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Guster
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Guster,
Ray Lamontagne
Saratoga
Performing Arts Center, Thursday
Guster used to be called Gus. So, you’d be correct in assuming
that at one time they were even more cute, cuddly and hippie
than they are now. But they’re doing pretty well at keeping
things lovey-dovey with their not-as-cute name. They recently
held the Campus Consciousness Tour, where they fueled their
bus with biodiesel and educated students about the environment.
They even have a “rep program” where devoted fans personally
peddle their albums. I know you must be getting as tingly
in anticipation for the flowers-in-our-hair-half-baked-Ben
& Jerry’s hoedown that will be occurring on the SPAC lawn
on Thursday as we are, but we ask that you control yourself.
Don’t start peeling off garments, rolling in mud and fornicating
in public until Guster have taken the stage and have given
you the official go-ahead. Portland, Maine-based crooner Ray
LaMontagne opens. (Aug 17, 7 PM, $35, Saratoga Spa State
Park, Saratoga Springs. 584-9330)
Bill
Staines
Caffe
Lena, Friday
Bill
Staines is a perennial perfor -mer at Caffe Lena—for the last
40 years. Talk about longevity. Staines got his start in the
Boston-Cambridge folk scene of the ’60s and has since crisscrossed
the country, bringing his family-friendly stories and songs
to the populace—and it’s worked. He’s beloved by folk fans
everywhere. The Houston Press has said, “Bill
Staines is one of our very best folk and country singer/songwriters.
He’s a New Englander who dreams of open plains and vast, Western
skies, and damn his soul, he writes better cowboy songs than
anybody in the Southwest.” Expect him to mix some traditional
folk tunes in with his many originals during his set tomorrow
night at what we’re guessing is going to be a packed Caffe
Lena. (Aug. 18, 8 PM, $15, 47 Phila St., 583-0022)
Leslie
Gore, Cheryl Wheeler
Mahaiwe
Performing Arts Center, Saturday
With
a shining helmet of lac- quered red hair and enough attitude
to equal an entire girl group, Leslie Gore was an early ’60s
teenage pop dynamo. In the last 15 minutes before the British
Invasion annihilated everything in its path—including any
girl group who weren’t from Motown—Gore was a prefeminist
heroine. She may have lost Johnny in “It’s My Party,” but
she wasn’t going to be polite about her disappointment; Gore
even got her revenge on that song’s boyfriend-stealing skank
in “Judy’s Turn to Cry.” Then there’s her masterpiece, “You
Don’t Own Me,” with Quincy Jones’ production enveloping her
wail of independence in a swirl of guitars and strings. Gore
will no doubt sing all three of these pop gems at the Mahaiwe
Saturday night, along with songs from Ever Since, her
latest album (the first in 30 years). Folk poet and comic
Cheryl Wheeler is also on the bill; singer-songwriter Vickie
Russell will open. (Aug. 19, 8 PM, $48, 14 Castle St.,
Great Barrington, Mass., 413-528-0100)
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Dropkick
Murphys
Northern
Lights, Saturday
Oy!
Oy! Oy! What more is there to say about Boston’s favorite
punk Irish sons? Well perhaps, that they will be paying the
Capital Region a visit before they embark on a tour of Canada
with active-again celebrated punks Bad Religion. You could
probably mention that the Murphys have been keeping it real
in the punk scene for years now. They’ve been playing legendary
St. Patty’s Day shows and showing wet-behind-the-ears punks
like Good Charlotte that they have a lot of learning to do
before they can possibly call themselves punk. On Saturday,
the Dropkick Murphys will try to tear the roof off Northern
Lights, and just like they do at most shows, they’ll sell
hundreds of pints of Guinness, and inspire dozens of Mohawk-sporting
hooligans to dance, and they’ll just be doing their jobs.
(Aug. 19, 7:30 PM, $25, 1208 Route 146, Clifton Park, 371-0012)
Rockapella
Tanglewood,
Sunday
They’re
rock. They’re a capella. They’re Rockapella. You know ’em—besides
being the “undisputed kings of a capella,” they were the guys
who sang the theme song to the geographic children’s game-show
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? They’re a five-member
group who sing all the hits, you guessed it, without music
(hence the clever name). This weekend will mark the group’s
last summer date, with the Boston Pops at Tanglewood. On Sunday,
as a combined force, Rockapella and the Pops will present
an evening of 1970s music. Fireworks will follow the concert.
(Aug. 20, 8:30 PM, $18-$98, 297 West St., 413-637-1600)
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Hatebreed
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It’s
Gathering of the Vibes weekend at the Indian
Lookout Country Club in Mariaville; acts like Bob
Weir and Ratdog, Keller Williams, Martin
Sexton, and the Yonder Mountain String Band
will perform between tonight (Thursday) and
Sunday ($150 weekend, $40 Sunday-only day pass,
www.gatheringofthevibes.com). . . . To all you crazy
bitches out there, here’s your chance to sing along
to your theme song: Buckcherry will roll
into Northern Lights tomorrow (Friday) night, with
special guests Damone and Black Stone
Cherry; both Neneh Cherry and Wild Cherry reportedly
declined to appear on the tour (7:30 PM, $18, 371-0012).
. . . Sub Pop recording artists Rogue Wave
bring their Shins-ish sound to the Iron Horse in
Northampton, Mass. on Friday, along with FDR
and Jennifer O’Connor (10 PM, $13, 413-484-0610).
. . .The good, the bad, and the ugly: Decide which
is which when 311, the Wailers,
and Pepper play SPAC on Friday (7 PM,
$25, 587-3330). . . . Downstairs at Valentine’s
on Friday, catch Tough Black Swans, Lewis
and Clarke and a reunion of Casio-pop superstars
the Jamboyz (9 PM, $5, 432-6572). . . . Also
on Friday, the Lark Tavern hosts the Conspicuous
Study Hall Boners, Wiley Dobbs, and Guiltless
Cult (10 PM, $5, 463-7875). . . . One more try:
Hatebreed will perform a make-up date for
their recently canceled show at Northern Lights
on Sunday; Recon and Heal These Wounds
are also on the bill (7 PM, $16, 371-0012). |
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Classifieds
