Heavy Dates

Thanksgiving weekend is always a big one in clubland, so let's just dig in. One of this past year's better discoveries was a kid named Mingo. His My Ride has to go down as one of the top-10 local releases. It's smooth, smart, and just sassy enough to appeal to commercial radio; though we gave up trying to figure out how that very strange beast operates years ago! All we can say for sure is that it isn't based on talent. Take a lift with Mingo this Friday at Cafe Abba. The Clutch Grabwell phenomena is rapidly approaching the boiling point. While we gave our word not to spill the beans, we will throw this one bone: barring a break-up/plane crash/Y2K world meltdown, the band will most definitely be signed to a major-label deal within several months. Right now it's a damn feeding frenzy over John Boyle and his merry men, and we couldn't be more proud of the former Phoenix cover boys and our reader's pick as 1999 Best Local Rock Act. Celebrate early when they play the Lucky Dog along with Dr. Demento chart-toppers Slant 6 and the Jumpstarts. Elsewhere on Friday, one of our favorite songwriters Dan Hart returns to the Java Hut, Vykki Vox will play tunes from her disc Can You Feel It? (Webrock) at the brandy-new club, Liquid, and the Floyd Patterson Band hold court at Ye Olde Tavern, in West Brookfield. Plenty of music-type professionals have made a big deal over the guitar style and direction of Michael Hill's Blues Mob. Considered one of the new leaders of the contemporary blues movement, Hill and his boys return this Saturday to shake Gilrein's. Young Neal and the Vipers return to Jillian's and the final week of the Phoenix Fall Music Series, while Rick Blaze and the Ballbusters let punk fly at London Billiards. For a cool change of pace, head to Point Breeze and see jazz-heavy Maynard Ferguson and Big Bop Nouveau. Traditionally, the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving is one of the busiest of the year. Friends are back in town to celebrate, and there's plenty to choose from. Jason James and the Bay State Houserockers headline the bill at Ralph's, but get there early to catch the set from Dimwit, whom we'll officially go on record to call the best new punk band on the scene. Smart, funny, and full of piss, they've definitely studied the pop-style playbook of the Ramones, Queers, and Mr. T Experience. The funk/jam/soul of Jive is featured at the Above Club, Pork and Beans do that Phish-inspired thing at the Tammany Club, Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson and the Magic Rockers are your best blues bet at the Sit N' Bull Pub, and Skulltoboggan, Officer Down, and Dogleg bring the heavy to Funny Bones Cafe. Thanksgiving night means time to work off the turkey and get away from that band of lunatics you've been cooped-up with the entire day (also known as your biological family). Ralph's has a great pairing with the ab-fab Prize Fighter and Boston's Slow Fore (recently signed to Espo Records, the label that gave Garrison their start). It's your last chance to catch Downchild for a very long time; they play at the Lucky Dog, and the Arthur Dent Foundation appear at the Tammany Club.

-- John O'Neill

BOSTON/PROVIDENCE

Perhaps the most visceral, eviscerating force in all of indie metal, San Francisco's Neurosis have remained on the experimental fringes for more than a decade, mostly upping the ante for sheer sonic terror but occasionally taking a side trip into abstract, soundtrackish waters. A little bit of both is evident on their newest disc, Times of Grace (Relapse), which was produced with Spartan aplomb by Mr. Steve Albini. This Sunday, November 28, Neu-rosis are at the Middle East, (617) 864-3278, in Cambridge, along with NYC art-metal phenoms Candiria, Boston shapeshifting prog-core psychedelicists Cave-In, and Isis -- the only band in town, and perhaps the country, that can go toe-to-toe with Neurosis for extreme nuclear heaviness. On November 29, Neurosis and Candiria move on to Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, (401) 272-5876, in Providence.

Right along with cranberry sauce and bowl games, Thanksgiving signals the beginning of radio-station holiday concerts, which means lots of one-hit wonders trying to extend their 15 minutes of fame just long enough to benefit from the Christmas gift-giving rush. This Tuesday, November 30, it's the grandaddy of which-song-do-they-do? confabs, as Our Lady Peace headline a bill at Lupo's with Marcy Playground (um, "Sex and Candy," right?), Jimmy's Chicken Shack, and Limp Bizkit's "favorite" band, Staind. Then on December 1, all of the above move up here. Our Lady Peace and the Jimmys are at the Paradise, (617) 423-6398, in Boston, with The World Is My Fuse; Staind headline an all-ages nü-metal gig at Avalon, (617) 262-2424, in Boston, with P.O.D. and Incubus; and Marcy Playground hit T.T. the Bear's Place, (617) 492-2327, in Cambridge, along with the Joydrop and the Candybutchers.

Other gigs worth catching on December 1: the original rock-box pioneers, Run-D.M.C., along with the Lo-Fidelity All Stars at the Karma Club, (617) 421-9595, in Boston; and Primus headlining an upstairs/downstairs event at the Middle East that also features local behemoths Gangsta Bitch Barbie, Scissorfight, Seventeen, and Statue Factor. Oh, and that kid who used to be in Nirvana brings his Foo Fighters to the Orpheum, (617) 931-2000, in Boston, on December 1 with Ben Harper and At the Drive In; the latter are having a pretty damn good week since they also open for Rage Against the Machine and Gang Starr at the Worcester Centrum, (617) 931-2000, on November 30.

-- Carly Carioli