Heavy Dates

by John O'Neill and Carly Carioli

WORCESTER: Now that the holiday grub, including that turkey-stuffing-cranberry-and-mayo sandwich you made right before going to bed, has settled along your waistline redemption is potentially at hand. Dust off your dancing shoes and hit the town this weekend. Snot must have something going for them besides a pleasant name, they're signed to Geffen Records. They're at the Espresso Bar Friday, November 28, with Sevendust, who have a contract themselves with TVT. This is potentially your big chance to someday say, ``I saw them when . . ." Andah make their debut at Sir Morgan's Cove where they join Lethal Dose 50 and Why?. On Saturday, Jack & Present Co. host a food drive for Pernet Family Health Services at the Above Club. Bring two or more canned goods, get in for half-off the cover, and feel real good about yourself, too. Hard to believe it's once again time for Mitch Chakour's annual gig at the Plantation Club, but there you have it. Meanwhile, bringing you back into the '90s, the Space plays host to Smacking Issiah and Angles in the Architecture. It's a CD-release party at Gilrein's for Kid Bangham and Amyl Justin. They follow Patrick Murphy's free 8 p.m. set. If you didn't know any better you'd think Boston's Purrr were a local band. Apparently they just can't get enough of this town 'cause they're back this Sunday, November 30, at the Space with Paco. Finally, there have been some rumblings coming from the Main South area that a fella named Troy Gonyea is like a young Duke Levine. Find out what all the noise is about Thursday, December 4, when his band hit Gilrein's.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE: Although we'd rather see the full-on electric version, we're more than happy to settle for the stripped-down model of Bevis Frond that British psychedelic guitar hero Nick Saloman and sidekick Adrian Shaw is bringing to the States for their first US mini-tour. Saloman, the creative force behind the Ptolemiac Terrascope 'zine and last year's Terrastock festival in Providence, is old enough to have played during the dusk of the original psychedelic movement, yet he brings a freshness and pyrotechnic flair to the genre that's helped inspire a whole new wave of acid-drenched indie experimentation. A brand-new Frond double album, North Circular, is due on Flydaddy in March, two months after the major-label debut by Mary Lou Lord, for which Saloman cowrote a bunch of tunes. As Lord has highlighted in her acoustic versions of Saloman's songs, he's also quite a pop tunesmith -- which he'll no doubt demonstrate in this acoustic-duo setting. On December 4, jolly ol' Saint Nick brings holiday cheer to the Middle East (617-864-3278), in Cambridge, with Bright, Abunai!, and Charlene. On the 5th they're with Medicine Ball and V-Majestic at the Call (401-421-7241), in Providence.

The holiday radio-station-gig circuit blows through New England this week, with the alt-Top 40 crowd circling like flies on street lamps. The WBRU Birthday Bash at Lupo's (401-272-5876) and the Strand (401-272-0444) on December 3 has the Ben Folds Five, Days of the New, Blink 182, K's Choice, Love Spit Love, and the Sneaker Pimps; a bunch of those are in Boston the day before for a multi-club blowout. Ben Folds are on a bill with Everclear and Catherine Wheel at Avalon (617-262-2424); Blink 182 play with ex-Drop Nineteens gal Paula Kelley's band Boy Wonder at Mama Kin (617-536-2100); Love Spit Love play with Jen Trynin (who's also at Lupo's on November 29) and Mistle Thrush at T.T. the Bear's Place (617-492-2327); the Pimps open up for Spiritualized (also at Lupo's on the 1st) and the Longpigs at Axis (617-262-2437).

-- Carly Carioli