Courtesy photos

Civil Twilight plays 202 Market on Friday. Hear song samples on the IO Jukebox.

Big Sam Williams brings his Funky Nation to Sun Music Hall, Floyd, on Saturday. Hear sound clips on the jukebox.

THURSDAY

Relay for Life Benefit

The Dark Side Project, The Jordan Harman Band and Honest Scoundrels

Help fight cancer while checking out good tunes. The Dark Side Project is a Pink Floyd tribute band featuring keyboardist James Pace -- catch him now, because soon he'll be on the road with blues singer/guitarist Ana Popovic. Harman is one of the Roanoke Valley's finest young singer/songwriters. Honest Scoundrels includes the Pop Rivets drummer, Ted Grigorieff.

Details: 7 tonight. Brambleton Deli, 3655 Brambleton Ave., Roanoke. Donations accepted. 774-4554.

Star City / D.C. All Stars

Singer Shawn Spencer will sing blues and jazz. And the great bonus: Her rhythm section is bassist Bernard Hairston and drummer Kelly Gravely -- if there were a Roanoke Valley music hall of fame, those two would be in it.

Details: 9 tonight. 202 Market, 202 Market Square, downtown Roanoke. $10. 343-6644, 202market.net.

FRIDAY

Free! Spuknof

With Flipside of Overdrive, and Nancy and Two Meteors

Lynchburg-based Spuknof is one of the tightest, hardest-driving young bands in central and Southwest Virginia right now. It is definitely influenced by the "loud, quiet, loud" formula that runs from the Pixies through Nirvana -- flirting with mainstream songcraft, mixed with some menace. Flipside of Overdrive is an acoustic rock duo from Parkville, Md. Catch openers Nancy and Two Meteors on the MusicCast at blogs.roanoke.com/musiccast/n/.

Details: 8 p.m. Friday. Back Creek Grill, 6063 Bent Mountain Road. Free. 904-7575, backcreekgrill.net, myspace.com/spuknof, myspace.com/flipsideofoverdrive.

Selah Dub

Get some spaced-out, funky reggae from a road-tested outfit.

Details: 10 p.m. Friday. Awful Arthur's, 213 Draper Road, at Kent Square, Blacksburg. 443-9109, myspace.com/markevangelistselah.

Code 11

This band can cover practically any song in any style, so it's a guaranteed party. But don't let yourself get too stupid, because three guys in the band can arrest you!

Details: 10 p.m. Friday. Corned Beef & Co., downtown Roanoke. $5. 342-3354.

Civil Twilight

With Duality

202 Market's Gary Jackson has been talking up this band so much, I thought maybe he'd invested in them. Then I listened to some of the band's music. He's right on -- the band delivers fierce energy, great musicianship and killer grooves. Oh, and the singer sounds a good deal like Bono. You can't complain about that. Singer/rapper/poet Range Da Messenga fronts soulhop band Duality, featuring smoking-hot bassist Cameron McLaughlin.

Details: 9 p.m. Friday. 202 Market, 202 Market Square, downtown Roanoke. $5. 343-6644, 202market.net, civiltwilightband.com.

SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY

Free! Local bands at Festival in the Park

Plenty of national acts will be on stage at Elmwood Park over the weekend (see Page 4), but don't forget to show up for good locally and regionally based entertainers. Madrone, Virginia Folk-Jazz Trio, Entre Nous, Sway Katz, Biggin Suite, Bill Payne, Groova Scape, Electric Chameleon and Royal Greens will be on stages throughout Elmwood Park.

Details: Free admission during the day. Get the full list of homegrown performers at roanokefestival.org.

SATURDAY

Big Sam's Funky Nation

Atop an embarrassment of musical riches this week is Big Sam Williams, onetime trombonist for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Now he's fronting a band of top-rung New Orleans cats who should be destroying the Sun Music Hall this weekend. Williams, funky and flashy, is a monster on the 'bone, and he has his band moving headlong toward Bonnaroo, the Johnstown Folkfest and the Telluride Blues and Brews Festival. Catch them in decidedly more intimate confines.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday. Sun Music Hall, 302 S. Locust St., Floyd. $12. (540) 745-7880, thesunmusichall.com, bigsamsfunkynation.com.

The Urban Sophisticates

This Greensboro, N.C.-based band has something really cool going on. Rappers are front and center, but they're backed by a full band with horns, so you'll hear a lot of different musical styles represented. Should be a hot show.

Details: 10 p.m. Saturday. Awful Arthur's, 108 Campbell Ave., downtown Roanoke. $5. 344-2997, myspace.com/awfularthursdowntown, myspace.com/theurbansophisticates.

Free! Rockin' Blue and the Bluezanators

Blue 5 co-owner Kerry Hurley debuts his side project. Given the band name, I predict plenty of blues. Don't bet against me.

Details: 9 p.m. Saturday. Blue 5 Restaurant, 312 Second St., downtown Roanoke. Free. 904-5338, blue5restaurant.com.

Matt Ramsey

Ramsey, a Buchanan boy, returns home from Nashville, Tenn., for this acoustic set. He's had a nice run lately, writing songs with Phil Vassar and Maureen McCormick (TV's Marcia Brady) -- the latter for the CMT reality show "Gone Country." Read more about Ramsey at roanoke.com/extra/wb/158548.

Details: 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Buchanan Theatre, 19778 Main St., Buchanan. $10. buchanantheatre.com, myspace.com/mattramseymusic.

WEDNESDAY

The Pete Best Band

He was the Beatles' original drummer, fired in favor of Ringo Starr. After taking a real job and raising a family, he's been back on the road for the past 20 years, playing the Merseyside style that made the Fab Four fab. Read more about Best in Saturday's Extra section.

Details: 9 p.m. Wednesday. Awful Arthur's, Towers Shopping Center, 2229 Colonial Ave., Roanoke. $15. 777-0007, myspace.com/awfularthurs, petebest.com.