Critic's Choice

Here's where the last installment of the adventures of Reverend Dead Eye left off: After a shit-kicking, soul-scorching sermon at the Westword Music Awards Showcase in June -- a raw, bluesy baptism of hellfire that featured Eliza Jane Smith of the Emmas on drums -- the Reverend's six-string sidekick, the Backslider, slithered back to California to devote himself to his uppity and blasphemous book-learnin'. Then, while on an evangelical quest through the Midwest, the Reverend had to forsake his vehicle in Minnesota after it became infested by demons. In accordance with Satan's scheme, Dead Eye's arsenal of guitars, harmonicas and beer-can mikes had to be left at the practice space of his friends in Jesus, the Black Eyed Snakes (a righteous roots combo led by Alan Sparhawk of Low). Now, the Reverend -- known in the secular world as Brent Burkhart -- is about to embark on a pilgrimage back to Duluth to exorcise his van and reclaim his Ark of Rock, all Indiana Jones style, from the forces of Lucifer. Tune in this Saturday, September 4, at the Lion's Lair, when the good preacher will battle a legion of drunks, perverts and sinners in preparation for his holy crusade. It's sure to be a cliffhanger.