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A lot of bands playing this week whose names stoke the fires of imagination (except Flesh the Racist Crayon, which is a crappy name no matter how you look at it -- I once had a set of markers called "Skin Colors of the World" and it included "black," but you don't see me naming a band after it). Instead of slavishly bringing you these bands' own carefully chosen publicity photos, we've decided to let the Internet interpret their names for us. Take it away, Google Images.

Not pictured: Animal Prufrock, Conspiracy of Beards, Royal Monsters, The Gay Blades, Nihilist Cunt.

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Courtesy blogs.catster.com

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Turkey week is upon us! Or tofurkey week, or turducken week, or quorn week, or whatever! The point is eating to excess! And, if this handful of local clubs have any say in the matter, rocking out thankfully. Below, in the tradition of The Awl's "listicle without commentary" feature, for which we are limitlessly grateful, some of the festivities going on about town.

Wednesday
"Give Thanks" @ Ruby Skye
"Third Annual Bassgiving" @ The Blue Macaw
"11th Annual Turkey Bash" @ Roccapulco
"Indulgence: 14th Annual Thanksgiving Eve Party" @ Harry Denton's Starlight Room
"Thanksgiving Eve: The Biggest Club Night of the Year" @ The Parlor
"The Crib: Third Annual Pre-Thanksgiving Butterball" @ The X
"Thankful: Cocktails & Music to Benefit Harry Lit" @ Mr. Smith's
"¡Club Papi!: Night B/4 Thanksgiving Fiesta" @ Space 550
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First Blood plays Saturday at the Oakland Metro Operahouse.

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NBC: The Poison Control Center. Drama.
CBS: Great American Taxi. Game show.
Fox: Terrible Things. News.
ABC: City (Comma) State. Sitcom.

ABC Family: OK Sweetheart. Sitcom.
Cartoon Network: The Supervillains. Cartoon.
Disney Channel: Sydney Ducks. Cartoon.
Nickelodeon: Group Hex. Teen sitcom.
Nick Jr.: Nosebleed Academy. Game show.

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Things are looking good for San Francisco on the national sporting stage, and it's never been a better time to be an orange-wearing, seventh-inning-stretching, beard-fearing, fair-weather fan. Still, if sports bars aren't your scene, here are some shows you can check out and still commune with your fellow San Franciscans on the grounds that you're supporting the Gigantes in your own way.

Team spirit
The Best of the Bay
Jolly Good Fellows
High Five Revival
Good Luck [T]immy
Beard Summit

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Hunt With A Cat play Thursday at Milk, fittingly enough

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1. "Nature's Way"

Time Traveling Assassins
Hunt With A Cat
As A People

Breathe Owl Breathe
Stick To Your Guns
Close Your Eyes
As Blood Runs Black

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South Carolina death metallurgists Lecherous Nocturne play Wednesday at the DNA Lounge

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This post-Fleet Week week should be a good one for concerts around here. Below, for your consideration, are some upcoming shows whose names (or participants' names) tickle the imagination, the gag reflex, or the grossly overstimulated sense of perplexity.

The good

1. Shadow Shadow Shade, Wednesday @ Red Devil Lounge
Promising band, pleasing name: nice rhythm, intriguing semantic nicety.

2. Mastodon, tonight at the San Jose State Event Center Arena
Points for being so evocative of the lumbering, elephantine quality of the band's metal jams. (Also shines in comparison to the dullness of "Event Center Arena.")

3. Johnny Nitro & the Doorslammers, Friday @ The Saloon
Something about this name just says rock in the most authentic way.

4. "Music For Your Teeth," tonight @ Revolution Cafe
I don't know. But I want to.

5. Umlaut, tonight @ Kimo's
Without a doubt the most metal of all diacriticals. Get out of here with that cedilla bullshit.

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Erik Wilson (Generik11)

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Not that the two are mutually exclusive.

Answers after the jump.

1. Glitter Wizard
2. Industrial Frottage
3. Big Black Butthole
4. Grooming the Crow
5. Cat and the Nine Tails
6. Tool
7. Carolina Chocolate Drops
8. Dirty Cupcakes
9. Kneepads McMonkeyface and the Diaperspace Orchestra
10. The Twinks
11. Cherry Poppin' Daddies
12. So Much Fun
13. Goodbye Gadget
14. Alabaster Chode
15. Flogging Molly
16. Teenage Bad Girl
17. The Meat Sluts
18. Ol' Cheeky Bastards
19. Jesus Christ Loves You Guy and the Engorged Members
20. Twaddle

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"I know those words, but that sign makes no sense."

​Maybe it's to be expected on a week ending with the Folsom Street Fair on one side of the city and Oktoberfest by the Bay! on the other, but noodle-scratching contrast reigns free this week. Below are ten bands or lineups notable for their surrealistic image juxtapositions.

10. Copy Lake

9. Bears! Bears! Bears!
(Debatable.)

8. Hydrogen Babies

7. Brass Bed, Big Tree, Idle Cedars, Soft Lake
(Concert or Walt Whitman poem?)

6. Bestial Mouths
(Also playing: Water Borders.)

5. The 88, The Ferocious Few
(Who do you think will win?)

4. Deafheaven

3. Spidermeow

2. Vampire Weekend

1. Lowfat Handshake

Inscrutable mention: Bobby Joe Ebola & the Children MacNuggits

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Well, that's it. The week in music has been overrun by creatures great and small. Even on Labor Day, that hallowed sabbath of secular holidays, we were forced to contend with Panda Bear at the Fox. Is nothing sacred?

But press on we must. To prepare you for the faunal frenzy in performance spaces across the city this week, we've rounded up some videos illustrative of the namesake animals. Let the hypnotic caperings of these pixelated beasts show you what to expect from the week in music.

MayFly & the BlueNotes (Saturday at Rock It Room with Buda Belly and Forest Fire)

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