John Vanderslice is someone you can truly count on. Aside from his incredible talent, we're always impressed with his indie rock work ethic. He keeps his studio Tiny Telephone open as an incubator for top quality recordings, he's always good for a genuine smile and a hug when we run into him, and about once every 18 months or so he releases another incredible album through Seattle-based indie Barsuk Records. His latest release Emerald City offers a somewhat gentler take on his always-unique melodies and music and a move towards even more intricate and adventurous lyrics. In the first song alone, he sings about the kookaburra tree, frangipane, bundestag and terabytes. He builds and inhabits fantastical tales and delivers them in such a convincing way as to make you believe he lived through them. In honor of John playing a free show at Amoeba Records at 2pm on Saturday, we're giving away a copy of Emerald City to two lucky winners. Listen to "White Dove" and enter to win. (Contest ends 8/14; winner will be notified via email.)

Last week was a great week for live music, and we managed to see three fantastic shows. Last Friday we started off seeing Rufus Wainwright at Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium. Having (somehow) never been there before, we were delighted that it's yet another not-a-bad-seat-in-the-house venue in a city full of (in our opinion) the best in the country. It was a classy setting for a positively theatrical performance: Rufus strutted out in his lederhosen and took his place behind the grand piano, with his all male revue on bass, drums, horns and guitar. All but Rufus wore fake moustaches (he associates SF with moustaches, he said) and a lot of 70's inspired stripes. One guy in the three-person horn section was the spitting image of John Galliano. Rufus filled the room with his enormous voice and offered a setlist to satisfy the most acute case of A.D.D. He pulled from old and new material, donned a glittering diamond necklace to prepare for a few Judy Garland covers, and sang without the microphone on an Irish standard. We were thrilled to hear live renditions of some of the huge sounds off of Release The Stars. The singing and playing were spot on, and Sir Wainwright really knows how to deliver a performance.

Click below to read our review of St. Vincent's show last Friday, plus this week's show recommendations.

Remember the contest we told you about last week where you could upload a video to YouTube and win the chance to perform with Rufus? Watch the winner's cameo during "Between My Legs":

We had to skip out of Rufus' show a little early to catch St. Vincent's set at Cafe Du Nord. We've already told you how her debut album Marry Me's set to top our year end best-of list, so we couldn't wait to see her live. She played with a three piece band (keyboards/bass, violin and drums) and all were decked out in black and white, her tiny frame enveloped in a white bubble minidress with black tights and black patent jazz shoes. We got the feeling that most people were there to check her out but perhaps didn't yet have the record, and aside from a fistfight almost breaking out in front of us over a video recording, the audience was respectful and attentive. We made a rare effort to stand in the front and our unencumbered view afforded us a close up of just how petite and beautiful Annie Clark is with her ivory skin and tousled black curls, her straight black eyebrows providing the only intensity in an otherwise angelic face. There was nothing gentle about how she attacked her guitar, with her frenetic walk-in-place sway during solos and the way she'd sometimes shake her head back and forth between lyrics. She sang beautifully during the set, only occasionally being drowned out by the noise. We thought the show was outstanding and lived up to our high expectations, and the best part is that this is only the beginning for St. Vincent.

The third show was saw last week was The Swell Season at Noe Valley Ministry. It was so magical that it deserves its own post, so stay tuned for that. Now on to this week's show recommendations:

Tonight the Rickshaw Stop celebrates HIJK's CD release party for The Pen and The Letter with The Invisible Cities, Show Me State and our good buddy DJ Ted from Bagel Radio. The Avett Brothers and Langhorne Slim are playing, appropriately, at Slim's.

The guys in Magic Bullets have gotten some love lately, including a feature as SPIN's Artist of the Day, some spins from Live 105 and an interview with the guys at The Bay Bridged. See what all the fuss is about when they play with The Redwalls at Cafe Du Nord on Friday. Watch Magic Bullets' video for "Yesterday's Seen Better Days":

Start your Saturday afternoon off right with that free performance by John Vanderslice at Amoeba at 2pm. Later that night, KFJC presents Subtle and Thee More Shallows at Great American. At Cafe Du Nord, Live 105 presents the "Live All Summer Concert Series" for only $5 with Strata, Push To Talk, Cold Hot Crash, Day One Symphony and DJ Aaron Axelsen. The Moanin Dove celebrate a CD release at Bottom of the Hill with Parasol and Tokyo Decadence.

Rademacher keep good company: their debut album, out in September, was produced by Aaron Espinoza of Earlimart and the CD artwork is by our friend Ashod Simonian (who's responsible for, among other things, this gorgeous book.) See what these fine folks from Fresno have to offer when they take over the Make Out Room on Sunday. On Monday night, actress Minnie Driver is charging the highest ticket price all month for her gig at Cafe Du Nord. Don't even get us started. On Tuesday, the woman, the myth, the legend Patti Smith performs at the Fillmore.

Film School return with a new album full of lavish shoegaze on September 11th courtesy of Beggars Banquet. Hopefully you'll get a sneak preview of songs from Hideout Wednesday night when they play at Bottom of the Hill with Pela and The Union Trade. Also on Wednesday, The One AM Radio play mellow music with literary lyrics at Rickshaw Stop with Lymbyc System and Montag, or catch The Ian Fays with Broken Hearts and Adam Metz at Hemlock.