Heavy Dates

This swing-music revival never should have turned out the way it did. I mean, the '80s psych movement was as good as the first wave; the mid-'90s surf practitioners were -- from a technical standpoint, at least -- better than their heroes; and rockabilly has a timelessness (read: simplicity) that's almost foolproof. So how did so many diverse people manage to screw up something as cool as swing? Theory one: old blues bands who had long played swing as "Blues" got lost in the notion that, for the first time, there was an opportunity for mass appeal. So they re-tooled their sounds enough to wreck them. Theory two: the young train-hoppers didn't understand that playing swing music properly is more than wearing a funny suit, drinking martinis, and yelling crap like "Daddy-O."

But luckily, this experiment in music-gone-wrong is over -- except in Worcester, of course. Leave it to the boys from Big Dawg to arrive last to the party. The food is gone; the punch bowl is empty; and nobody gives a shit. We'd like to have been in on this mentally delayed idea. ("Hey, I saw on VH-1 that this swing thing is really taking off.") Anyhow, the swing-savvy named Blind Tiger Swing Posse play the Firehouse Cafe this Friday. Somebody please let them know the funeral was last month. Over at the Above Club is the exact opposite -- bands who, save for set lists, refuse to change their sounds. The legendary and criminally overlooked Time Beings turn in a set, as do Beantown's way-boss Downbeat Five. There should also be a half-assed "Odds" reunion to end the night. It's true that merely two Odds without rehearsal still rock better then most full bands (we'll dance), but isn't it about time that we stop dragging the once-proud name through the mud? Saturday's big highlight is Long Distance Runner at the Lucky Dog. We dig their new disc, so go early 'cuz they open for The Sheila Divine. At Dinny's, it's a punk-fest with the Pathetics, Dimwit, and the reformed SBGB. Gilrein's features Fatwall Jack, and at Cafe Fantastique the Swinging Steaks (whose press kit must be loaded with awful references to sizzling, cooking, and rare talent) return to cover some country-fied turf.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

Invisibl-Skratch-Pikl-turned-fourth-Beastie Mix Master Mike heats up the decks on a tour with Roots-MC-turned-solo-beatbox-revivalist Rahzel that hopscotches across New England this week; they're at Bowdoin College, (207) 725-3375, in Maine, on April 15; at the Middle East, (617) 864-3278, in Cambridge, on April 19; at Pearl Street, (413) 584-0610, in Northampton, on April 23; and at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401) 272-5876, in Providence, on April 25. They're also among the main attractions at a couple of supershows: on April 22, the Connecticut Expo Center, (860) 586-1152, in Hartford, hosts an all-night rave-type-thing with Mix Master Mike and Rahzel alongside drum 'n' bass hottie DJ Rap, Frankie Bones, Dave Ralph, and lots more. And on April 26, Bumstock Field (yep, that's what it's called) at the University of Maine at Orono, (800) 477-6849, hosts Mix Master Mike, Rahzel, Choclair, the Outsidaz, and the touring duo of Method Man and Redman, along with Meth's Wu-Tang buddy Ghostface Killah. Meth and Red are also at the Palladium, 797-9696, in Worcester, on April 22.

Former Grateful Dead dude Bob Weir -- following in the footsteps of fellow ex-Dead dude Phil Lesh's four-night sold-out stand at the Orpheum -- is on a tour with long-time Lou Reed sideman Rob Wasserman that hits Harvard's Sanders Theatre, (617) 931-2000, in Cambridge, on April 16 (a benefit for a Massachusetts "Farm School" for inner-city kids) and the State Theater, (603) 225-1111, in Portland, Maine, on April 19. The Cuban dance band supergroup that started it all, Sierra Maestra bandleader Jesús Alemañy's [[exclamdown]]Cubanismo!, returns to the Roxy, (617) 876-4275, in Boston, on April 16 and to Pearl Street on April 19. Unrest's Mark Robinson may not have started the whole indie thing, but he had a big hand in it; he's on tour with the singer/songwriter Lois, and they're both at the Met Café, (401) 861-2142, in Providence, on April 13 and the Middle East on April 17.

Finally, the Violent Femmes are at Avalon, (617) 423-6398, in Boston on April 15 and at Lupo's on April 16.

-- Carly Carioli