Heavy Dates

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

If you've ever had two kids with conflicting soccer games, then you'll appreciate the plight facing Boston Globe society columnist Julie Hatfield this coming Wednesday (June 28). Daughter Juliana Hatfield is having a record-release party at the Somerville Theatre, (617) 931-2000, for not one but two albums: Beautiful Creature, a sublime pop disc that might be her best work since Become What Your Are; and Total System Failure (both Zoe/Rounder), a goofy heavy-metal album. Meanwhile, a few miles away, son Jason Hatfield is finishing up a month-long residency at the Lizard Lounge, (617) 547-0759, in Cambridge, with his band Star Hustler, who've just released an impressive disc -- Songs for Betty (Dirt), the title referring to Juliana's dog, and with a guest appearance by sis herself -- of rock and roll of the morose, country-tinted variety. What's a rocker mom to do? Lucky for her -- if she reads "Road Trips," that is -- we've got a few suggestions.

Plan A: launch a pre-emptive strike by heading down to the Cape this Saturday, June 24, for the Wellfleet Beachcomber's, (508) 349-6055, first "Dune Tunes" shindig of the season; it features Star Hustler, local pop gods Fuzzy (whose Chris Toppin is doing double duty with the Hustlers), Semi-Gloss, Buttercup, and the Ray Corvair Trio. While she's at it, she can check out Fuzzy's Winston Braman and Hilken Mancini playing guest DJ at the B Side Lounge, (617) 354-0766, on June 26, as well as the entire Fuzzy crew throwing down at the Milky Way Lounge and Lanes, (617) 524-3740, in Jamaica Plain on June 29.

Plan B: skip both shows on Wednesday and instead show up at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401) 272-5876, in Providence, on June 30, when Jason -- whose first all-ages show was the Violent Femmes and the Del Fuegos, by the way -- and Star Hustler join Juliana and Papas Fritas on the same bill. Whew. What would the Globe society column do without us?

MTV has declined to air the latest Primus video, "Lacquer Head," in which a kid watching music videos on TV huffs gas fumes with Satan, but Les Claypool has bigger fish to fry. The side-project-prone Claypool (who was spotted recently gigging with members of Phish and the Police) is performing with yet another pick-up trio, this one called Rat Brigade, at the hippie-friendly jam-band fest Gathering of the Vibes, which takes place June 23 through 25 at Seaside Park, (800) 677-8650, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Rat Brigade will be joined by John Scofield, Ratdog, Strangefolk, Deep Banana Blackout, and many more. In other festival news: Grammy-nominee Susan Tedeschi and Olu Dara kick off the Sunset Music Festival at Rhode Island's Newport Yachting Center, (401) 846-1600, on June 26; the festival also features performances by Randy Newman on June 28 and Livingston Taylor on June 29. And John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers headline the Quincy Blues Festival at Veterans Memorial Stadium, (617) 786-7617, on June 25 with support from soul man Mighty Sam McClain.

Other odds and ends: Jonathan Richman plays the Beachcomber on June 27. Natalie Cole is at Lowell Memorial Auditorium, (617) 931-2000, on June 27. Creed, the Catherine Wheel, Dynamite Hack, 3 Doors Down, and Shades Apart are at the Meadows Music Theatre, (800) 548-7370, in Hartford, Connecticut, on June 24.

-- Carly Carioli