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KCPR may be a little college radio station, but they think big, and their Second Annual Fall Flood Festival proves it. Organized by Carver Cordes, former KCPR DJ and local musician, it’s a real DIY labor of love that brings a wild selection of music to various venues and reunites great local indie bands of yesteryear.

• PHOTO COURTESY OF QUINN DEVEAUX AND MEKLIT HADERO
• TOGETHERNESS: Quinn DeVeaux and Meklit Hadero, who make up one of 35 acts playing five venues over three days, headline the Oct. 19 Fall Flood Festival at the Sanitarium.

“While it's still wildly eclectic, I tried to create showcases that focus on individual styles,” Cordes said. “Quinn DeVeaux and Meklit Hadero headline a jazzy, sultry lineup at the Sanitarium on Friday, Oct. 19. Quinn played this year's Live Oak Music Festival with his band the Blue Beat Revue doing a set of great blues, gospel, and early rock'n'roll and R&B tunes. He also played at the first Fall Flood Festival backed by members of the Booker Tease. This time he’s teaming up with Ethiopian jazz singer Meklit Hadero. They just released and album together where they mix original numbers with covers of classic alternative rock (Lou Reed, Talking Heads, Patti Smith), soul (Sam Cooke and Stevie Wonder), and more recent indie rock (Arcade Fire, MGMT, and our very own Kyle Field). All of the songs are reinvented and embossed with brilliant harmonies.”

Amber Gougis and Jessamyn Lynn Pattison will also play at the Sanitarium Spa Bed & Breakfast starting at 8 p.m. The cover for this show is between $8 and $12.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Oct. 19, The Booker Tease plays music from James Bond movies at Sweet Springs Saloon at 9:30 p.m. for a $5 cover.

Michael Musika, Bob Thayer & Joe Lewis, Sea Birds, and Emerson Eyes play a 7 p.m., pass-the-hat show at Linnaea's Café.

And The Z Club is host to the Hieroglyphics Imperium showcase with The Chosen Few and Knobody at 8 p.m. or $6. “Both hip-hop acts hail from Oakland,” Cordes said. “Knobody has done production work on a number of classic hip hop albums and The Chosen Few feature live instrumentation in their performance and put on a great show. They’ll be joined by KCPR's Jon?Doe and Abstract Butta Fingas.

“As far as reunions this year, there are a few,” Cordes continued. “Most notably the Jimm Cushing Paradox. James Cushing is a Cal Poly professor reading poetry and playing electric guitar backed by DJ Rob Bliss on the turntables and Melissa Underwood on the saxophone. The trio hasn't performed together since 1998, so this one is highly anticipated. They'll be performing at the Sanitarium on Saturday, Oct. 20, along with Little Wings, Sparrows Gate, Ghostporn, Dirt Dress, Churches, Talk Hot, and Bad Bad. This will be quite the family jam. The No. 1 request I've gotten as far as reunion shows go is for the Attractives. I put Ghostporn and Dirt Dress together [both of which contain ex-members of The Attractives] in the lineup, so we'll see what happens. Churches is Caleb from Grand Lake, Pat from Rogue Wave, and Dominic from Our Lady of the Highway. They’ve been playing some fierce rock shows here in the Bay Area, busting out some tunes Caleb wrote as an angsty teen in Los Osos. Talk Hot and Bad Bad are newer Bay Area rock bands with Central Coast roots.”

The Saturday, Oct. 20, Sanitarium show starts at 5 p.m. and runs to about 11, and costs $8 at the door. The Fall Flood Festival finishes up with a show at Frog and Peach on Sunday, Oct. 21.

“The Frog show on Sunday will also feature a reunion show from the garage rock band the Night Howls,” Cordes said. “Their last show didn't take place decades ago, but it should be a rollicking good time. This show will also feature lots of rootsy music: Tumbleweed Wanderers, Sparrows Gate, St. Vincent Folk, Emily Wryn, the Mutineers, American Dirt, Warbler, Tarweed Two, Evan apRoberts, Brianna Lea Pruett, Mel Russo, King Walrus, sMalls, and the Koopas.”

This show starts at noon and is free. All told, the festival features 35 musical acts over three days. How’s that for BIG?!?

Bambu Rad Disciples Stud Gramblers

If you can judge a band by its name, this ought to be a quite a week at SLO Brew, which kicks of the festivities on Thursday, Oct. 18, with reggae act Bambu Station (7:30 p.m.; all ages; $12 presale or $14 at the door). The group has grabbed and run with the torch of social consciousness and social justice passed on by its prophetic musical ancestors. Inna Vision and The Kicks will open.

Troubadour Radney Foster brings his country crooning to the Brew on Friday, Oct. 19 (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-old; $15 presale or $17 at the door). Twenty years ago, he released the stunning Del Rio, TX 1959, and now he’s touring in support of Del Rio, TX Revisited: Unplugged and Lonesome, which reinvents his hallmark recording as a haunting acoustic collection.

SLO Brew turns up the volume and throws down the gauntlet when Dio Disciples take the stage on Sunday, Oct. 21 (8 p.m.; all ages; $18 presale or $20 at the door). This celebration of the life and music of Ronnie James Dio features singers Tim “Ripper” Owens (Judas Priest) and Oni Logan (Lynch Mob), guitarist Craig Goldy (Dio), bassist Bjorn Anglund (Yngwie Malmsteen), keyboardist Scott Warren (Dio, Heaven & Hell), and drummer Simon Wright (Dio, AC/DC, UFO).

McDreamy Mike Stud hits the club on Tuesday, Oct. 23 (8 p.m.; all ages; $12). Stud was a legendary high school baseball player whose pitching earned him Rhode Island’s 2006 Gatorade Player of the Year and Louisville Slugger Player of the Year honors. He got the college ball call from the Duke Blue Devils, so he took his .354 batting average and 107 senior season strikeouts and headed to Durham, but two years later he was sidelined by surgery and discovered a new career in rhyming. Now his ball field swagger delivers bumping club tunes to the masses. M Shah opens.

My pick for show of the week at SLO Brew has to go to Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers on Wednesday, Oct. 24 (7 p.m.; 21-and-older; $11 presale or $13 at the door). Bluhm’s sound is soul-drenched country rock with the well-worn feeling of your favorite pair of jeans. Her improbable start came when she sang an impromptu blues song at a New Year’s Eve party, which happened to also have in attendance Tim Bluhm of The Mother Hips. He encouraged her, helped her record her debut album, and married her. How’s that for a whirlwind romance? The Brothers Comatose open.

More music …

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• PHOTO BY PETER SAMUELS PHOTOGRAPHY
• COUSIN ITT? : Bass music master Bassnectar is coming to Avila Beach Resort on Oct. 19.

Bass music master Bassnectar is coming to Avila Beach Resort on Friday, Oct. 19, touring in support of his record VAVA Voom, a real banger of an album that many critics are calling his best one yet. In fact, NPR's Sound Opinions called him the most innovative electronic artist since Aphex Twin. Gramatik and Gladkill will open this all-ages general admission show. The gates open at 5 and the show is at 6 p.m. Tickets ($38) are available at all Vallitix outlets.

Dead can dance! On Friday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m. in Cal Poly’s Spanos Theater, East L.A.’s fiery ensemble Quetzal will play their “Dia de los Muertos” concert. “Stemming from the Mesoamerican celebration of the Day of the Dead, ‘Dia de los Muertos’ brings an urban Chicano twist to this ancient celebration,” according to press materials. “Quetzal’s multi-media presentation of music, dance, poetry, and images celebrates life through the ultimate rite of passage: death.” A pre-concert lecture will be held by Cal Poly Music Department professor Ken Habib at 7 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center’s Pavilion. Student and adult tickets cost $28 to $35 (756-4849). Quetzal will also do a school program at Paso Robles’ dual immersion language magnet school, Georgia Brown Elementary School, the day before their Cal Poly show.

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• PHOTO COURTESY OF QUETZAL
• DEAD CAN DANCE! : East L.A.’s fiery ensemble Quetzal will play their “Dia de los Muertos” concert on Oct. 19 in the Spanos Theatre.

If you’re looking to sip some tasty wine and dine on Chicago's legendary Carson’s BBQ Baby Back Ribs while listening to some live blues without ever having to leave SLO County, there’s only one place to do it: Midnight Cellars Winery from 6 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20. The ribs will be smoked for hours in a wood-burning pit in Chicago, then flown in and finished off by Midnight’s winemaker and barbecue master Rich Hartenberger. Blues will be performed live by The Cliffnotes, featuring Valerie Johnson & Al B Blue. Johnson once toured with Big Brother & the Holding Co. filling Janis Joplin’s shoes, one of Al B Blue’s bands opened for Curtis Mayfield on national tours of the U.S. Band leader, and Cliff Stepp has written songs recorded by major label artists and has opened for acts ranging from Joe Walsh to Tommy Castro. Blue harpist Joey Five & Dimes counts Hubie Sumlin and Willie Dixon among his former stage mates. This should be quite a night! Tickets cost $75 each; contact [email protected] or call 239-8904.

Ready for some sultry Latin jazz? Then hold onto your sombrero, because five-time Grammy nominee Wayne Wallace and his Latin Jazz Quintet return to SLO on Saturday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the Unity Concert Hall (1490 Southwood Dr.). They sold out their 2010 show at the same venue, so don’t wait to get tickets for this concert presented by the SLO County Jazz Federation as part of their ongoing Marilyn Greenberg Memorial Jazz Series. Tickets cost $20 (general), $15 (members), and $10 (students). For more information, call 543-3733.

I just listened to Michael On Fire’s Live in London album, a theatrical, emotive, soaring display of potent songwriting and soulful vocals. On it, M.O.F. was backed by a group of traditional Irish musicians and several of the singers from the West End production of Billy Elliot the Musical. On Saturday, Oct. 20, Michael on Fire plays at the Steynberg Gallery with Bill Flores (whom SLO audiences might recognize from his performances with Jeff Bridges) on accordion, mandolin, and pedal steel; Tompeet Frederiksen on drums; and Bear Erickson on guitar. He’s played a couple of well-received shows at Painted Sky, but this is Michael’s first SLO Town show. This all-ages, $15, 8 p.m. show comes highly recommended!

If you’re a fan of The Swell Season, Greg Brown, and Patty Griffin, check out Dave McGraw & Mandy Fer, a duo hailing from Northwest Washington that plays Linnaea’s Café on Saturday, Oct. 20, from 8 to 10 p.m. “It has been a few years since I last came through town with my other band (Dave McGraw & Crow Wing),” McGraw said. “Mandy and I are usually an acoustic-electric Americana songwriter duo, but we’ll be a trio with drums for this tour.” They’re touring in support of their newest collaboration, Seed of a Pine.

Just the name sounds good! The Hot Harvest Moon Party. Mmm. Moon. On Saturday, Oct. 20, Clautiere Vineyard will moan in the Halloween season, and as publicist John “MacDaddy” Mackey says, “Clautiere’s Halloween/Harvest parties are legendary, so if you’ve always heard, but never been, here’s your chance to don a crazy costume or just come as you are and enjoy the great music, gourmet food, wine, and colorful company.” This year, the special musical guest is the critically acclaimed One Time Spaceman, playing their eclectic brand of “Cosmic American Music.” Party guests will feast on delicious delicacies from Chef Jeffery Weisinger’s globally influenced cuisine, all expertly paired with special barrel samples hand-picked from the Clautiere cellar. Tickets are limited and free to Wine Club members, $20 for wine industry-GALA/TCC members, and $30 to the general public. Call 237-3789 to order yours today.

Grammy award-winning Tingstad & Rumbel will bring their finger-style guitar and melodic woodwind sound to the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden on Sunday, Oct. 21, at 4 p.m. Their album American Acoustic was honored as “Acoustic Instrumental Album of the Year” by New Age Voice, with Eric Tingstad on guitar and Nancy Rumbel on oboe, English horn, and ocarina. Their classically inspired music from America, the British Isles, Asia, and Spain also features “a mix of original and covered tunes including Tex-Mex stylings, Caribbean rhythms, Americana finger picking, and devotion to the American songbook.” Seating is limited. Go online to slobg.org, where tickets are $25 presale or $30 at the door (if any remain).

Calling all drummers and percussionists! Bethel Lutheran Church (295 Old County Road, Templeton) is the location for a Drum and Percussion Workshop by Roger Beall of Foundation Rock Studios on Sunday, Oct. 21, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Beall’s got more than 40 years of recording and touring experience in the music industry, having shared the stage with such groups and individuals as Blue Oyster Cult, Steppenwolf, The Dixie Dregs, Mickey Gilley, and more. Whether you’re a kid just starting out or a seasoned player looking to pick up some new technical skills and refine and hone methods already in place, Beall’s got something to teach you. Attendees are encouraged to bring and set up their own percussion and drum instruments as necessary to facilitate the group setting, but it’s not a requirement. An array of handheld and smaller percussion instruments will be provided for the beginning musicians. From 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., a potluck-style dinner will be provided by the members of Bethel Lutheran Church for those attending the drum workshop and/or the evening’s Christopher Williams concert at 7 p.m. (a $10 donation is suggested). He’s a Nashville songwriter and former member of the Grammy-winning group Jars of Clay. Reservations are recommended, but not required. Please call 434-1329.

Keep up with Glen Starkey via twitter at twitter.com/glenstarkey, friend him at facebook.com/glenstarkey or myspace.com/glenstarkey, or contact him at [email protected].