Heavy Dates

This Friday, November 27, gets off to a quick and loud start with the Espresso Bar hosting 7 Hill Psychos, the Wormtown equivalent of James Brown. Well, at least as far as work ethic goes. As far as we're aware, nobody from 7HP has been involved with high-speed police chases nor done any serious jail time. Also on the bill are Boston's 7th Rail Crew, Epileptic Disco, Drained, and Sic Sense. Rox's (formerly Manny's) finally takes a chance on some original music, bless its soul. Clutch Grabwell do the honors; and Oxford is absolutely gonna catch hell! Former kings of the Worcester jam scene, Mocha Java, are back for a gig at the Above Club. They are just the tip of the roach for all the jamming that will be going on this weekend, so time your trip accordingly. The Tammany Club kicks off a three-day, Phish-inspired frenzy with Jiggle the Handle and Free Beer and Chicken. We called. The beer still costs. But there will be pizza. The whole thing continues at noon on Saturday with a whole slew of acts, most notably Foxtrot Zulu and Gruvis Malt. Meanwhile the Palladium has Max Creek, You-Know-Who are still at the Centrum, and Jillian's has Gigfoot, who, while not a "jam" band, still manage to at least look like one. Right about now, you may be thinking you've died and gone to hippie hell. You have. By now they're wandering the streets of downtown, looking for Honey Farms or more 'shrooms, like some kind of Night of the Living Granola Heads. Don't panic, because across town the Espresso Bar answers with a well-timed, polar-opposite show (that being punk) to combat the unwashed masses. Vancouver's long-running skate-punks, SNFU headline a fine night of three-chord terror. They're new live album, let's get it right the first time (Megaforce), is a fair document that spans their entire 17-year career. Libertine, Sticker, Dimwit, and Eight Days Without Cable (a real-life situation that's almost as scary as Three Days with a Pack of Patchouli-Wearing Trust Fund Buffoons) also play. Meanwhile, over at Dinny's, it's the emo-charged stylings of Halobox, who are joined by Buffalo, New York's Gray in Between and Woodgrain Theory. Unfortunately, that's all she wrote in the form of safe haven. Sunday, brings the dawn with the third, and final, installment of "I-Hate-My-Parents-Except-for-Their-Music" weekend. Tammany has Electric Blue and the Kozmik Truth and the Bruce Mandaro Band (among others), They-Who-Won't-Be-Named finally leave town for another year, and the rest of us are left to ponder what the hell this all means.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE: Charlie Kohlhase -- one of the most dependable jazz guys in town, tough, funny, tuneful -- invites legendary avant-garder John Tchicai -- a Danish saxophonist who cut his teeth with Archie Shepp, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, and the rest of the '60s avant gang -- to the area for a bunch of gigs this week. Kohlhase's Quintet -- which includes pianist Dave Bryant, bassist John Turner, and drummer Harvey Wirht -- will back up Tchicai in preparation for an album date. They'll start out on December 1 at the Regattabar, (617) 661-5000, in Cambridge, and then make the rounds: December 3 at the Vermont Jazz Center, (802) 254-9088, in Brattleboro, December 4 at the Amherst Unitarian Meeting House, (413) 584-9592, and December 5 at the Free Street Taverna, (207) 828-1310, in Portland, Maine.

More from the Beastie Boys' favorite persecuted people when the Mystical Arts of Tibet -- this time brought to you by none other than Richard Gere -- are presented in the flesh at the Somerville Theatre, (617) 931-2000, on December 2 and at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401) 272-5876, in Providence, on December 3. If you're sick of Tibet, sick of Turkey, sick of the whole damn lot of it, then golly gee whiz, go see some hardcore and get over it. New York City's stalwart Sick of It All are at the all-ages St. John's Gym, (978) 365-9085, in Clinton, on November 28 with Ensign, Vision, and Ten Yard Fight.

It's radio-festival time of year again, and the WBRU bash takes over both Lupo's and the Met Café, (401) 861-2142, in Providence, on December 2 with swing nuts Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Cracker, Marcy Playground, Godsmack, Everlast, Placebo, Eels, and Local H. Some of the same folks will also be in Boston on December 1, including Local H opening for Monster Magnet (we'll say it again: Powertrip -- domestic hard-rock album of the year) at Bill's Bar, (617) 421-9678. And Cracker open for the Tragically Hip at the Orpheum Theatre, (617) 423-6398, on December 5.

-- Carly Carioli