new heights of intense musicianship that you can actually dance to'all in 500-plus gigs and two albums, Keep On Pushin’ and the new Bogo. Tonight’s show is a benefit for Great Salt Lakekeeper, “a local nonprofit conservation organization whose mission is to protect the water resources of the Great Salt Lake watershed region,” says here. Ten bucks, good jams, good cause. The Urban Lounge, 241 S. 500 East, 9:30 p.m. Info: 746-0558.

Also Thursday: Sufjan Stevens (Lo-Fi Cafe); Sally Shuffield (Sugarbeats); ThaMuseMeant (Hog Wallow Pub); Almost Undone, Nova (Egos)

FRIDAY 7/29

COLLECTIVE SOUL

Is the time right yet for a Monsters of Alterna-Grunge tour, starring designer-flannel-flyin’ radio kings of the ’90s like Seven Mary Three, Sponge, Silverchair and the rest? Probably not, but with more hits than all their contemporaries combined, Georgia rockers Collective Soul would most definitely be the headliners'it also helps that key members of the band aren’t dead, in rehab or selling used cars on the Sunset Strip. After splitting with longtime label Atlantic, Collective Soul released last year’s decidedly un-grunge Youth on their own, so they’re technically an indie band again. Bet they have a really swank van, though. In the Venue, 219 S. 600 West, 7 p.m. All-ages. Tickets: 24Tix.com.

Also Friday: Snowbird Jazz & Blues Festival (Snowbird Resort); The Rubes (Egos); Rope or Bullets (Todd’s Bar & Grill); Six-Sided Box (Urban Lounge); Salt City Bandits (Monk’s); Royal Bliss (Liquid Joe’s); Medicine Circus, Spork (Burt’s Tiki Lounge)

SATURDAY 7/30

U92 SUMMER JAM

Ying Yang Twins, Bone Thugs & Harmony, Tech N9ne, NB Ridaz, Lil’ Rob, DJ Quik, Ebony Eyez and Owee'another hot Summer Jam lineup from U92, Utah’s little (or lil,’ if you prefer) hip-hop station that could. The timing couldn’t be better for Summer Jam regulars the Ying Yang Twins, whose new USA (United State of Atlanta) is lodged in Billboard’s Top 10, thanks to the ridiculously spare and catchy “Wait (The Whisper Song)” and its accompanying sextastic video'really, who needs intelligible lyrics with honeys like that? Utah State Fairpark, 155 N. 1000 West; gates noon, music 5 p.m. All-ages. Tickets: 800-888-8499, SmithsTix.com.

DJ IRENE

Every time she comes back to town, we just have to remind: “Global house diva” DJ Irene has spent over 20 (2! 0!) years behind the decks'and you’d think she’d get softer as club time rolls on, right? Wrong. Her latest, Rock Star, is a tough ‘n’ heavy affair loaded with metallic guitar samples, aggressive drum & bass forays and, of course, that trademark Irene hard house that’s made her the No. 1 female DJ in the world. Prepare to be schooled, young-uns. The Vortex, 404 S. West Temple, 9 p.m. Info: VortexSLC.com.

GRAND CHAMPEEN

Remember that “Minneapolis Sound” of the ’80s'the Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum, et al? Austin’s Grand Champeen do. They love good tunes, played loud and shot full of ragged-ass soul hearkening back to Paul Westerberg and his “Shakespeare with a Marshall stack” ethos'and they love the ’80s, in a very non-VH1 way. “I can’t stand how young bands will talk about ’80s music in the kitschy way,” singer Channing Lewis says. “You had great bands like the Minutemen, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., the Pixies, the whole Athens thing … To me, that is the ’80s, and the ’80s ruled.” Halo, 60 E. 800 South, 9:30 p.m. Info: 532-1510 (with Two Cow Garage, Motherless Cowboys).

Also Saturday: Snowbird Jazz & Blues Festival (Snowbird Resort); Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys (Forum at The Canyons, Park City); Die Monster Die (Kilby Court); Punk Rock Karaoke (Egos); Never Never, Art of Kanly (Burt’s Tiki Lounge); The Wolfs, The Tremula (Urban Lounge); Blessid Union of Souls (Suede, Park City)

SUNDAY 7/31

JOHN PRINE

What’s John Prine been up to in the nine years since the release of his last all-original album, Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings? The Nashville singer-songwriter hasn’t been slacking, releasing a string of cover records and live collections through his Oh Boy Records label'and besides, he works on his own clock. “It was just time,” he says of his new Fair & Square. “I had a bunch of songs. I’d started recording ’em, and it turns out, I liked ’em pretty well. So, now, I get to get ’em all just the way I like ’em'and then I get to let ’em go out to meet the world.” Abravanel Hall, 123 W. South Temple, 8 p.m. All-ages. Tickets: 355-2787, ArtTix.org (with Kathleen Edwards).

Also Sunday: Soilent Green (Lo-Fi Café); The Kissers (Egos); Jim Bone (Monk’s)

MONDAY 8/1

The Starvations, Red Bennies (Kilby Court); Cross Canadian Ragweed (Egos)

TUESDAY 8/2

Angel City Outcasts (Lo-Fi Café; Union of the Snake (Todd’s Bar & Grill); NA (Liquid Joe’s); Bite (Burt’s Tiki Lounge)

WEDNESDAY 8/3

Quadraphonic, Doug Wintch (Gallivan Center); Reel Big Fish, American Hi-Fi (In the Venue); Southerly (Kilby Court); Intro5pect (Mo’s Grill); The Fixx (Velvet Room); Ian Moore (Urban Lounge); Screamin’ Condors (Burt’s Tiki Lounge); Dave Mason (Suede, Park City)

COMING UP

Howie Day (Capitol Theater, Aug. 4). Motley Crue (Usana Amphitheater, Aug. 5). Julie Roberts (Red Butte Garden, Aug. 7). Hank Williams III (In the Venue, Aug. 11). Gallivan Folk & Bluegrass Festival (Gallivan Center, Aug. 13). Ozzfest 2005 (Usana Amphitheater, Aug. 16). Los Lonely Boys (Deer Valley Resort, Aug. 16). Shooter Jennings (Velvet Room, Aug. 17). CKY (Lo-Fi Café, Aug. 20). Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (Ogden Balloon Festival, Aug. 20). Kasey Chambers (Red Butte Garden, Aug. 23). Jack Johnson (Usana Amphitheater, Aug. 23). American Idols Live (Delta Center, Aug. 26). Crosby, Stills & Nash (Usana Amphitheater, Aug. 27).