Jim Catalano

It's been a busy summer for Jimkata. The Ithaca-based electrorock quartet has been playing festivals all over the Northeast and Midwest. Tonight, the band will perform under the State Theatre marquee as part of the Downtown Ithaca Summer Concert Series

"I can't wait to play under the marquee again," said Jimkata drummer Packy Lunn in a recent email interview. " It's a shame that the Commons is still in ruins, but I was very impressed by the setup the Downtown Ithaca Alliance built last summer. We have been working hard these past couple months on new songs — maybe if one is ready, we'll try it out."

Ithaca College band Second Dam will share tonight's show, kicking off the music at 6 p.m. Jimkata will play from 7 to 9 p.m. Visit www.downtownithaca.com to learn more.

On Aug. 17, Jimkata performed at the Peach Music Festival in Scranton, Pa., playing just before the Allman Brothers Band's closing set.

"PeachFest was a blast!" Lunn said. "It was truly an honor to perform right before one of the last Allman Brothers shows ever, and the energy was palpable." He didn't meet any ABB members, but Jimkata guitarist Evan Friedell posted a couple of photos posing backstage with Gregg Allman and Warren Haynes.

Earlier this year, Jimkata released the EP "Feel in Light." A few weeks ago, the band released "Remix in Light," which featured several remixed of the EP's four songs.

"The idea of a remix record had been swimming around in my brain for a couple years," Lunn said. "We are fortunate enough to play with a variety of very talented bands, so I knew I could find people with the skills and knowledge pretty easily. I basically reached out to people whose music I already respected and then as word got out, I had people approaching me to do tracks."

Lunn said the band was surprised by some of the results. "When I sent the emails out to the remixers, I explained that this was a project of their individual interpretation of our music," he said. "The only guidelines I gave were to 'express yourself and not to restrict your vision or produce something that you think we wanted to hear.'

"It was really interesting to see what our peers came up with using combinations of our sounds and their sounds. All of the tracks were amazing, but I would have to say that my two favorites were Stephen Learson's (of The Indobox) version of 'Swimming in the Ocean' and Ted Bowne's (of Passafire) version of 'Beat the Curse.'"

Visit jimkata.bandcamp.com to download a free copy of the "Remix" album.

Twin power

Tonight, the Le Boeuf Brothers — Remy and Pascal Le Boeuf (saxophone and piano, respectively) — will return to the Carriage House Café's Hayloft for an 8 p.m. show.

The 28-year-old identical twins (Pascal is 20 minutes older) grew up in California and have built a reputation for blending jazz, classical and rock influences during their decade in New York City.

Being twins "gives us 28 years of partnership from which to draw mutual understanding," Pascal said via email. "We have been exposed to the same environment, which has helped to shape who we are and how we think as well as our understanding of each other."

Added Remy: "We ate the same food, watched the same cartoons, were raised by the same parents — yes, we have some similarities – but telepathy, no."

The brothers have embraced technology to give their albums a modern approach, though they don't always bring that to their live shows. "We are going mostly acoustic on this tour, though not entirely," Remy said

The twins just recorded a new album featuring JACK Quartet, Ben Wendel, Ben Street and Justin Brown in addition to the band playing here in Ithaca.

"Everything on the album was inspired by literature," Remy explained. "In addition we explored the shared language between ourselves, coming from a jazz background, and JACK Quartet, who come out of a contemporary classical background. There is a lot of interpretive freedom in both modern jazz and contemporary classical music and I really enjoyed working with JACK Quartet on this one. One of the pieces is a 20-minute narrated work based on a short story by Franz Kafka — I spent the last couple years reading his stuff and writing the piece."

To learn more, visit LeBoeufBrothers.com.

Drummer Peter Kronreif and bassist Martin Nevin will join the brothers for tonight's show. Ithaca College jazz professor Greg Evans also will sit in for a few songs on drums. There's a $12 cover charge ($7 for students). Visit www.carriagehousecafe.com for more information.

Outdoor update

Besides the Jimkata show mentioned above, other outdoor series are still happening, mainly due to some recent bad weather.

Last week, both the Myers Park and Downtown Ithaca shows were rained out, so makeup dates have been set. Bad Alibi will play at Myers Park at 6:30 p.m. today to conclude the Lansing summer series, while Rockwood Ferry will now open for the Blind Spots next Thursday (Sept. 4) under the State Theatre marquee.

And while the Taughannock Falls summer concert series may have ended last weekend, there's one more event. Friday's "Silent Movie Under the Stars" with the Cloud Chamber Orchestra — Chris White, Peter Dodge, Robby Aceto — providing a live, improvised soundtrack to the 1918 film "A Romance in the Air." There's no charge for the 8:30 p.m. event, but there's a $5 parking fee per car. Visit nysparks.com to learn more.

The Ellis Hollow Community Center's "Music in the Hollow" series also has one make-up date. Terrapin Station, whose Aug. 5 show was rained out, will perform their Grateful Dead covers at 6 p.m. Tuesday to wrap up the series. Visit ellishollowcc.org for details.

More shows

There's a lot happening in the coming days. In addition to Friday's Spoon concert at the State Theatre and the Seneca Lake Big Splash event at the Hector Fairgrounds this weekend (read about both elsewhere in Ticket), here are some other shows:

• Tonight, Stark Nights will make its monthly appearance at the Argos Inn, with MSZM (Michael Stark and Zaun Marshburn) playing from 7 to 9 p.m. By the way, Bar Argos is now closing at 10 p.m. each night, in deference to the inn's guests. Visit www.argosinn.com to learn more.

• Today at 7 p.m., the History Center of Tompkins County will present "Lev Theremin: Sound, Science and Espionage," in conjunction with its "Switched On" exhibit about the Moog synthesizer. Ithaca College professor Peter Rothbart will discuss the fascinating and controversial life of Leon Theremin, the Russian innovator, international spy and inventor of the only musical instrument played without being touched. Visit www.thehistorycenter.net to learn more about the free event, which will feature a hands-on demonstration.

• The Haunt has a couple of funk shows in the coming days. Friday, the Royal Noise, a Philadelphia-based funk-jam band that just released a new album titled "This Is The Funky Part." Visit royalnoise1050.wordpress.com to learn more. Tuesday, Orgone will make its Ithaca debut at the Haunt. The Los Angeles ensemble that blends funk, rock, disco and soul into a high-energy sound. Learn more at orgonespace.com. Cover is $10 for the 8 p.m. show. Visit www.dansmallspresents.com for more information.

• Friday, Common Railers and Regina O'Brien will team for a rootsy happy hour. The Railers recently released a live album that you can download on bandcamp.com, while O'Brien has been in the studio recently working on some new material. There's no cover for the show, which runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Visit www.atomicloungeithaca.com to learn more.

• Friday, Lot 10 will host a benefit dance party for Planned Parenthood of the Southern Lakes featuring the Big Dipper, DJ Ether Eden and much more. Suggested donation for the 9 p.m. event is $10. Visit www.lot-10.com to learn more.

• Saturday, the Burns Sisters will perform at the Morgan Opera House in Aurora. Annie and Marie Burns will be accompanied by Bobby Sweet, Kevin Maul and Tony Markellis for the 8 p.m., which should feature some familiar favorites and material from the duo's forthcoming album. Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are $15 ($12 for students), with proceeds benefiting the Peachtown Elementary School. Visit www.morganoperahouse.org to learn more.

• Saturday, Gray Gary will perform at the Chapter House. The band — former Ayurveda members Tom Burchinal and Shikhar Bajracharya — is putting finishing touches on its debut CD, which they'll release Sept. 26. Visit www.facebook.com/greygaryband for details. Vacuoso will open the 10 p.m. show, which has a $5 cover.

• Sunday, there will be a memorial service and celebration of the life of Bernie Upson, the jazz bassist who passed away recently, at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 402 N. Aurora St. Doors will open at 3 p.m. for the 4 p.m. service, which Michelle Courtney Berry will officiate and will feature a reception, music and dancing in the downstairs hall after the service. Musicians are encouraged to bring instruments and join in a jam session in Bernie's honor.

• Sunday, Bound for Glory — North America's longest-running live folk concert broadcast — will kick off its 48th season in the Café in Cornell's Anabel Taylor Hall. Host Phil Shapiro will be joined by Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand, who have mastered various forms of roots music. Visit www.andrewandnoah.com to learn more. There's no cover charge for the show, which is broadcast live on WVBR (93.5 FM, wvbr.com) at 8-11 p.m. and is open to all ages.

Catalano has covered the local music scene since 1992. He co-hosts the Homemade Jam radio show, which airs weekly at 9 p.m. Sunday on i100 (99.9 FM). Follow him on Twitter at @IthacaMusicNews, and email him at jimcat@aol.com.