SWEET CRUDE BILL AND THE LIGHTHOUSE NAUTICAL SOCIETY

Ahoy, mateys, and all that salty-dog seafaring jargon, yadda yadda yadda - looks like the Hotel Utah's gonna max up on crusty sailors and the gals who love 'em on Tuesday, Jan. 8, when local rockabilly-enamored mariners Sweet Crude Bill and the Lighthouse Nautical Society swear sweet holy-holy once again. Fans of the Cramps, Elvis, Merle Haggard, and the Supersuckers: you need to hear these guys, seriously. If you're lucky, they might just play "Satan Is the Pilot on Air Force One," the oddest Elvis-impersonation to feature a '70s-blaxploitation wah-wah guitar groove. Tuesday, Jan. 8, 9 p.m., $6. Hotel Utah Saloon, 500 Fourth St., SF.

Feel like making Lovemakers?

THE LOVEMAKERS

Fancy an honest-to-goodness rump shake? Sure, they've gone national, but Oakland's Lovemakers show some local love when they begin their month-long residency at Café du Nord on Thursday, Jan. 10 - and if I were a wagerin' fellow, I'd reckon these neo-new wavers will serve up a feisty interpretation of their gloriously discofied, booty-clapping falsetto-fest "Shake That Ass" at some point during their weekly Thursday evening set. The perennial crowd fave - a tribute of sorts to 50 Cent's "Shake That Ass Girl" - may remain one of Lisa Light's and Scott Blonde's most-requested moments, but the duo has plenty of other equally calorie-burning offerings in their trick bag.

Example? Take the title track from last year's Misery Loves Company EP (Fuzz): a snappy electro-rocker that evokes the heyday of the Go-Go's and vintage Duran Duran, it ushers in waves of John Hughes movie nostalgia for me while still sounding fresher than baked bread. And speaking of fresh - this pair of swanky fashionistas has been known to throw a round or two of naughty mischief into their live act. Nice! Thursdays, Jan. 10, 17, 24, and 31, 9:30 p.m., $10. Café du Nord, 2170 Market, SF.

RED HOT CHACHKAS

Red hot Jewish dance music - you know you want it! Who doesn't go cuckoo for klezmer? What, are you meshugeh or something? Repeatedly voted the best klezmer band in Northern California, the Bay's own Red Hot Chachkas kick up a mighty row with their delirious fusion of rock, reggae, jazz, and, yes, red hot Jewish dance music, as witnessed on their recent self-released Spice It Up! album. Stomp away for yourself, though, on Thursday, Jan. 10, at Berkeley's Ashkenaz Music and Dance Community Center, when the Red Hot Chachkas give Eastern European Yiddish culture their own distinctive spin. Thursday, Jan. 10, 8:30 p.m. $10. Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berk.

Ghost of a chance: Emily Jane White

THE COMPLICATIONS AND EMILY JANE WHITE

Double your local-love bang for your buck - or, shucks, chuck it on up to a triple if you want to count Santa Cruz, where the third act on the bill calls home - on Sunday, Jan. 13. That's when beat-happy country-death-song crooners the Complications and brooding folkie Emily Jane White paint over the Make-Out Room in the most gorgeously evocative of sepia tones. Welding clattering hip-hop-popping beats to basso profundo-delivered bourbon-and-doom classics ("St. James Infirmary," "Wayfaring Stranger"), while keeping the electro strictly rudimentary - think the Magnetic Fields and the RZA ripping through the murder-ballad songbook - the Complications spruce up their synth-driven twang with bits of banjo, violin, and even that reliable ol' weep-worthy standby, the saw!

White - blessed with a ghostly alto - crafts fascinating folk-blues narratives out of curious language and long-lingering images. (My favorite is "Sleeping Dead," in which she reveals a dream of ravens in her bed, threatening to take her newlywed. Slyly unsettling.) Add to the mix Mylo Jenkins - a Santa Cruz quartet specializing in front-porch indie-folk - and we've got the makings of some delicious down-home rootsiness. Sunday, Jan. 13, 8 p.m. $6. Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St., SF.

THE REACTION

Black Flag, the Ex, Flipper, Fugazi, the early, early days of the Mekons - just a few familiar touchstones for the Reaction, who'll be hitting the Elbo Room on Monday, Jan. 14. The trio - boasting a pedigree that includes punk mainstays J. Church, Wyldlife, and the Kirby Grips - fashion a singular sound from these influences, as well as injecting white-lightning updates of '60s mod shimmy-pop. And vocalist Wade Driver can rant and rasp like the dickens, I tell you! Best punk band in San Francisco? You be the judge. Monday, Jan. 14, 9 p.m., $5. Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF.