More absorbent than ever, this week's print edition of the Express features Spike Lee, the whole of black thought, and the significance of James Brown; Oakland's Flipsyde tries to match "Someday"; Mos Def 's new shit is weak; Snoop Dogg's new shit is raw ... and we Critically Approve of the following shows:

El Dopa at Annie's Social Club Malicious Slaughter at the Epidemic Cumbiamba eNeYe at Ashkenaz Albert Hammond Jr and Incubus at the Warfield Thompson's String Ticklers at Ashkenaz Rykarda Parasol at Cafe du Nord and the San Francisco Symphony