Critics' Picks: Beautiful Maladies; Deb Rhymer and Victor Wells; Ivan Decker

MUSIC

What: The Beautiful Maladies
Where: The Roxy Theatre, 2567 Quadra St.
When: Saturday, Jan. 26, 8 p.m. (doors at 7:30)
Tickets: $22 at the Roxy Theatre box office (250-382-3370) and bluebridgetheatre.ca; $25 at the door
Why: These veterans of Hermann’s Jazz Club — now branding themselves The Beautiful Maladies — are taking their excellent tribute to Tom Waits up a notch with two shows on Vancouver Island this weekend (sorry fans — their show Friday at the Duncan Showroom is sold out). After eight consecutive sold-out shows at Hermann’s, the quintet of Kelly Fawcett (guitar/vocals), Brooke Maxwell (piano/sax/vocals), Aaron Watson (guitar/accordion/harmonica/vocals), Matt Pease (drums) and Peter Dowse (bass) is heading to the Roxy Theatre for what is expected to be a theatrical performance on Saturday night. That’s a Waits-ian day of the week, to say the least.

MUSIC

What: Deb Rhymer and Victor Wells
Where: Oaks Restaurant, 2250 Oak Bay Ave.
When: Saturday, Jan. 26, 7 p.m.
Tickets: $20
Why: The ongoing series aimed at raising funds for an endowment at the University of Victoria’s school of music gets bluesy on Saturday with an appearance by guitarist Victor Wells and singer Deb Rhymer. The top-tier duo is the latest to join the ongoing initiative by blues boosters who are hoping to raise $25,000 for the Eric LeBlanc Memorial Scholarship at the university. LeBlanc hosted a blues program on campus radio station CFUV for three decades and taught jazz history at the Victoria Conservatory of Music before his death in 2015. His legacy lives on through these concerts.

COMEDY

What: Ivan Decker
Where: Hecklers Bar and Grill, 123 Gorge Rd E.
When: Friday Jan. 25 and Saturday Jan. 26, 9 p.m.
Tickets: $14
Why: Vancouver comic Ivan Decker stops at Hecklers on Gorge Road for a pair of performances, the second of which is already sold out (a few tickets are left for his Friday appearance). An observational comic who finds the funny in everyday life, Decker has impressed audiences in spots on CBC’s The Debaters, through his independently released album I Wanted To Be A Dinosaur, which won the Juno Award for comedy album of the year in March, and an appearance in Comedians of the World, which dropped Jan. 1 on Netflix. His weekend gigs might be his last small-room sets in these parts.