Heavy Dates

WORCESTER

Heavy dates

On Thursday, Greg Piccolo and Heavy Juice return to town with a new CD celebrating the music of some of Lester Young, Red Prysock, and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. Get your copy of Homage at Gilrein's. Babaloo bring "Punk Mambo" to the Tammany Club while the Tide preview their upcoming CD at the Lucky Dog. Shakey Steve and the BlueCats settle in as hosts of the weekly blues jam at Ralph's. On Friday, the Rubric Records showcase features the nutty Barnyard Playboys at Ralph's, it's metal mayhem with Medicine4Tim, We're All Gonna Die, Sypher, and Cops on Crutches at the Alley, the Zen Tricksters get their groove back at the Tammany Club, and Jah Spirit bring good vibes and reggae to Partner's Pub. On Saturday, the pride of Burlington, Vermont, Zola Turn, pull into the Alley for a show with fellow popsters Delta Clutch and Carry the Zero, it's roots rock bliss with the Ray Mason Band and Charlie Chesterman and the Legendary Motorbikes at Ralph's, The Sheila Divine celebrate the release of Where Have My Countrymen Gone with help from the Curtain Society, Longwave, and Reverse at the Lucky Dog, Huck previews their next piece of pop history at the Above Club, and former High Water Moon frontman Mike O'Connell is at Jillian's.

-- Brian Goslow

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

There just isn't much room on modern rock-radio these days for the kind of earnest, inventive, vaguely emoish power pop that's been Boston's most abundant natural resource for the better part of three decades. Which means that even if you're really good at it -- let's imagine for a minute you're the Sheila Divine -- you can pack 'em in for two nights straight at a marquee venue -- say, tonight (March 29) and Friday at the Paradise, (617) 423-6398 -- while going wholly unnoticed everywhere else. Okay, maybe the Sheila Divine aren't the best example, since after the big home-town sendoff for their new Where Have My Countrymen Gone (Co-Op Pop), they make a pit stop at the Lucky Dog Music Hall, (508) 363-1888, on Saturday and then join a big national tour in the company of Our Lady Peace starting Tuesday in Orlando. But you get the point, right?

On the other hand, some genres are just timeless. Like the juvenile sub-License To Ill shenanigans of Smut Peddlers, avatars of an emerging porn-rap underground (Boston's own Porn Theatre Ushers travel similar bridges and tunnels), who are on a tour with M.O.P. that brings 'em to the Higher Ground, (802) 654-8888, in Winooski, Vermont, on Tuesday; to Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401)272-5876, in Providence on Wednesday; to Pearl Street, (413) 584-0610, in Northampton next Thursday; and to the Middle East, (617) 864-3278, in Cambridge next Friday. Or, say, sleaze-grinder glam punk, the current darlings of which include Hollywood brats the Black Halos and Western Mass sex addicts the Unband. Those two bands show up at the Middle East on Wednesday, and at the Skinny, (207) 871-8983, in Portland, Maine, next Thursday. Or even shitkicker Southern rock, in the form of Honky (notable mainly for the presence of a former Butthole Surfer), who hit the Skinny on Monday and the Middle East on Tuesday. A slightly different take on the images of the redneck South shows up in the form of Cowboy Mouth and psychobilly vets Southern Culture on the Skids, who appear at Pearl Street on Sunday, at the Higher Ground on Wednesday, and at Avalon, (617) 423-6398, in Boston next Thursday.

WAAF's Indoor Summer Beach Party on Friday at Tsongas Arena in Lowell -- free tickets available only through the station -- includes Disturbed, Mudvayne, Nonpoint, and revived grunge-era Tool/Everclear wanna-bes the Toadies. Local rap-metal trendsetters Nullset -- whose debut EP for Grand Royal is due out soon -- are scheduled to play a couple of high-profile industry gigs during the upcoming NEMO weekend, including a performance at the Boston Music Awards. But this Saturday they play to the faithful on an all-ages bill with 7th Rail Crew, Controlled Aggression, T-House of the Almighty, and Void at the 1000-capacity Nevins Hall, (508) 628-1393, in Framingham.

-- Carly Carioli