Heavy Dates

by John O'Neill and Carly Carioli

WORCESTER: WCUW deejay Troy Tyree has been raving about Bone Dance, a folk act who also mix in rock and blues influences. Check 'em out for yourself when they play Cafe Fantastique May 22 May 23. Also on Friday, get ye to Boston, all those who pray at the altar of Rock Action to witness the original high priest Link Wray. He'll be holding services at the Middle East Cafe. At the Espresso Bar Split, Special 79, At Will, and Hillside 176 do the honors, and our new pals (they sent nice T-shirts) Vinegar Tom let loose at Jack's Saloon, in Uxbridge. At the Sit 'N Bull Pub this Saturday, it's the return of the Barrence Whitfield-led Movers. Ol' Barrence just copped top-honors in the Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll, and it couldn't have been more deserving. The guy is an institution, and he still has what it takes after all these years. Local heavyweights Chillum headline a big night at Sir Morgan's Cove. Junk Sculpture, Top Hat Charlie, and Sheila Devine round out the evening. Cafe Abba continues its cabaret series with Valerie Anastasio and Tim Harbold. Shows are at 8:30 and 9:45 p.m. The Deal will ride their new-found wave of super-stardom into the Tammany Club for some rough and tumble rock and roll. On Sunday, cartoonist Lennie Peterson hosts the second annual Why Me? benefit at the Plantation Club Drafthouse. Clutch Grabwell, Slipknot, Valerie and Walter Crockett, Lee Totten, and Probable Cause highlight the bill. The show starts at 5 p.m. Finally, on Wednesday, May 27, J.B. and the Activators open for the incendiary Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE: A big week looms for Pearl Street, (413) 584-0610, in Northampton. Next Friday, May 29, it'll have back-from-the-grave alterna-rock vets Soul Asylum, who return in support of their brand-new Candy from a Stranger (Columbia), in one room. That same night there'll be an excellent concurrent bill headlined by UK space-popsters Swervedriver, whose epic struggle to release their awesome 99th Dream Day (Zero Hour) finally paid off last year. Orbit and the Red Telephone open for 'em.

And just to prove we're all about the kids, we'll remind you that WHRB's The Record Hospital is sponsoring yet another $6 all-ages gig at the Massasoit Elks Lodge (617) 437-9010, 55 Bishop Allen Drive, in Cambridge, on May 22 with Red Monkey, Franklin, the Sin-Eaters, the 914, and Tac-Tic.

In a bill that made it to T.T. the Bear's not long ago, John Wesley Harding (new album, Awake, out on Zero Hour) and the inimitable former Dream Syndicate leader Steve Wynn pop up at the Iron Horse (413) 584-0610, in Northampton, on Tuesday, May 26. And remember the May 22 Pearl Street gig by rap legends the Sugar Hill Gang featuring Grandmaster Melle Mel we mentioned last week? It pulled a Björk and got rescheduled for the same club on May 28. Plus, New Orleans firebrands Royal Fingerbowl, whose residency at the Middle East (617) 864-3278, in Cambridge, brings them to that club on May 24, are also at the Met Café (401) 861-2142, in Providence, with the loungy Smoking Jackets on May 22.

-- Carly Carioli