Heavy Dates

by John O'Neill and Carly Carioli

WORCESTER: The Irish Times starts booking non-Irish music this Friday, February 20. First up is the Bobby Snow (Furies, Cactus)-led band of merry middle-aged men, the Fog, who open for Little Big Wheel. If you didn't happen to catch Little Big Wheel's CD-release party in January at the Last Strand, it was outstanding on every level -- especially the Clinton townfolk being introduced to Captain P.J.'s puppet show. Wide Iris, Purrr, and Downchild all released pretty good CDs in the past few months and all will open for a tribute act tonight at Sir Morgan's Cove. That should teach ya for attempting to have an original idea! Is ska for real this time around? It doesn't really matter, it's all for fun; and tonight is no exception as the Espresso Bar cranks-up with the sounds of Skavoovie and the Epitones, Brass Monkeys, Special 79, and Skinnerbox. Saturday, the Space opens with the long-awaited, re-amped, new line-up of Halobox. Also on the bill are Loga and Superstructure, who headline. Dennis Brennan is back at Gilrein's. We've said it before, and we say it again -- go check this guy out. He's one of the country's better songwriters, and he doesn't get nearly enough respect as he should. H8 Machine roll in from Rochester to do some ass kicking at Sir Morgan's Cove. Gangsta Bitch Barbie, Chinstrap, Tremble, and Five Year Sentence help out. At Slattery's Front Room (in Fitchburg) the Mike DiBari Swingtet let it rip with a show that's billed as the "Stray Cats with Horns," which can be a pretty good thing. Come to think of it, it's called the Brian Setzer Orchestra. It's a Christian Rock Show at the Espresso Bar, this Sunday, featuring the Gonsales Bros. and Yadah. It kicks off at 2 p.m. Shout at the Devil, indeed.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE: Our first whiff of indigenous, live N'Awlins music in months came a couple of weeks ago with Nathan Williams and his Zydeco Cha Cha's at Johnny D's, followed by the "Mardi Gras Dance Party" at the Roxy. All this has inflamed our craving to the point that we now have no choice but to head to Cranston, Rhode Island, where a killer Cajun/zydeco triple bill is in the offing on February 21 with Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Geno Delafose and French Rockin' Boogie, Cheryl Cormier and Cajun Sounds. The accordions, fiddles, and washboards will be rocking out at the Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet Ballroom (401-783-3926), 60 Rhodes Place, Cranston.

A couple of homegrown major-label hopefuls are in the wings this week. Grassroots road warriors Guster, an acoustic-duo-with-bongos act whose Sire debut is due April 7, are at UMass-Amherst (413-545-0111) on February 20, the Met Café (401-861-2142), in Providence, on February 21, and the Webster Theater (860-525-5553), in Hartford, on February 27. And Big Wreck, a Berklee-groomed quartet who photograph well, are supporting their Atlantic debut, In Loving Memory Of . . . , with dates opening for alterna-rock radio darlings Creed. They're at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876), in Providence, on February 24 and at Avalon (617-262-2424), in Boston, on February 25.

And Matador's Railroad Jerk breeze through dealing out quirky, corrugated, junkshop-blues-derived breakdowns at the Call (401-751-2255), in Providence, on January 19 with Plymouth Rock and the Mr. Rogers Project, then go nonstop to Middle East (617-864-3278), in Cambridge, on February 20, where they're joined by abrasive, out-of-tune hipster labelmates the Lynnefield Pioneers and Atlanta's Baby Fat.

-- Carly Carioli