Heavy Dates

There'll be plenty of green beer, red noses, and mildly annoying sing-along music all over the Worm this Friday with that annual celebration of inebriation, St. Paddy's Day. There's also lots of great entertainment for those less-inclined to sip warm suds out of plastic cups. Mike Duffy and James O'Brien are at the Heywood Gallery. Though they're both Harps by birth, they promise not to play any songs featuring drinking and fighting, fighting and drinking, or drinking and getting into supposedly hilarious situations with the wife and/or boss. Up at the Above Club, it's good ol' rawk, compliments of Thinner and a set of countrified rock twang from Little Big Wheel. LBW will perform a bunch of new material from their upcoming disc: and what we've heard so far is fab. Other options for a swinging night: get down with the rockabilly boogie of Das Fearless Leaders at the Blue Plate, go mental with Clutch Grabwell at Kazbar, or be psyched out with Slipknot at the Tammany Club. You'd think Saturday would be the equivalent of a music hangover, but there's plenty going on all around town, starting with Irish-born singer/songwriter/plumber Freddy White. Now a Maine resident, White swings by the Green Rooster Coffeehouse for a must-see show. How good is Freddy? Good enough to belong on a short list of under-appreciated gems alongside Dave Alvin, Ry Cooder, Dennis Brennan, and Tom Russell. Nancy Hewitt opens. London Billiards hosts the first of many Worcester Phoenix Best Music Poll ballot parties. Matt Campbell performs at this one. Over at the Lucky Dog, Get Your Guns (a G&R tribute act) headline, but show up early to catch Boston's Cheerleadr who are a sure bet to mop the floor with the rest of the bill. Over at Dinny's, it's the perfect garage pop of the Nines and the MC5 raunch of the Free Radicals, while Carry the Zero hit Ebenezer's. The Phoenix BMP heads for a Sunday-afternoon showcase at Cafe Abba. Tave Hu, Franny Acid, Klockwork, 12 Step Program, Red Mercury, and Risk of Reality are but the tip of the iceberg at this one -- luckily, the parking meters are free on weekends. On Wednesday, Trio Kakalla continue their residency at the Java Hut, while Gilrein's welcomes back blues guy Jimmy Johnson.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

Somebody call 911 -- here it is, St. Patrick's Day and in Massachusetts, fer the luvva the Irish, and no sign of the two reigning local heroes of pub punk. Only foul play can be to blame. Especially since the Dropkick Murphys spent last Paddy's day in -- urgh! -- New York City, a blatant bit of bad form. But nay, we spy the rat bastards spending the drinkin' man's holiday in, of all places, Portland, Maine. They're at the Asylum, (207) 772-8274, on March 18 with local hardcore stalwarts Tree (whose logo is, after all, a four-leafed clover) and UK punk pros the Business. Alas, the Murphys couldn't be bothered to join the Business on their trek through the rest of New England -- which includes dates at the Met Café, (401) 861-2142, in Providence, on March 16 and at Karma, (617) 423-6398, in Boston, on March 19. Oh, fer shame! And what of the other half of the equation, the Big Bad Bollocks? They've opted to spend their March 17 at the Iron Horse, (413) 584-0610, in Northampton.

So what have we? Some kind of semi-aquatic food chain, apparently. Newfoundland's Great Big Sea open for the Push Stars at Avalon, (617) 423-6398, on March 17. The Push Stars open for Cracker at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401) 272-5876, in Providence, on March 23. Then Cracker hit Karma on March 24. Stevie Ray-worshipping blues guitar phenom Kenny Wayne Shepherd is at Avalon on March 16; then he'll head to Lupo's, where he's already sold out a March 17 gig, prompting the venue to add another on the 19th.

Okay, on to the nasty stuff. Wu-Tang Clan affiliate Ghostface Killah -- not to be confused with Jim Jarmusch's as-seen-on-cinema hero Ghost Dog -- attempts to bolster album sales of his new Supreme Clientele with a mini-tour that comes only as close as Razzle's, (413) 732-8181, in Springfield, on March 18. That same night in Lowell, radio station WAAF rents out the Tsongas Arena for a gig with nü-metal's Static-X, Incubus, and our favorite new girl band, Kittie -- who look young enough to be the Donnas' Marilyn Manson-loving little sisters and rock so much harder than those Drain STH poseurs. When they scream, it sounds like screaming. And their riffs totally out-blackmetal Coal Chamber. Anyhow, the only way to get tickets is to tune in WAAF. But you can also catch Incubus playing the State Theatre, (207) 775-3331, in Portland, Maine, on March 19.

In a couple of weeks a Boston band called the Explosion will release an EP on Jade Tree, the Label That Emo Built. The surprise: the Explosion are a back-to-roots high-energy hardcore band, a headrush-inducing, candy-coated blur that's got us digging through our vintage '76-to-'83 vinyl for comparisons. They're hitting the road for a few dates with labelmates the Promise Ring, who ditched the emo thing and made a classy, classic-sounding pop album, Very Emergency, that made all the right critics' Top 10 lists. Catch both bands at the Met Café March 20 and the Iron Horse on March 21; the Explosion's CD release is at Karma in Boston on March 26.

-- Carly Carioli