Heavy Dates

There's nothing we love to see more than a bunch of kids with spunk, three chords, and a vision. It's kinda like a dollar and a dream, only the payoff is more gratifying. That's why the Ducky Boys rate high in our book. Their second CD, Dark Days, is a real winner, right from the beginning (where the Standells' "Dirty Water" gets the old needle-scratch treatment) and all the way through. Bring an extra saw buck along to the Espresso Bar this Friday and pick yourself up a copy. Also on the bill are Big Lick, Trouble, and Nine Lives. Elsewhere on Friday, the Palladium hosts "Mass Uprising '98," a swell little festival featuring a diverse bill of up-and-comers. Five Year Sentence, Red Mercury, Split, Sticker, and God Stands Still are all ready to let it rip, and there are even more acts slated to appear. A good deal at only 10 beans. It's also CD-release night at the Plantation Club for the long-awaited second baby from perennial faves Clutch Grabwell. Loaded with hooks, grinding guitar, and horns-aplenty, How Ya Gonna Be is a safe bet for one of '98's top local releases, and it's already receiving thumbs-up press from all over the Bay State. On Saturday, Providence heavyweights Shed head to the Espresso Bar for a release party of their newest CD, Mosaic (Sike). Upstate NY's big-shots H8 Machine do an opening set as does Dedlift, Crisis, and Fragment. Five bands, 10 syllables, eight bucks, big fun. Meanwhile the Sit 'N Bull Pub offers the Heavy Metal Horns. They really aren't that heavy, and they certainly aren't metal, at least in the musical sense, but they are most definitely horns, and lots of 'em. And you can never have too many of those. Also on Saturday it's the way-too-popular Frank Santos, R-rated hypnotist. He gets supposedly normal people to say funny words at the Plantation Club ("when I clap my hands you will wake up. Every time the waitress walks by with a Bud Light, you will stand, point your finger, and yell `boobies'. . .). Rosie's continues to take a stab at live entertainment with High Water Moon, a band who know how to get around, and Gilrein's has the Renee-Randell Blues Band. And on Monday, the Offspring continue their tour of the states in support of their fab new album, much to the chagrin of those who no longer find these cats "punk" enough.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE: More primitive sounds of the South from the wrong side of the tracks are on hand courtesy of the Flat Duo Jets (see review in this issue). The psychotic trashabilly roots-freakout twosome may have cleaned up for their major-label debut, the absurdly amusing Lucky Eye (Outpost), but don't expect 'em to play it respectable when they open up for Texas-bred metalbilly maven Reverend Horton Heat on December 9 at the Roxy, (617) 338-7699, in Boston; December 10 at Pearl Street, (413) 584-0610, in Northampton; and December 11 at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401) 272-5876, in Providence. Touring as the middle meat of this cracker sandwich are our own Amazing Crowns.

On those occasions when we have not seen him, Buddy Guy has been extolled as the greatest electric-blues guitarist alive outside of B.B. King and, oh, maybe Ronnie Earl. But we've seen him do just a couple of indifferent festival shows. Maybe his gigs this time around -- by virtue of their indoor-ness -- will find him inspired. He's at Lupo's on December 4 and the Roxy on December 6.

Providence's native lounge swingers Combustible Edison have made a point of bringing their fabulousness north every Christmas, which they'll do on December 4 at the Paradise, (617) 423-6398, in Boston, before returning home to spread good cheer and good will at the Met Café, (401) 861-2142, on December 5. And national jazz treasure Wynton Marsalis comes to the Calvin Theatre, (413) 586-8686, in Northampton, at the helm of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra on December 4. If you can't make it, check out HBO's documentary on heavy-hitting boxing icon Sugar Ray Robinson, which has a score composed by Marsalis. It airs December 8.

-- Carly Carioli