SATURDAY

>> Metalfest is ready to rock your day, night

It might seem a bit incongruous to start a metal concert at 4 in the afternoon. But when you have more than 20 bands ready to thrash, as the annual Metalfest does, you start early and party long and hard. Just be sure to save up some energy for the two headliners, M.D.C. and Chelsea Grin.

M.D.C.’s main claim to fame is the 1980s chant “No war! No KKK! No fascist USA!” from “Born to Die,” a song that targeted the Ku Klux Klan for harassing migrant farm workers in Texas. Since then, the chant has surfaced during periods of war and was recently updated to “No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!” which has been heard at protests against the president, at the confirmation hearings for U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and at the American Music Awards last year when Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong inserted it into the middle of song “Bang Bang.” Original lead singer Dave Dictor still heads up the group, continuing its support of animal rights, LGBT rights and criticizing racism and corporate culture.

Chelsea Grin, pictured, formed in 2007 and has toured twice on the Vans Warped Tour. The death-metalcore’s 2010 debut album “Desolation of Eden” hit No. 21 on Billboard Top Heatseekers chart. “The rhythms aren’t so much blast beats as tribal throbs, and the riffs come in slow like bombers above an unsuspecting city pre-dawn,” said AlternativePress.com in describing the album. Three more albums “My Damnation” (2011), “Ashes to Ashes,” (2014) and last year’s “Self-Inflicted” have all reached the top 10 on the Billboard’s U.S. Indie chart.

>> ‘Ghostbusters’ artist haunts Honolulu

If you “ain’t ’fraid of no ghosts,” then head over to Hawai‘i Convention Center on Saturday for an evening of jazz.

Ray Parker, Jr., the Grammy-winning composer and performer of the theme song for the “Ghostbusters” film franchise, headlines. He’ll be joined by virtuoso trumpet player Rick Braun and saxophonist Michael Paulo, the Hawaii native who has gone on to a prolific 40-year career in pop, soul and smooth jazz and has been bringing top smooth jazz artists here to perform for the last several years.

Parker’s “Ghostbusters” song is just one of many major accomplishments in his career. He’s played with Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan and Tina Turner, and was a pioneer in the music video industry. His video of “Ghostbusters” featured a number of celebrities, including Chevy Chase, John Candy, Al Franken, Danny DeVito, Carly Simon, Peter Falk and Teri Garr, yelling “ghostbusters!”

Braun is considered a consummate artist, known for both his technical and songwriting wizardry. He’s produced the hit albums “Kisses in the Rain” (2001) and “Can You Feel It?” (2014), both of which appeared on the Billboard Top 200 charts. His latest album, this year’s “Around the Horn,” includes African- and Brazilian-inspired tunes, along with remakes of Alicia Keyes’ “In Common” and the Charlie Puth and Selena Gomez single “We Don’t Talk Anymore.”

They’ll be joined by locals Bruce Hamada on bass, Zanuck Lindsey on guitar, Michael Grande on keyboards and Garin Poliahu on drums.

>> Sosupersam stands out with variety of talents

These days, talent in one arena can easily branch out into others. Take Samantha Duenas, aka Sosupersam, for example.

The Filipina-American from Los Angeles started out as a dancer for entertainers like Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Hudgens, then blended her interests in genres like rap, R&B and indie pop with her skills at the turntable to create a thriving career DJ’ing at LA hot spots. That led into an “only-in-LA” job providing soundtracks for photo shoots for celebrities like George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Channing Tatum, Reese Witherspoon and Sienna Miller. She’s become a fashion celeb as well, with appearances in Elle, Vanity Fair and other trendsetting publications.

A member of the music collective Soulection, Sosupersam is also a co-founder of 143, a party devoted to retro R&B tunes (143 refers to the code for “I Love You” that people would send to each other back in the days of pagers). The event began in a Los Angeles nightclub as somewhat of a lark and has gone nationwide.

Sosupersam is into singing now, producing her debut album “Garden,” where she ranges from heavily produced slow jams like “One” and “A Little Wrong” to the piano-accompanied ballads “Anyway” and “The End.”

SUNDAY

>> Pe‘a brings his Grammy-winning music to Waikiki

Kalani Pe‘a, Hawaii’s history-making singer-songwriter, makes his Blue Note Hawaii debut Sunday.

Pe‘a’s debut album, “E Walea,” reached No. 1 on the iTunes world music charts and no. 12 on the Billboard charts in the summer of 2016. It went on to win the Grammy Award for best regional roots music album and the Na Hoku Hanohano Award for Best Contemporary Album this year, making it the first album to win both a Grammy and Hoku. Pe‘a also was the first Native Hawaiian to win the Grammy for regional roots music, which was established in 2011.

A graduate of Ke Kula ‘o Nawahiokalani‘opu‘u, a Hawaiian-language immersion program on Hawaii island, Pe‘a first started singing as a way to correct a childhood speech impediment, went on to study vocal performance in college and sang karaoke until he decided to write and record some of his songs. He now teaches on Maui in addition to performing.

“E Walea” features his own compositions sung in Hawaiian, along with several Hawaiian classics and the pop hits “You Are So Beautiful” and “Always and Forever” sung in English and Hawaiian. “The traditions of modern Hawaiian music are alive and in good hands for the future,” wrote Star-Advertiser reviewer John Berger.