Heavy Dates
WORCESTER
Heavy dates
On Thursday, Croonin' Kurt and the High Geared Combo swing into
Vincent's, the Bruce Mandaro Band get the weekend going early at the
Tammany Club, and Cosmo, Johnny Wishbone, and Purge DI blast
Liquid. On Friday, pop goddesses Sit `n Spin join the Deal at
Ralph's, it's a top ranking reggae party with John Brown's Body at the
Tammany Club, and Bootsie and Treehouse Union pop up the Above
Club. On Saturday, Seven Hill Psychos -- who are not breaking up
(although guitarist Dave Capelle is leaving to join Dr. Bewkenheimer) and will
soon release Four from the Road, a four-song teaser from their new CD --
play the Lucky Dog Music Hall, River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs cook
at Gilrein's, and punk it up with Random Road Mother, Rock City Crimewave,
Musclecah, Razorwire, and Shotgun Remedy at the Alley. On Sunday
afternoon, Paul Geremia plays a rescheduled show at Worcester County
Traditions.
BOSTON/PROVIDENCE
They used to call it college
rock, and now that everyone's sick of calling it indie or emo or, God forbid,
alternative, maybe we ought to go back to calling it college rock again.
Especially since so much of it seems to be going back to colleges. Rainer
Maria, whose buzzed-about A Better Version of Me (Polyvinyl), is out
this week, make their only area appearance at Boston University's George
Sherman Union, (617) 353-2921, on Friday with Engine Down,
Faraquet, and the Great Collector. Known for her work with the
Crabs, the Lookers, and Cadallaca, Sarah Dougher has an enchanting
second solo disc -- Walls Ablaze (Mr. Lady) -- and a tour that stops at
AS220, (401) 831-9327, in Providence tonight (January 25) with Unrest/Air
Miami/Teenbeat Records main man Mark Robinson; at Simmons College's
Alumnae Hall, (617) 598-1046 extension 1763, on Friday with the
Operators and the Kitty Kill; and at the Abbey Lounge, (617)
441-9631, in Somerville on Saturday with the Operators and Mishima.
Robinson is also on a bill with Helium's Mary Timony and the indie
country-pop group Starhustler at the Middle East, (617) 864-3278, in
Cambridge on Saturday.
Some might say that Richard Ashcroft, drug-addled former lead singer of
The Verve, would make a better Attorney General than Bush appointee John
Ashcroft, except that Richard is a British subject, and thus ineligible. He's
Alone with Everybody Saturday evening at the Paradise, (617) 562-8800.
Atom and His Package, the Philadelphia smart-aleck lo-fi punk, brings
his deliciously smarmy sequencer pop to the Massachusetts College of Art's
North Building, Room 175, (617) 879-7000, on Friday; to the Old Store, (413)
283-7371, in Palmer on Saturday; and to Eclectic House at Wesleyan College,
(860) 685-2000, in Middletown, Connecticut, on Sunday. And the Dismemberment
Plan, whose disembodied falsetto vocals and proggish art-rock arrangements
continue to distinguish them from the rest of the post-emo pack, are at the
Tune Inn, (203)772-4310, in New Haven tonight (January 25) and downstairs at
the Middle East with Karate and Crack Torch on Friday. Meanwhile,
upstairs at the Middle East on Friday, Russell Simins of Jon Spencer
Blues Explosion fame does his solo thing, a grab bag of bluesy soul, pomo-funk,
and straight-up rawk in the prized Grand Royal metro-boutique tradition. Simins
isn't exactly a one-man-band, but Euphone is -- or at least it was when
drummer Ryan Rapsys took on that name for his solo recordings in the mid '90s.
Euphone has since expanded to a two-piece drum and bass thing, but the
Lonesome Organist -- with whom Euphone are currently in tour -- keeps
alive the vaudvillean spirit of one-man-banditry with
toy-piano/blues-guitar/junky-drum-kit extrapolations. Catch 'em both at T.T.
the Bear's Place, (617) 492-2327, in Cambridge on Tuesday and at AS220 on
Wednesday.
Finally, we would be remiss if we didn't mention that Quiet Riot play
the Station (401) 823-4660, in Warwick, Rhode Island, tonight (January 25).
You've been warned.
-- Carly Carioli