Heavy Dates

WORCESTER

The Artie Sneiderman Weekend -- well, if you're a charismatic frontman who's delivered the goods for more than two decades, why not declare your own weekend? -- features shows on Friday with the Crybabies and Saturday with the Belmondos at Ralph's. On Friday, smart-ass rockers Seventeen appear at the Alley, Dr. Bewk, C60, Bent, and Wunderlick rip up the Lucky Dog Music Hall, Troy Gonyea joins the Duke Robillard Band at Gilrein's, and Pretty Cool Chair, whose Staring is one of the best of the recent crop of pop-song filled CDs, open for Percy Hill offspring Earth Shoots Off at the Tammany Club. Also on Friday, Jah Spirit throws a reggae party at Partner's Pub in Framingham, Little Red and the Riders swing at the Danforth Museum of Art, and Ball in the House play two shows of perfect harmony at the Center for Arts in Natick. On Saturday, Michelle "Evil Gal" Willson, who teamed up with Sugar Ray Norcia to record Dinah Washington and Brook Benton's "You've Got What It Takes" for Deep Blues: 25 Years of Blues on Rounder Records, brings her Evil Gal Orchestra to Gilrein's; get to the Tammany Club early to see the Wormtown debut of teen blues woman Lydia Warren; and Rory Block, who's still touring in support of 1998's Confessions of a Blues Singer (Rounder), shares center stage with North Worcester County's Jen Spingla at the Bull Run Restaurant.

-- Brian Goslow

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

With the holiday season comes radio-station festival heaven. And in case you hadn't noticed, radio's all about the metal these days. Insane Clown Posse just released two discs; the rasslin' white-rap minstrels join P.O.D. -- the Christian-metal band whose new breakthrough single, "School of Hard Knocks," appears on the soundtrack to Adam Sandler's movie about the son of Satan, Little Nicky -- and Crazy Town at Avalon, (617) 423-6398, in Boston, on Wednesday. Next door that night, Axis, (617) 423-6398, hosts a grade-z nü-metal moronothon: Disturbed, the Union Underground (who have resorted to late-night infomercials to spread the word), and Linkin Park. Also on Wednesday, Boston's Paradise, (617) 423-6398, hosts Orgy -- famous for their "Blue Monday" cover, now with a new, New Order-less album out -- along with VAST and Portland emo-metal dudes 6gig. You can also catch various permutations of these bills elsewhere in New England this week: on Tuesday, Orgy join 6gig and Disturbed at the Cumberland Civic Center, (207) 775-3458, in Portland; and next Thursday (November 30), Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401) 272-5876, in Providence hosts Orgy, VAST, Disturbed, and Linkin Park. For their part, 6gig head up a New England metal convival at the Skybox, (413) 577-4759, in Amherst, a week from Saturday (December 2) with 7th Rail Crew, C60, Diecast, Eastcide, Gangsta Bitch Barbie, and others. Meanwhile, grunge holdovers turned pop-metal revivalists Collective Soul -- who could've been Creed if they'd come later and aped Pearl Jam even more -- are at the Orpheum, (617) 931-2000, in Boston, on Wednesday and at Lupo's next Friday (December 1), both dates are with BMG Godsmack clones Dust for Life. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones -- who have sold out their upcoming "Hometown Throwdown" at Boston's Axis, December 6 through 10 -- warm up with yet another small-club gig at Lilli's, (617) 591-1661, in Somerville, on Wednesday, with Seventeen opening. Rancid, who just blew through on their proper tour a few weeks back, stop into the Middle East, (617) 864-3278, in Cambridge, for a one-off radio date on Wednesday with the local girl-punk band Heidi (who have been displaying some keen, un-Limp hip-hop tendencies of late). And the Dandy Warhols are at T.T. the Bear's Place, (617) 492-2327, in Cambridge, that same evening with SR-71 and Blink-182 clones Good Charlotte ("The Little Things").

Roughneck Jamaican dancehall superstar Beenie Man -- who finally cracked the American hip-hop/R&B market a couple years back thanks to a duet with Mya and a couple of staggering cameos -- pulls into Avalon for a two-night stand on Friday and Saturday, a testament to his burgeoning popularity. Also catch Beenie on Tuesday at the Higher Ground, (802) 654-8888, in Winooski, Vermont; and next Thursday (November 30) at the Ocean Mist, (401) 782-3740, in Mantunuck, Rhode Island. Funk/jazz heroes Medeski Martin & Wood are at the Calvin Theatre, (413) 586-8686, in Northampton, on Wednesday and at the Orpheum next Thursday (November 30). And the Go-Betweens finish up their leg of the Yo La Tengo tour at the Roxy, (617) 931-2000, in Boston on Tuesday. Thereafter, Superchunk's Mac McCaughan takes over the opening slot in the guise of his solo side project Portastatic. McCaughan's latest Portastatic EP, De Mel De Melao (Merge), has him forsaking indie pop for tropicália and covers of Caetano Veloso and Os Mutantes. Which should make for interesting evenings at Lupo's on Wednesday and at Pearl Street, (413) 584-0610, in Northampton, next Thursday (November 30).

-- Carly Carioli