Japan Nite

Yes, Denver's got some crack sushi peddlers, but it's not often that East really meets West here in cowtown. That will all change this Wednesday when Japan Nite returns to rock the Mile High City. The tour — now in its eleventh year — assembles a grab bag of under-the-radar bands from the Land of the Rising Sun and treks across the Pacific as an exotic import that no multiculturalist music fan should miss. But these aren't just a bunch of Loudness tribute bands. Detroit 7 rates with its agnostic, post-grunge crunching, Ketchup Mania makes bubblegum punk sound respectable, and Petty Booka simply wails, covering country and Hawaiian classics on top of hot dueling ukuleles. And that's just half the story. Leave the Japanese-to-English dictionary at home, because you don't need translations or subtitles to figure out that these Far East denizens can bring it.