Beat Happenings

Is man an ape or an angel?: St. Louis band the Bonobos are four punk-rock homosapiens described on their stlpunk.com page thusly: "Their leftist approach to opposing uptight white men and all they stand for is nothing short of militant." Anarchy, ho! These infectious primates will be damning Ronald Reagan to hell on Friday, May 12, at 9 p.m. at the Way Out Club (2525 South Jefferson Avenue; 314-664-7638) with Snakelton and The Helium Tapes.

Store opening liquidation: What's a music store without any instruments or supplies? Find out on Saturday, May 13, when Mozingo Music celebrates the grand opening of their O'Fallon store (4689 Highway K, O'Fallon; 636-300-9553) by giving everything away! The spankin' new doors open at 10 a.m., and the first 50 people through the doors receive a free gift. Even hungover sleep-inners can cash in, as Mozingo continues to give away thousands of dollars' worth of merch every hour until 5 p.m. For those with free-goods guilt, steer toward steep discounts such as $2 guitar strings and $1 drumsticks. Even non-musicians can reap free food while rocking out to the Smash Band from noon to 3 p.m.

Hot music, hot sauce: Relocated New Orleans musician Rockin' Jake is living a double life. He may be offBeat magazine's five-time "Best Harmonica Player" winner, and sure, he may have toured with T.J. Wheeler, Howlin' Wolf and G. Love & Special Sauce. However, did you know he also snagged the trophy for "Best Barbecued Brisket" at the New Orleans Musicians' Barbeque Competition?! He thought he could move to St. Louis and just leave his signature line of hot sauce behind, but no sir — we found him out! So when Rockin' Jake and his blues band heat up Broadway Oyster Bar (736 South Broadway; 314-621-8811) at 10 p.m. Wednesday, May 17, demand his "Badmouth" — the song for your ears and the sauce for your oysties!