Old School April Fool's

April 1 has been been celebrated for centuries, possibly because New Year's used to be on March 25 and the partying went on for a week, ending on April 1. Or maybe not, but that's enough of the history lesson for today. This Friday is April 1, aka April Fool's Day, so be wary of your friends trying to make you look stupid in front of your other friends.

This weekend the Ottobar is hosting two shows featuring pioneers of different eras and genres of underground and punk music, first with Mike Watt (and the Missing Men ... not the Minute Men) on Friday and the Subhumans on Saturday. Both bands formed in 1980, creators of their genres at best, seminal bands synonymous with their musical styles at the least.

Mike Watt has been filling his most recent post-Minute Men and fIREHOSE years touring with The Stooges, replacing Dave Alexander after he and J Mascis began performing Stooges covers with the Asheton brothers in 2000. Since 2003 he's been touring with The Stooges, playing bass on their 2007 album The Weirdness. On this tour, Watt will be playing with the Missing Men, Tom Watson on guitar and Raul Morales on drums, and will be performing his album (third in the series of rock operas, Contemplating the Engine Room released in 1997 and The Secondman's Middle Stand released in 2004), Hyphenated Man.

While the first two albums in the series dealt with Watt's personal issues, including the illness that almost killed him in 2000, this third and final album is a bit different, containing 30 songs inspired by 13th century Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch. There seems to be a trend among older male frontmen going solo with these concept albums. Iggy Pop did it with some French spoken word album, Lou Reed did it with The Raven and Mike Watt is on his third rock opera. Look at it as an April Fool's Day joke that you get to see Mike Watt at the Ottobar, you just don't get to hear any Minute Men or fIREHOSE. I kid, I kid, I'm sure it'll be great. How can you be disappointed by Mike Watt?

The night after Mike Watt, the Ottobar will be playing host to the Subhumans, the grandfathers of crust. Crass is the only other band I can think of that had the same amount of impact within the genre of stripped down drums, political lyrics and heavy bass sounds. Following on the heels of other early British punk bands touring recently, like The Vibrators and The Adicts, who played just last month, the Subhumans last toured in 2007, oftentimes along with Citizen Fish, Dick's other band that he took in a more ska type direction, though still with plenty of political leanings.

The Subhumans released their last album, Internal Riot, in 2007, though I'm sure there will be plenty played from their early albums to satiate the crowd, which is always and interesting mix of old and young alike. The draw of living outside of the establishment, off the grid and according to your own principles is something that appeals to a lot of people, keeping the scene alive and thriving. Just be glad the show is in early April and not August.

After a weekend of punk music legends, cleanse your palate with Roots Cafe at The Wind Up Space from 5-8:30 p.m. and then stick around for the show immediately after with Roommate, The Honeyboat and The Degenerettes, who are described as “a queer art rock trio.” The Degenerettes are Kristen Anchor, Rahne Alexander and Chrissy Howland. All three are multimedia artists with experience in film as well as music. You can hear the elements that have shaped the band's sound, sometimes garage-y, sometimes some soul-infused punk, sometimes outright hilarious. Check out this unique band of ladies and their songs about everything from Baltimore streets to mummy love. Yes, mummy love. An excellent and fun way to cap off your April Fool's/Legends of Punk weekend.

For real, not an April Fool's Day joke, other ways to spend the first weekend of April:

• Saturday, April 2 at CCAS: Paranoia Agent, AV Anxiety, Reverse Swan, and Rejouissance from Syracuse, NY. Syracuse! Insert NCAA March Madness joke here. All ages, doors at 7 p.m.