The Steamboat Pilot & Today

What Margaret Hair thinks you should do this week:

Friday

• Boulder Brass, free community brass band concert presented by Strings Music Festival
  When: 11:30 a.m.
  Where: Eighth and Oak streets
  Cost: Free
  Call: 879-5056
  Why you should go: Join Strings Music Festival and the Tread of Pioneers Museum for their Pioneer Day Block Party, right after the Fourth of July parade. Marches were made for brass bands, and Boulder Brass knows how to play them. The event also includes food, root beer floats and children’s activities. Later in the day, stay downtown for a series of receptions and openings for July’s First Friday ArtWalk. After dark, find some higher ground for a monster fireworks display from Howelsen Hill.

• Charlie Parr, w/ American Relay, indie folk and blues
  When: 9:30 p.m.
  Where: The Tap House
  Cost: $5
  Call: 879-2431
  Why you should go: Independent folk and blues icon Charlie Parr spent the majority of his childhood listening to Smithsonian Folkways field recordings from the 1920s and ’30s. He’s got the searching voice and genuine interest in life that makes that music relevant today.

Saturday

• Woodbox Gang, acoustic/punk/country
  When: 10 p.m.
  Where: Mahogany Ridge Brewery and Grill
  Cost: $5
  Call: 879-3773
  Why you should go: Influenced by a mix of Tom Waits, Muddy Waters and The Clash, the Illinois-based Woodbox Gang puts a wry, rough edge on acoustic Americana.

Wednesday

• Roy Book Binder, blues
  When: 7 p.m.
  Where: The Depot Art Center, 13th Street
  Cost: $15; tickets are available at First String Music, All That Jazz and at the concert door
  Call: 871-4661
  Why you should go: Roy Book Binder learned everything he knows about the blues from Reverend Gary Davis and has spent the past 30-some years as an American music troubadour.