Weekend picks: Fantasma, Mad professor, Mardi Gras and more

grew up in a cornfield in northwest Ohio where her multicultural family was something of a curious anomaly. She didn't like it very much. On a whim, she landed in Austin in 1995, where, before coming to Austin360.

com in 2004, she drove a limo, played bass in a band, promoted fabulous parties and answered a whole lot of phones.
In 2000, she began building Web sites about Austin's urban music scene and became so insistent that Austin hip-hop shouldn't be ignored that KOOP radio gave her a show to prove it. In a country town with a heart full of rock 'n' roll, she firmly believes it also has a funky underbelly that's almost urban.

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The entry titled "Weekend picks: Fantasma, Mad professor, Mardi Gras and more." Yes there s been a lot of Grupo Fantasma news on this blog as of late, but, seriously, how often does a hometown fave end up hanging out with a superstar of Prince s echelon?

In case you ve been hiding under a rock for the last few months here s a brief recap. the band received a last minute invitation to play Prince s newly opened Vegas nightclub 3121 over Thanksgiving weekend. Five weeks into the band s residency gig, the Purple One took to sitting in on the group s sets.

Then, in mid-January, Prince flew the band to Hollywood to back him at full of celebrity A-listers. A couple weeks ago The Artist for an exclusive Super Bowl pre-party. Impressed yet?

Homecoming shows are always special. There s a magical sense of origin for both the fans and the band. The first time I wrote about Grupo Fantasma was late in 2001, shortly after the band dropped their eponymous debut album.

In the awkward uncomfortable months following 9/11, your girl, a half-Indian, half-Anglo American who is frequently mistaken for Middle Eastern was, like most Southeast Asian Americans, busy perfecting a faux-Latina act. My girls and I used to get fancy and head down to Grupo shows at the Empanada Parlour in the hopes some fine young Latino would ask us to dance.
One night, I spent the entire evening spinning around the floor with a fly South American cat who didn t speak a lick of English.

He kept talking to me in Spanish. I don t speak Spanish. At all.

And in that strange era when both my own ethnic identity and that of my country were in a state of flux, I had a revelation about Grupo Fantasma, Latino culture and my adopted hometown. Trying to sum up the experience of a Grupo show, my first instinct was to make a bunch of stupid comparisons A Grupo show is like a steamy night in Bogota, a dangerous liaison on the border, that kind of thing. But when I really thought about it, I realized Grupo shows were none of that.

Grupo Fantasma was born in a stoner college town with a strong Latino community where a diverse crowd embraced the opportunity to get down to tequila-soaked funk grooves and clumsily stumble through cumbia moves. Grupo Fantasma is an integral part of the sound of our city. And I m very proud that an international superstar is hipping the rest of the world to the way we roll.

Friday: $15 at the door.
Saturday: $12 in advance, $15 at the door.
Saturday: .

One of the early pioneers of dub music, the trippy, looped-out, largely instrumental stepchild of reggae, Mad Professor earned his name tinkering with electronic equipment to build his own studio. He s collaborated with everyone from the Beastie Boys and trip-hop juggernaut Massive Attack to Jamiroquai and Sade. Should be another irie evening at Austin s home for reggae music.

$18
Saturday: . Is there any such thing as a vegetarian filet mignon substitute? I seriously doubt it.

But if Lambert s keeps booking my favorite almost urban acts I might have to start lobbying for the creation of one. This week, the upscale chop house has booked Afrofreque, an r b/soul act fronted by emcee Tiger Liu, formerly of the fantastic old-school Austin hip-hop act Big Game Hunter.
Saturday: .

Big Chief Kevin and Cyril Neville both landed in Austin following Katrina s devastation of New Orleans in 2005. Since their arrival, Austin has been treated to a swampy mix of gumbo funk and colorful Creole culture. Chief Kevin, in full Mardi Gras Indian garb, plays host for the evening while Neville s Tribe 13 lays down the grooves.

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