2/5/10: Today’s Tips: Friday

MUSIC: Positive Mental Trip CD release party with Sugarproof, Synewave @ Valentine’s Music Hall, Albany. PMT (also known as Luke Weiler) celebrates the release of “Love Never Dies, Vol. 2” before heading south for an east coast tour. 9pm. $5.

MUSIC: Jo Henley CD release party @ Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs. In celebration of the release of their new CD, “Inside Out” (featuring contributions from three members of the Trey Anastasio Band), the Boston band cranks out its blend of folk, country, rock and bluegrass with an opening acoustic set followed by a thoroughly rockin’ plugged-in set. 8pm. $17.

MUSIC: One eskimO with Elmwood @ the Bearsville Theater, Woodstock. Led by singer-songwriter Kristian Leontiou, these London alt-rockers generated plenty of buzz with their ’09 debut, “All Balloons.” 9pm. $15.

MUSIC: Minus the Bear with Phantogram, Maps & Atlases @ Northern Lights, Clifton Park. Seattle-based experimental indie rockers MtB are the headliners, but you can bet Nippertown favorites Phantogram will be big crowd-pleasers, too. 8pm. $18.

MUSIC: “The Gospel Gala” @ the Palace Theatre, Albany. Kicking of Black History Month, some of Nippertown’s finest gospel talent – the Gospel Gala 2010 Capital District Voices in Praise, the Washington Park Drum Circle, Arthur Danzy, J. Newry, Divacello, Antoinette Brown, Geri Howard, Lionel Hamilton & Company, LaKeisha Watson and more – lift their voices. 7pm. Free.

MUSIC: Barrence Whitfield & the Monkey Hips with the Knyghts of Fuzz @ Positively Fourth Street, Troy. In support of his new album, “Raw! Raw! Rough!,” Boston-based Whitfield fuses together rockabilly and roots with funk and soul. If you’re standing, you’re dancing. 9pm.

MUSIC: Dana Fuchs @ the Van Dyck, Schenectady. Wailing singer-songwriter featured in “Across the Universe,” makes her Nippertown debut as an acoustic duo. 7pm. UPDATE: This show has been postponed.

FILM: The Russian Film Forum starts tonight at The Linda, with a hearty schedule of films and discussions through the weekend. 7pm.

MUSIC: The Blisterz will be sharing the stage with Blackcat Elliot, Gracies Paris and New Jersey’s Lost in Society at Savannah’s in Albany at 7pm.