David Lowery turns 50 years old on Friday, which means the man who gave us one of the finest lyrics of the '90s (“What the world needs now / is another folk singer / like I need a hole my head”) is likely to be onstage tonight when the clock strikes 12 … which means it'd be crime if Cracker didn't bust out this song:

“Happy Birthday to Me”

Just sayin'.

Not that the Los Angeles stop on the annual tour featuring Lowery's two bands — Cracker, the '90s hitmakers, and the cult favorites he fronted before that, Camper Van Beethoven — isn't reason enough to party. “Take the Skinheads Bowling” has aged pretty well, after all.

It's the sixth year the frontman has taken his resurrected bands on a tour that culminates in this weekend's Campout at Pappy & Harriet's in Pioneertown. (Fans are being asked to fans to dress as Native Americans for CVB's Friday night performance and Cowboys for Cracker's Saturday show.)

Lowery is also chronicling his bands' catalog at the blog 300songs.com — an entertaining read even if you aren't familiar with a lot of the tunes. (An idea ripe for a digital book, too.)

A double does of irreverence, tonight at the Echoplex.

Elsewhere: A couple of good bands from Long Beach (We Barbarians, Tijuana Panthers) hit the Echo, while a couple of good bands you see a lot at the Echo (Radar Brothers, the Henry Clay People) hit Long Beach to play Alex's Bar. … Daedelus does a 7 p.m. in-store at Origami Vinyl. … And Beak>, the project of Geoff Barrow of Portishead, performs free at 7 p.m. at Amoeba.

Also: The Sea of Cortez, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and Slang Chickens at 3 Clubs; Futurebirds and Lesands at the Silverlake Lounge; Dax Riggs and Useless Keys at Spaceland; Jay Electronica at the Key Club; Rookie of the Year at the Roxy; the Justin Nokuza Band at the El Rey Theatre; Gary Allan and Jack Ingram at Gibson Amphietheatre; Early Winters at the Hotel Cafe; the “Too Beautiful to Live with Luke Burbank” variety show at the Troubadour, with music (Princeton) and comedy (Garfunkel and Oates, Rob Corddry); Graham Forrest at Echo Curio; Curtis Peoples at the Mint; Loch & Key at the Redwood Bar; the Mo-Odds at Casey's Bar downtown after Art Walk; Last Night's Vice and Sons of the Lawless at the Viper Room; and Lukas Nelson at the Waterfront in Marina del Rey.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.