North Tonawanda’s entry in the WNY free concert series sweepstakes kicks off with some fellas originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia who combine—–sort of like one of those old Japanese cartoons—to become one powerful machine. Or maybe it’s more like a four-headed monster... Either way, with the hooks upon hooks approach and shared writing and singing workload that has made Sloan a great rock democracy, mwmbers Jay Ferguson, Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland and Andrew Scott are at it again. The band’s brand new record Parallel Play (Yep Roc) might be seen as a back to basics, even though Sloan never really lost sight or grasp of the elemental things that make them one of rock’s most unsung acts (and that’s the songs, dummy). The notion behind that thought is that Parallel Play clocks in at half the time of—and with roughly half of the tracks of—2006’s sprawling Never Hear The End Of The End. Whether Sloan is truly best when practicing cogency and compact pop restraint (Parallel Play) or stitching together a broader, longer framework of multi-textured-tracks (Never Hear) is up for fan debate. Parallel Play keeps it short and sweet but still finds Sloan pulling a little bit from every corner. “Emergency 911” goes into ably entering punk territory while “Down In The Basement” funs on Highway 61-era Dylan. There’s enough of the crowd-pleasing standards—like “The Other Side” and “I’m Not A Kid Anyway”—to keep the singalongs at their live shows fresh. It’s likely they will test that out this Saturday. Among the local support acts for the opening night at Gateway Park is Johnny Nobody. The three-piece powerpop/heavy rock outfit has not only shared the stage with the headliner in the past but also unabashedly claim Sloan as a key inspiration. It’s nice to see the circle come around.

The enigmatic frontman of Catherine Wheel only increased his mystique by all but disappearing after the dissolution of that seminal British rock band. Catherine Wheel reigned in the nineties with a soaring, visceral intensity that few bands have rivaled, even in the years since they set the standard for that sort of tortured, gut wrenching music. (Hence, the name: the Catherine Wheel was a medieval torture device used to inflict a perverse and agonizing death that is nauseating to even describe. But I digress...) Since the group disbanded in 2000, Dickinson has kept a low profile, reappearing in 2005 with his first solo effort, Fresh Wine For the Horses, and in 2006 to tour with the Church at that band’s behest. Dickinson is now headlining his own tour, along with the release this month of a double disk out on Universal/Fontana, featuring a rerelease of Fresh Wine For the Horses (Disk One), and Nude (Disk Two), a tribute to his former band with a reworking of six favorite Catherine Wheel tracks. Seeing as Catherine Wheel is probably one of the most influential of all those bands that have been critically overloooked to the point of obscurity, the album is a triumph for fans and a second chance for those who, for whatever reason, didn’t get it the first time around. Local support comes from Here Come the Comets, and after the show Technoir will present its monthly dance party featuring Digital Geist and Silent Auction

Although they were criminally ignored during their brief existence in the late 1960s, New York City’s Silver Apples have had a far ranging influence on contemporary avant garde music. Inspiring acts as diverse as Suicide, Spacemen 3 and Stereolab, the band formed in 1967 as a duo led by an enigmatic frontman named Simeon, who in turn played an instrument dubbed “the Simeon” which, as originally described on the duo’s first album, is “nine audio oscillators and eighty-six manual controls...The lead and rhythm oscillators are played with the hands, elbows and knees and the bass oscillators are played with the feet.” Not suprisingly, their brand of ambiant drone and pulsating electronic beats was rather out of place during the age of “flower power,” and Silver Apples soon disappeared. However, during the 1990s, copies of their two original albums were changing hands for extremely high prices, giving the band an exposure that eluded them the first time around. It was around this time that Simeon reformed the group with new collaborators and released the first new material in over 20 years. Now, a decade later, the band is active again and will be making their first ever stop in Buffalo. Opening are Silver Apples disciples Sleeping Kings Of Iona.

If the shoe fits, sprint in it! That’s the idea behind next Wednesday’s .05K Stiletto Run, which invites daring fashionistas to don their heels and race the four blocks from the corner of Elmwood and Bidwell to the newly reopened Shoefly store at 801 Elmwood Ave. The course will be short but the shoes will be tall, as only runners wearing at least three-inch heels are eligible for prizes. Shoefly’s owners, who are sponsoring the race, have also graciously invited the less adventurous to wear their favorite flat shoes and walk the course for fun. Whether walking or running in modest kitten heels or teetering stilettos, participants are guaranteed a truly unusual evening. This event is certainly the first of its kind in Buffalo, though similar races have been breaking expectations‚—and ankles—in Europe for years. High-heeled runners first took to the cobblestone streets of Amsterdam in March 2006, when Glamour magazine posted a first-place prize of 10,000 Euros—in shopping money, of course. Since then, races have exploded across eastern Europe, with the largest held annually in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Though most European races specify a 1.5-cm heel width, Shoefly’s event does not. Runners, you may want to opt for a chunky heel or wedge. Registration begins at 6:15pm and the race starts at 7pm. It’s a short one, so onlookers better arrive on time so as not to miss the spectacle. Participants can pre-register in-store or online for $20, or pay $25 the day of the race; all proceeds will benefit the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. Shoefly will also host an after party from 7 to 9pm.