Music Picks

For the week of May 18 - 24

Comments (0) By L.A. Weekly Music Staff Wednesday, May 17 2006

THURSDAY, MAY 25

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Los Lobos at the Conga Room

Will the wolf survive? Ask L.A.’s seminal band Los Lobos. We know Los Lobos’ music will survive — they’ve been rockin’ for 30 years now — but the question is whether the Conga Room, L.A.’s premier Latin-music venue, will. Before the doors close at the club’s current location (it’s scheduled to reopen in a year or so at a new home across from Staples Center), don’t miss the O.G. Eastside band Los Lobos performing classic hits like “A Matter of Time” and “One Time, One Night.” How bad are these Wolves? Their debut album, How Will the Wolf Survive, was on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time — not bad for four Mexican kids from Garfield High. Don’t be surprised if Conga Room part-owner/actor-comedian Paul Rodriguez, who attended rival Roosevelt High, is in attendance; he’s always down for a good neighborhood party! (Ben Quiñones)

Petra Haden & the Sellouts at the Troubadour

Former That Dog singer-violinist Haden is setting out with the Foo Fighters on an international acoustic tour that launches July 10, but before she leaves town she’s gracing us with a live presentation of her creepy yet beautiful a cappella music: stuff from Imaginaryland, her 1999 solo debut, and last year’s Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out, a true feat of vocal cunning on which she played the entire Who album with her mouth. Tonight she appears with the Sellouts, a nine-piece band of backing-vocal ladies that includes Haden’s sister Rachel, who’s going on tour herself in July with a reconstituted version of That Dog’s old sister band the Rentals. (Mikael Wood)