Fall semester at the Maintenance Shop brought significant names and big shows, but as the spring semester begins the campus club is excited about what’s in the works for the remainder of the year.

The semester kicks off with honky-tonk rockers, The Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, in their M-Shop debut on Thursday. They are an all-original act from San Diego who have earned permission from the “Man in Black” to use his name.

“[This] whole weekend is a nice diversity of music,” says M-Shop director Squire Boone, about artists Alice Peacock and Har Mar Superstar, who take the stage Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. respectively. “There’s a night of country, a night of folk and a night of indie-R&B.”

On Jan. 25 the M-Shop welcomes back some familiar names with space-pop act Manplanet and the organ-driven rock band Oh My God.

The following evening, folk rocker Mason Jennings will play the M-Shop for the second time this year. On his first visit, Jennings and his band held the opening slot for a sold-out Jack Johnson show.

The M-Shop will host its second drag show of the year, “All Hail the Queens!,” on Feb. 15, following the success the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Ally Alliance had with their “Sissy & Sassy” show in the fall.

“This is the first professional drag show we’ve had since 1997,” says Eric Yarwood, M-Shop coordinator. “We stopped doing them because that one was poorly attended, but the whole atmosphere of the campus has changed since then.”

After a busy January and February schedule, the M-Shop will take a break for two weeks following Spring Break.

Instead of shows, the ISU Theatre will be performing “World Theater Workshop Presents,” Yarwood says.

“With budget cuts it’s a great way for everyone to save money,” Yarwood says. “They get a new space to perform, with an entirely different kind of theater setting. We don’t have to pay any artist for two weeks, which gives us some flexibility to go after some bigger names.”

For a complete list of show dates, times and prices, visit the M-Shop’s Web site at www.m-shop.com, and click on Upcoming Shows or call the concert hotline at 294-2969.

New acts are being added to the schedule all the time, so be sure to check back often.