The unclassifiable and somewhat mysterious Bay Area combo Secret Chiefs 3 are a known delicacy for those with ears for the offbeat. The brain child of former Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance, the Secret Chiefs display a knack for juggling genres as disparate as psych, techno, soundtrack, avant-jazz, experimental cut and paste and death metal, along with an acute taste for absurdity and a fascination with religion, philosophy and various iconography. The band’s ever shifting lineup and unorthodox approach to making records has undoubtedly helped to keep their work fresh. All in all, it makes for a glorious art project. The band’s tour, with support from the similarly enigmatic Oakland-based group Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, stops at the Tralf this Monday.

Blues fans have something to celebrate this weekend when the Blues Society of WNY hosts the first Blues’n March Festival. The two-day event features great national acts like Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers, T-Broussard and the Zydeco Steppers, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, critical sensations Cephas & Wiggins (champions of the East Coast Piedmont blues style) and Kelly Hunt, among others. The event will be held on two stages and is billed as “Buffalo’s First National Blues Festival.” This promises to be a wild weekend for aficionados and musicians alike—with harmonica and keyboard workshops as well as Zydeco dance lessons. It’s also another chance to see hometown heroes the Patti Parks Band, recently back from the 2006 Memphis Bound International Blues Challenge. The festival concludes Saturday night when Roomful of Blues, a band whose history spans 35 years and over 50 members, brings its hip-shakin’ act to town for two sets designed to blow the roof off the banquet facility.

The Kingston, Ontario-based quintet Tragically Hip have played pretty much every venue in Western New York – from tiny joints like Allen Street’s venerable Nietzsche’s and the long gone Buffalo Nickel Lounge to large scale arenas and sheds like HSBC and Darien Lake. So why is it such a big deal that they are playing a mid-sized venue like the Town Ballroom? Cause they’re The Hip, eh! Our border town position and The Hip’s undeniable status as rock gods in Canada mean they are rightfully big here in Buffalo, too. It’s no surprise that both shows of the band’s two-night stand at Town Ballroom sold out in just over a minute. It doesn’t hurt that The Hip are still riding high on 2006’s World Container (Universal), arguably their finest album in years. For this weekend, Gord and Gord, Johnny, Rob and Paul are the most wanted Canucks in town. (My apologies to three quarters of the Sabres). Doors open at 8pm.

Nearly everyone has heard of the legendary Ray Charles, but you may not have heard of David Newman, the tenor saxophonist who sat in his band for nearly 12 years. Charles and Newman began their life-long friendship in the early 1950s, and a few years later Charles called on Newman to play baritone sax in his new band. Newman stayed with the Ray Charles Band until the mid-60s, when he left to pursue a solo career. He has played with such greats as Buster Smith, T-Bone Walker and B.B. King, to name a few. Today he is still playing the same hard-bop jazz that he was 50 years ago, and has released almost eight albums in the past decade, with his most recent, Life (Highnote) just out this year. He will perform two sets at The Lafayette Tap Room, “Buffalo’s Home if the Blues,” on Friday night at 9 and 11pm.