There are some bands that have clearly spent a lot of time fantasizing about the live show they would one day unleash on the public. If the members of the Big John Bates Grindshow were younger, it might be permissible to imagine them in school, tracing the word "Grindshow" over and over in their spiral notebooks. In a vein similar to acts like That Handsome Devil and Reverend Horton Heat, BJBG is a celebration and perversion of a variety of genres, including rockabilly, bluegrass and punk, with Big John presiding over the sordid affair in a black top hat. Effort has been made to give the impression of a dark, traveling carnival, and that effort translates to one hell of a sloppy, fun live show. 

[Hell's Kitchen, with James Hunnicut, Hot Roddin Romeos, Angel and the Carwrecks, 9 p.m., $5, 928 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.759.6003]