In Tune: Ways to enjoy a blarney-free St. Patty's

Sunday, January 1, 1905

Sunday is St. Patrick's Day. Normally, that means I would spend this space waxing poetic about how delightful it is to be a traditional Irish musician, but there are entirely too many great events happening this week for that kind of self-puffery.

Irish music is great and all, but it's not for everyone. If you're not a fan of fiddle-dee-dee music (as my friends describe it), here are some other ways to entertain yourself this weekend:

• Tonight, Knoxville's Jill Andrews, formerly the co-lead singer of indie folk giants the everybodyfields, will take the stage at Rhythm & Brews alongside Nashville-based quintet Humming House. Andrews' bell-clear, gingham-genuine vocals belong in the company of artists such as Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams. The show starts at 9 p.m., and tickets are $10.

• Friday night, Rhythm & Brews also will host the finals of this year's Road to Nightfall competition, featuring Function, Smooth Dialects, Amber Fults & The Ambivalent Lovers and Jordan Hallquist & The Outfit. These semifinalists will compete for $1,000 and a headlining slot in the concert series this summer. Unlike the preliminaries, however, this round will be decided by three judges instead of by popular vote. (Full disclosure: I'm a judge.) The show starts at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $7.

• If you're more of an electro-pop guy or gal, JJ's Bohemia is hosting a killer three-bill Friday that should be more up your alley. Former Chattanoogan Ben Elkins will return to the Scenic City at the head of Nashville-based Heypenny, which ranks up there with The Features and How I Became the Bomb on the list of great Middle Tennessee e-pop bands. He'll be joined by locals Summer Dregs, essentially Coral Castles 2.0 or The Distribution 2.0, and SoCro, a local Eurotrash/pop-hop -- remember last week's discussion about fun genre names? -- artist with a seriously tight command of beats.

• A few weeks ago, I wrote about the current boom in 3-D printing, and if you're interested in learning more about how it could completely change many facets of society, the Chattanooga Public Library on Broad Street is hosting a free informational event Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Local 3-D printers will showcase their machines and some of their prints, so hopefully, you'll walk away as excited as I am about 3-D printing's potential.

To those of you who love Irish music as much as I do, I wish you all fantastic craic (fun) this weekend. Dance until you're sore, drink as much as you care to, but above all, stay safe.

Contact staff writer Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.