BOSTON/PROVIDENCE
With two new discs coming out this week -- one nasty and one nice -- Juliana
Hatfield has embarked on something like the New England indie-rock version of a
mall tour: a grueling, three-show-a-day whistle-stop tour of every single
Newbury Comics store in existence. This Thursday, May 11, she hits Warwick in
Rhode Island and then North Attleborough and Bellingham; on May 12 it's
Portland in Maine and Salem and Manchester in New Hampshire; then Amherst,
Shrewsbury, and Natick on May 13 . . . well, you get the picture. She winds it
up May 16 at the Boston stores -- Government Center, Harvard Square, and the
flagship on Newbury Street, (617), 236-4930 -- at noon, 3, and 6,
respectively.
"I'll be your Bonnie if you'll be my Clyde," sings Maggie Vail -- sister of
Bikini Kill's Toby -- on Sweet Revenge (Kill Rock Stars), the new disc by
Bangs. And Revenge would make the perfect soundtrack to a crime spree -- it's
rough and tumble, like a snottier, bubblegum-lovin', hard-rockin' kid sibling
to Sleater-Kinney. Bangs are in town May 19 at the Cambridge VFW Hall, (617)
547-9320, on Green Street with Sarah Dougher, who in addition to doing her solo
singer/songwriter thing moonlights along with Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker in
the garagy Cadallaca. Tucker and the rest of Sleater-Kinney are in town this
week too, with gigs at Pearl Street, (413) 584-0610, in Northampton, on May 16;
at the Middle East, (617) 864-3278, in Cambridge, on May 17 and 18; and at
Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401) 272-5876, in Providence, on May 19. Opening all
the S-K dates are the Butchies, who can also be found on the debut CD by
18-year-old South Carolina singer/songwriter Tami Hart. Hart plays the
volunteer art space Flywheel, (413) 527-9800, in Northampton, on May 12 with
Rubeo.
Elsewhere, Brit-pop faves Travis hit the Met Café, (401) 861-2142) in
Providence on May 15 and the WFNX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll on May 16 at
the Berklee Performance Center. The Shods are featured at the Worcester Phoenix
Best Music Poll Party at the Lucky Dog Music Hall, (508) 363-1888, on May 12.
And buzzed-about neo-metal jokers Mindless Self Indulgence are at the Met
Café on May 17 and at Bill's Bar, (617) 423-6398, in Boston, on May
18.
Speaking of mindless, we managed to hunt down a track called "Mustard on My
Blue Suede Shoes" by Dead Elvis and the Colonel (so genius we had to run the
photo; note, that's Colonel Sanders!), the enigmatic duo who are backed by a
down-and-dirty combo called the Nightcrawlers and whose demonobilly rantings
also include such demented nuggets as "All Fucked Up," "Blue Qualudes," and
"Dead Woman Blues." The Dead One is currently engaged in a month-long
Sunday-night (May 14, 21, 28) residency at the Lucky Dog Music Hall, and it's
being recorded for an album. May we suggest Live After Death?
-- Carly Carioli
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