Heavy Dates

Brett Talbert is officially back with a new line-up for Runaway Brain. They also have a new disc in the works called Put It All Together that might be ready for your consumer dollars just in time for their Friday gig at the Tammany Club. Over at the Lucky Dog, it's the return of Beantown heavies Tree. The boys have found a new home with Wonderdrug Records (after a lengthy and ugly cat fight with Cherrydisc) and are back in fine form. Locals Shortfuse and the Japanese Core Band tune the crowd up with opening sets. Racky Thomas turned in one of the better local releases this past year with Last of the Big Spenders. Check out what all the fuss was about here at Phoenix HQ when he pulls into Gilrein's. The once-legendary Ralph's is attempting to re-start live music yet again. Best wishes and bombs away to this week's lucky contestants Second Class Citizen, Rumble, 5 Year Sentence, and Shoot the Dancing Bear. On the roadtrip front, you couldn't do much better than heading down to the Met Café, in Providence, for Deke Dickerson and the Ecco-Fonics. From his colossal surf unit the Untamed Youth to a recent stint fronting the country-swing of the Dave and Deke Combo, Dickerson has to be one of America's most authentic and underrated guitar slingers. On Saturday, the Lucky Dog features a little reggae, compliments of Dub Station. Scratch and Trip Society get the opening nod. The closest thing the Bay State has to a blues road-warriors are Ed Vadas and the Fabulous Heavyweights. They play anywhere on any night, and they always come across with the goods, no matter how many folks are in the room. Saturday, attendance should be leaning more toward the busy side at Gilrein's, so get down there to see the real deal. Also on Saturday, Eric Balkey returns to the Java Hut, and Jim Devlin hits Hanna's Place. On Monday, the Lucky Dog's country jamboree features the leather-slapping sounds of Fiddler's Dream, while the Tammany Club offers a little groove from the Arthur Dent Foundation.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

Out at Tanglewood (266-1200) in Lenox, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, they open the season with James Taylor and close it with a Labor Day jazz weekend. It's closing time again, with the Branford Marsalis Quartet this Friday, September 3; Dianne Reeves and Kevin Mahogany on Saturday; the New Black Eagle Jazz Band Sunday afternoon; and the Dave Brubeck Quartet bidding adieu to summer later that evening at 7:30.

Also saying farewell to summer is the Beachcomber (508-349-6055) in Wellfleet, which closes up shop after one last weekend blowout featuring funk legend and former James Brown sideman Maceo Parker, who despite being ubiquitous in these parts of late -- opening for Ani DiFranco and Medeski Martin and Wood, plus a gaggle of headlining slots -- is no less in demand. The Beachcomber's the most intimate place you're likely to see him (a couple of Somerville Theatre shows are scheduled for the fall), so we advise you to hit the dunes this Friday, September 3.

You've got both kinds of guitar heroes sneaking around early this month. David Bowie's childhood buddy Peter Frampton is still kicking, with two new songs scheduled for an upcoming Cameron Crowe movie about the '70s (for which he's also an "authenticity adviser"). Frampton comes alive at Waterworks (689-0600) in Quincy on Labor Day, September 6. And Link Wray, the grrrage-punk godfather and undisputed king of razorwire guitar instrumentals ("Rumble," "Jack the Ripper"), is back in the area headlining a free show at the Hot Club (401-861-9007) in Providence on September 11, as well as a gig at the House of Blues (491-BLUE) in Cambridge on the 12th.

Avant-metal vivisectionists Neurosis headline a can't-miss bill at the Palladium (508-797-9696) in Worcester this Friday with NYC brains-and-brawn powerhouses Candiria, plus a left-right combination from Boston's art-metal underground courtesy of Cave-In and Isis. On the lighter side, sublime, large-cast indie-noir instrumentalists Godspeed You Black Emperor are on the road with Labradford for a tour that brings them to the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on September 8 and to the Middle East (864-EAST) in Cambridge the following night.

-- Carly Carioli