Heavy Dates

Heavy Dates

Lucinda Williams hit the critical motherload this past year, and Sheryl Crow made all the money; but for our our buck, we'll take Lynn Miles anytime. Catch her this Friday at the Bull Run Restaurant where she opens for Bill Morrissey. Elsewhere, the Commercial Street Cafe takes its first plunge into the national-act pool with Patti Rothberg, who's doing the small club thing to flesh out some new material and to shop for a new label. Christine Blaze also appears. The funkiest band in the land, Enemy Squad, ring in the live music at the Lucky Dog Music Hall. Get up, get on down, cuz these guys are everything bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers wished they were. Special 79 open. On Saturday, March 6th, start your day off right with a mug of latte and some great jazz courtesy of the Java Hut's Open Jazz Jam. Kicking off at noon, it's a great way to kill a few hours and get all hopped-up for the evening's action. Alt-country heavies Little Big Wheel headline a very interesting bill at Commercial Street. Gaze at your sneakers with Euro-popsters the Curtain Society, but only after banging your head to the death metal of War Horse. And if that wasn't enough, Sayhitolisa, a Boston pop band in progress, and the emo-crunch of Clark's Mean Reds are also slated to play. Talk about something for everyone! Unfortunately, Winterboy has canceled his much-anticipated appearance. Not only that, he's vowed to never return to the Worm City, and that he'd think of us when he's at the Grammys. We aren't sure if he meant he'd call us from his Nana's house, or if we'd see his mug in USA Today after security grabs him attempting to sneak into the awards ceremony. We'll keep you posted. Elsewhere, it's the kiddy-grunge of Australia's Grinspoon at the Lucky Dog with Eastcide and Controlled Aggression. Gilrein's presents the classy, swinging sounds of Reggie Walley and his Bluesicians. For the jazz set, guitar whiz Mark Marquis plays with his quartet at Slattery's Front Room, and for a cheap date, check out Jim Devlin at Hanna's Place, or Torbin Harding at the Java Hut. Both gigs are cover-free. Tuesday, Little Big Wheel's Jim Weeks goes semi-acoustic at Dinny's, and Dennis Brennan does the same on Wednesday at Vincent's. Next Thursday is the kick-off bash for the 6th annual Worcester Phoenix Best Music Poll at the Commercial Street Cafe. Stop on by to see who's nominated and enjoy some free tunes compliments of the Shods and Revielle.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

No one gets as much mileage -- emotional or otherwise -- out of redneck sentimentality as Preston W. Long, the former frontman of the often acerbic Southern/indie-rock hybrid Mule. Give the man a bottle of whiskey and an acoustic guitar and he'll make your heart ache with neo-Hankisms about his dog and his momma; set him up in front of his touring band, P.W. Long's Reelfoot, and you'll get hard-stomping roots-flavored honky-tonk with unironic nods to Zeppelin and Skynyrd. The latter incarnation stops at the Middle East, (617-864-3278, in Cambridge, on March 9 and at the Call, (401) 751-2255, in Providence, the following night. Touch & Go labelmates Don Caballero headline both shows.

A contemporary of Son House and Charlie Patton -- the first generation of Delta bluesmen -- Mississippi John Hurt appealed to many of the blues-revival era folkies of the '60s for his melodic tranquility and finger-picked intricacy. Contemporary songster (and novelist) Bill Morrissey takes up Hurt's repertoire on his recently issued Songs of Mississippi John Hurt, which gets a proper record release when Morrissey plays, appropriately enough, the Museum of Our National Heritage, (781) 861-6559, in Lexington, on March 6. Morrissey will have a warm-up gig at the Bull Run, (978) 425-4311, in Shirley, on 5th.

Evan Seinfeld from Brooklyn's populist hardcore-metal dudes Biohazard did hard time on HBO's prison-drama Oz last year, but his band have been lying relatively low. They resurface on a tour with Spineshank and Brazilian thrashers Sepultura that hits Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401) 272-5876, in Providence, on March 8 and the Palladium, (508) 797-9696, in Worcester, on March 12.. From there, all three bands head to the mammoth two-day 100-band porn-star-MC'd March Metal Meltdown in Asbury Park, New Jersey, which also includes a pro-wrestling bill. Sepultura and Biohazard headline day two, on March 13. Scheduled to play earlier that same day at the Meltdown are European extreme-metal "It"-boys Vader, along with international sickos Gorguts and Cryptopsy. All three have a warm-up date at Pearl Street, (413) 584-0610, in Northampton, on March 7, in what's being billed an "International Extreme Music Festival."

For your post-grunge grunge fix, the drums-and-guitar duo Local H is at Lupo's March 11; and Everclear headline the big snowboarding-and-dungarees tour with tragically hip pomo-popsters Soul Coughing, Black Eyed Peas, and hip-hop performance-intellectual DJ Spooky at Lowell's Tsongas Arena, (617) 931-2000, on March 10.

-- Carly Carioli