Club Cafe Hosts Marco Benevento; The Clarks (Almost) at Meadows (CPs Sat., 1/25/14)

1) The Berklee College of Music, famous as the first academic institution to recruit and train jazz musicians, is becoming a breeding ground for millennial rock sensations. Passion Pit and The Click Five formed at the school. Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent, and members of The Mars Volta and Imagine Dragons are alumni. The latest Berklee grad to take his education to the club circuit is Marco Benevento (class of ’99). The singer/keyboardist plays his own modified instruments in a handful of NYC indie bands, often laying down odd-ball funk riffs and free-flowing improvisation. His work on the keys can be downright hypnotic. Benevento is touring behind his latest solo disc, Tiger Face, and stops at the Rex Theater today. See what his fancy education did for him after a set by Columbus-based neo-funk band Mojoflo. 9 p.m. 1602 E. Carson St., South Side.

2) The Clarks have had the same four members in the entire 28-year history of the band. In accordance with their “one-for-all/all-for-one mindset”, the absence of just one man means that for the show at the Meadows Racetrack and Casino today, they are not being billed as The Clarks but as Scott, Rob, and Greg of The Clarks. Drummer Dave Minarik is apparently busy, but the remaining three guys of this local institution will make lemonade out of lemons, using the less energetic dynamic to play your favorite Clarks songs unplugged. 8 p.m. 210 Racetrack Rd., Washington.

3) Remember the early ’90s? When every band had downbeat lyrics, winding guitar grooves and drum parts that kicked like a mule? Steel Hollow apparently does. The power trio’s sound has the cold, rainy, tumultuous air reminiscent of Alice in Chains or the Meat Puppets. Consisting of drummer Joe Thomas and brothers Michael and John Poremski, on guitar/vocals and bass, respectively, the Pittsburgh band is holding a release show for its second CD, Lighting for a Loner, today at Altar Bar. Wear flannel. 9 p.m. 1620 Penn Ave., Strip District.

4) This just in: KDKA weekend anchor Paul Martino is in a band. Martino, also a frequent weekday on-the-scene correspondent, mans the keyboards in the party band Time Tested. While his day job is all about current events, Martino’s side gig is more concerned with rock history; Time Tested’s repertoire includes classics from the Stones, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Pink Floyd. For more, tune into the Hard Rock Café tonight at 10 p.m. Free. 230 W. Station Square Dr., Station Square.

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