Weekend Music Preview: Car Stereo (Wars) & Rise Against

Room 710 hosts a benefit show this Friday for Eliya Zay Herwick Nicol, a two year old Texan suffering from NEHI (Cell Hyperplasia Of Infancy), FTT (Failure To Thrive), and GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease). Eliya Zay is being treated at the Houston Children’s Medical Center; the various bills along with the cost of the commute from their home in McAllen have caused a monetary crunch for the family. Help them out with a donation ranging from $5 to $10 at Room 710 on Friday -- Cher UK, The Meat Purveyors, Monkeytown, and The Sanguinistas are all scheduled to perform. The benefit kicks off at 9 p.m.

Magnico (a Queen cover band), DJ Shorty Stump, and DJ Huge Cock provide the entertainment at Misprint Magazine’s Cocktoberfest at Club de Ville on Saturday. Beauty Bar has quite an evening planned for us on Saturday as well -- live music early on from The Always Already, including a cover or two from what we gather, and plenty of dance floor fodder late in the evening courtesy of Car Stereo (Wars). (Wars) recently remixed Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” -- you can listen to it here.

Follow the jump for a chance to win two tickets to see Rise Against and Alkaline Trio in concert on Sunday night at Austin Music Hall.

Image from Rise Against’s MySpace, by Tim Harmon

Willie Nelson headlines The Backyard’s final show on Sunday but if you’re not driving out to 13101 W. Highway 71 for one final concert at the historic venue, stick around downtown Austin and catch Rise Against, Alkaline Trio, Thrice, and The Gaslight Anthem at Austin Music Hall. Chicago’s Alkaline Trio has been around for over a decade now, constantly cranking out pop-punk ditties revolving around gloom and doom and other similar themes. Their latest effort, Agony & Irony was released by Epic Records in July. Headliners Rise Against also hail from Chicago and are equally adept at crafting a vigorous punk anthem. Along with the abundant riffs and catchy hooks, the band’s catalog of work is marked by a fair share of political angst -- some of the lyrical matter should be ripe for the picking on Sunday evening as we approach November 4th.

California’s Thrice meanwhile has emerged from the pile of Warped Tour talent with a couple of stellar concept albums -- The Alchemy Index Vols. I & II -- Fire & Water was released last October and The Alchemy Index Vols. III & IV -- Earth & Air followed this April. (Learn more about The Alchemy Index on Wikipedia. The Gaslight Anthem (from New Brunswick) gets things going at 8 p.m. Enter below for a chance to win two tickets to this show:

This contest is now closed. Congratulations Rob!

The best of the rest of this weekend’s concerts include:

Friday -- Cold War Kids and AA Bondy (Outside) and Black Panda and The Ape-Shits (Inside) at Emo’s; Locksley, Hymns, and The Tastydactyls (MTV’s Choose or Lose Tour) at Emo’s Lounge; Cry Blood Apache at Club 1808 (Polaris Fest III); Brownout! at Lamberts; BANG at Headhunters; Graham Reynolds and Shannon McCormick at Salvage Vanguard Theater (8 p.m.); and Pompeii (CD Release), The Soldier Thread, Til We’re Blue Or Destroy, and Low Line Caller at La Zona Rosa.

Saturday -- Kings Of Leon, The Stills, and We Are Scientists at Austin Music Hall; The Boxing Lesson and White Ghost Shivers at The Backyard (Free Show); Full Stride at Beerland; Graham Reynolds and Shannon McCormick at Salvage Vanguard Theater (“Pre-show tailgate party” at 7 p.m.; Show at 8 p.m.); and Erin Ivey at the Long Center’s Rollins Theater.