The Jad Fair/Half Japanese Weekend is Friday and Saturday at Maxines.

  • The Jad Fair/Half Japanese Weekend is Friday and Saturday at Maxine’s.

JAD FAIR AND HALF JAPANESE
8 p.m. Maxine’s. $6 adv., $8 day of.

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How cool is this? You’ve got to hand it to Thick Syrup Records boss-man Travis McElroy for bringing local music geeks one of the most awesome and out-of-left-field shows of the year.

Half Japanese — the duo formed in the mid-’70s by brothers Jad and David Fair — is without a doubt one of the most cultishly adored “outsider” groups ever. The brothers Fair utterly ignored the rock-star rulebook and followed their own instincts, blazing a trail of idiosyncratic (or some might say challenging), primordial rock fueled by raw emotion and an enthusiasm undimmed by any outside forces.

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Over the decades, there have been some lineup additions and subtractions, but the Fairs, particularly Jad, have soldiered on, hailed by high-profile fans like Kurt Cobain and Penn and Teller. McElroy has released several projects from the Fairs on Thick Syrup.

This weekend starts with Jad Fair performing Friday night (backed up by The Bloodless Cooties) and with his brother and Half Japanese alum Mark Jickling on Saturday. Both nights also feature full sets from the Cooties and Ezra Lbs., as well as an art show and at 7 p.m. on Saturday, they’ll screen the must-see documentary “Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King.”

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