MUSIC Billy Boy Arnold. From Tuesday, 9.30pm, The Jazz Club, $280.
Anybody who remembers the British blues boom of the 1960s will know at least two Billy Boy Arnold songs - the classics I Wish You Would and I Ain't Got You. Both were staple cover material for any self-respecting white-boy blues band and a young Eric Clapton began to show his teeth in them during his stint with the Yardbirds.
Arnold is a strong singer and one of the undisputed greats of the blues harmonica, with a style all of his own rooted in the territory mapped out by Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter and Junior Wells. His driving rhythmic approach owes more than a little to one-time collaborator Bo Didley.
Be prepared for a week of fine rocking Chicago blues and soulfully-wailing harp.
Not to be missed.
CINEMA Smoking. Wednesday, 7.30pm, Space Museum Lecture Hall, $40, Urbtix.
