Heavy Dates

Heavy Dates

Two of our favorite things (one old, the other recent) combine this weekend, when Dan Hart appears for free at the Java Hut on Friday. Bring a few pesos to drop in Dan's hat, or better yet, buy his new CD. You won't be sorry. Elsewhere, the Commercial Street Cafe hosts Western Mass punk giants, the Big Bad Bollocks. Jason James and the Bay State Houserockers and Special 79 also play. The Espresso Bar has a pretty heavy bill featuring Shadows Fall, Crisis, and Hollowpoint. On Saturday, take your pick of some pretty good folk music when Valerie and Walter Crockett make an appearance at the Steeple Coffeehouse in Southborough, Maria Sangiolo plays the Green Rooster, and Bill Staines does a set at John Henry's Hammer Coffeehouse. Over at Commercial Street, it's a solid bill that features Michigan Blacksnake and Joe Rockhead, while the Espresso Bar features Big Lick, Phenol, and Every Second. Sunday is Valentine's Day, and what better way to prove your love than taking your sweetie to the Space's Punk Rock Prom. It's also this week's best bill with Hot Water Music, 6 Going on 7, and Garrison playing. Get there early (3 p.m. is start time), it's gonna be a sellout.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

Celebrate Lincoln's Birthday the Canadian way with an evening of earnest crafted guitar pop from those shaggy dudes in Sloan. With hooks that could put a smile on any Posies or Gigolo Aunts fan, and the negligible sales figures to prove it, the former DGC band's latest, Navy Blues, was relegated to release on the band's own murderrecords. They're back in the area to support it with shows February 11 at the Iron Horse, (413) 584-0610, in Northampton, and February 12 at the Middle East, (617) 864-3278, in Cambridge.

The Amazing Crowns were one of the opening bands during the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' inaugural "Hometown Throwdown" engagements, and after a year of touring with the likes of the Cramps and the Reverend Horton Heat, they're now in a position to offer their own version of the local fan-appreciation event. During their "Providence Payback," they'll do a three-night stand in the intimate environs of the Met Café, (401) 861-2142, starting February 18, when their guests will be the Big Bad Bollocks, the Speed Devils, the Brass Monkeys, and the Brunt of It. The engagement runs through the 20th.

Two guys from Traffic who are not Steve Winwood -- Dave Mason and Jim Capaldi, both of whom did plenty of subsequent album-rock fellow-traveling -- are on tour with a set list that does indeed include a few Traffic songs, which they'll bring to the Copley Theatre, (617) 499-9797, in Boston, on February 14 and Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401) 272-5876, in Providence, on February 16. Those trying to navigate in and out of traffic might want to check out the New England Motorcycle Expo, February 13 and 14 at the Rockingham Park Expo, (800) 759-7469), in Salem, New Hampshire, which includes a side order of tattoos and a lace and leather fashion show. The latter might come in handy if you're thinking of checking out the "all-original-members" line-up (which, as many folks have pointed out, doesn't include now-deceased original guitarist and future Ozzy sideman Randy Rhodes) of Quiet Riot at the Station, (401) 823-4660, in West Warwick, Rhode Island, on February 13.

You may have caught that awful Jordan's Furniture TV ad featuring an anonymous-looking (and -sounding) frat-rock band with their own neon sign. Well, Entrain are hoping to parlay the commercial's success into . . . , er, commercial success and to that end are releasing the song as a single, as well as re-releasing the three-year-old CD it was taken from. The band are at the Met Café on February 11.

-- Carly Carioli