WEDNESDAY: D.C. indie band the Baby Grand plays the Ottobar with Car Party and the Eleventh Hour. The Bear Romantic plays the Golden West with friends of the Short List Vinny Vegas.

THURSDAY: The Ottobar gets ready for the A389 Records ninth anniversary festival with a preshow bash, featuring Integrity and Withdrawal, with tickets only available at the door. Local psych rockers Wing Dam plays the Golden West with Quilt. Danny and Caroline perform folk music at Joe Squared Inner Harbor. Pretty Little Kennedy Curse plays at the Sidebar with, appropriately, Something More. Baltimore post-punks Christopher Nobody and the Nothing play Club K with Trophy Lungs and Montgomery Drive. Don’t miss: World-renowned (and Baltimore-born) jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut celebrates his 50th birthday at An die Musik.

FRIDAY: The 8x10, which had been closed for most of the month for renovations, reopens with a show by Preach Freedom and Connect. The first night of the sold-out A389 Records Anniversary Bash kicks off at the Ottobar with Integrity, Catharsis, Gehenna and more. American institution Smokey Robinson performs at the Lyric Opera House. Corporate rockers Black Veil Brides headline Rams Head Live. Advlts, who until recently were Adults, and Musicband, who’ve clearly given up on putting any effort into names entirely, play the Sidebar. Corrections House, a metal supergroup with members of Neurosis and EYEHATEGOD, hits the Metro Gallery. Pianist Michael Dale performs the music of G. I. Gurdjieff at An die Musik. The Powell Younger Project plays R&B at Joe Squared Station North. Soundgarden are still louder than love, just a little more hoarse now, at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington. Don’t miss: The Creative Alliance at the Patterson presents nine-piece a cappella group the Starry Mountain Singers interpreting traditional songs from around the world.

SATURDAY: The A389 Records anniversary celebration has its final sold-out night at the Ottobar with Left for Dead and Despise You, as well as a free aftershow with a performance by Nothing. Over at the Sidebar, the A389 celebration will also have a matinee show in the afternoon with WARXGAMES, Ancient Shores, and Dead in the Dirt. Too Big to Fail plays classic rock at Joe Squared Station North. Miami’s Montgomery Drive is back at Club K with USSA Pleasuredome. Creative Differences presents the Dutch/American all-star jazz sextet the Whammies, playing the music of late saxophone great Steve Lacy, at the Windup Space. Hour Haus hosts an underground rap and rock show featuring Sensible Roots, J Sully, Bad Habit, Guy Ghrams, and more. The Creative Alliance at the Patterson hosts the Hula Monsters’ winter luau and dance party, mixing Hawaiian standards with rockabilly and blues. Midnight Spin and Miles Midnight party past 12 o’clock at the 8x10. Diamond Youth has a record-release party at the Charm City Art Space with Turnover, Koji, and Have Mercy. Lalah Hathaway has soul in her DNA at Baltimore Soundstage. The Peabody Performance Academy String Orchestra plays at the Walters Art Museum. Don’t miss: 1st Mariner Arena hosts the Superstars of the ’70s Soul Jam, featuring the Stylistics, the Emotions, and the Chi-Lites.

SUNDAY: It’s a busy day at the Ottobar: first, at 4 P.M., Diplo’s Trap Hawk Down Tour of four cities in one day via helicopter lands in Baltimore. That night, Matt Pryor and James Dewees, both of the Get Up Kids, play solo sets downstairs, while Nashville country-rockers Denney and the Jets play upstairs. Hollywood Undead, the L.A. rap-metal plankton who made its first live appearance ever a few years ago at the Virgin Festival, when MySpace ballot-stuffers helped them win a contest, is now successful enough in its own right to headline Baltimore Soundstage. G. Love and Special Sauce help Rams Head Live sell some cold beverages. Canadian hardcore legends Left for Dead plays the Charm City Art Space this afternoon with Iron Reagan, God’s America, and Eddie Brock. Recent transplant from Buffalo to Baltimore Joseph Mulhollen plays the Golden West with Us and Only Us. California metal sextet Kingdom of Giants headlines the Recher Theatre with We the Gathered and We Reign Eternal. Lithuanian pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute performs at the Second Presbyterian Church.

MONDAY: Singer/songwriter Sean K. Preston plays a unique mix of country, punk, and blues at the Waterfront Hotel.

TUESDAY: The Julia Sheriff Collective features duos of Sheriff’s piano paired with other instruments at An die Musik. The Scotch Bonnets, the Forthrights, and (more) friends of the Short List Thee Lexington Arrows are at the Golden West. The 8x10’s local band showcase Bridging the Music hosts the Control, Primitivity, and Soulful Aggression. The Out of Your Head collective’s weekly improv session features an ensemble including Emily Madsen, Andrew Delclos, Colin Renick, Evan Solomon, and Liz Meredith at the Windup Space. Don’t miss: Rot Sloth, a new metal band featuring members of Tooth and Claw as well as Eddie Brock, plays its first show at the Charm City Art Space with Homewrecker and Passengers.

WEDNESDAY: Up-and-coming alt-rockers Churchill plays its very catchy single “Change” at the Ottobar. Oberlin students and folk-rockers Dear Commonwealth plays the Sidebar.

IN THE WINGS: Veteran punk bands the Queers and Teenage Bottlerocket will bring their joint tour to the Metro Gallery on March 1. (For more information, visit themetrogallery.net or call [410] 244-0899.) Folk singer/songwriter Vance Gilbert will be at Eutaw Place on May 2. (For more information, visit eutawplace.org or call [410] 484-9110.) Merriweather Post Pavilion has begun announcing its summer concerts, and the Capital Jazz Fest will be taking over the Columbia venue from June 7 to June 9. (For more information, visit merriweathermusic.com or call [410] 715-5550.)

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