Stanard Ridgway and his band Wall of Voodoo burst onto the scene in the early '80s, hitting the charts with "Mexican Radio" and representing a then-novel, art-punk camera into the LA music scene. Since his Voodoo days, Ridgway has transformed himself into a decidedly offbeat version of Johnny Cash, Kurt Weill and Tom Waits all rolled up into one. Oh, the odd visuals are still there, the swamps and strange streets and alienation ever-present in the lyrics, but the poppy paranoia has been replaced by roll-up-the-sleeves bayou grunge in places and, get this, the man actually croons now. His recently released album "Snakebite: Blacktop Ballads and Fugitive Songs" is available on redFLY Records. --Tjames Madison

Performing Thursday, March 17 at midnight (TX Union 24th @ Guadalupe).

website: http://www.stanridgway.com/