Like tons of music lovers across the country, but especially in his home state of Michigan, Mayer Hawthorne was pissed that Nickelback were tapped to play the halftime show at the Detroit Lions' annual Thanksgiving Day game last year. But like those guys who got a petition going around to boot the strip club-lovin' bros from the gig, Hawthorne actually did something about it: He plugged in and performed a halftime show online from his parents' house, with his dad on bass. That's one reason to love Hawthorne. Another is his commitment to turning on indie-rock fans to early-'70s soul music, which his own songs faithfully replicate with period-perfect production, organic-sounding instruments, and his warm voice, a sweet falsetto that's sort of like a white guy's version of Curtis Mayfield. You occasionally wish he'd register a little authentic emotion, rather than just ushering it in from another era, but the songs on last year's How Do You Do clearly beat Nickelback's vacuous tunes any day. With the Stepkids. 8 p.m. Tickets: $20, $18 in advance.–Michael Gallucci