Dropping rocket science

One of the area’s finer ambi-textural post-rock jazz and interstellar groove combos, the Davis-based Acme Rocket Quartet, recently took a year or so off, so its members—trumpeter-keyboardist Rusi Gustafson, drummer John Killebrew, guitarist Roger Kunkel and bassist Dave Thompson—could attend to the kind of stuff musicians usually attend to when they take time off: family life, et cetera. Now ARQ has begun performing again, and it plays Midtown’s Café Paris this Friday night, with Thompson’s other band, the Lookyloos (recently profiled in these pages) opening. Whether you missed ’em or missed out on ’em the first time around, here’s your heads up to catch up. 9:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, at Cafe Paris, 2326 K St. Cover $4.