Metroland Online - Noteworthy

Anybody remember the fabulous sounds of the last century? Well, this week, two area venues will be presenting representative types of the popular music our ancestors grooved to. Music archivists and amateur historians, take note. Third Eye Blind, who will play Northern Lights on Friday, were best known for their inescapable hit of the late 1990s, “Semi-Charmed Life”; matchbox twenty, who appear with contemporaries Sugar Ray at the Pepsi on Tuesday, may be best remembered for frontman-heartthrob Rob Thomas’ collaboration with Carlos Santana (you’ll have to check your PDA’s biographical dictionary for that one, young folk), but they did just fine on their own, too—their debut album sold more than 10 million copies in just two years. And, get this, history buffs: Rumor has it both groups will be performing their hits—as well as newer material—on period instruments! (Third Eye Blind: May 9, 7:30 PM, $25, 371-0012; matchbox twenty: May 13, 7 PM, $35, $42.50, 800-476-1000)

Tom Robb Tribute
Valentine’s, Saturday

Back in the late ’90s, Annabel Lee were the going gothic-garage-art-rock band, and area audiences bathed in their dark, raw aura. But lead singer and main songwriter Tom Robb passed away before his band were able to release any of their recordings, although they were planning on a CD and a 7-inch with local label Cacophone Records. This Saturday, former members of Annabel Lee will get together with their current lineups for a live show in tribute to Robb, and to commemorate the first available release from the band: the 7-inch “Scab-in-a-Box” b/w “Chain Smoke Room” on Cacophone. The show, which takes place on the downstairs stage at Valentine’s, features the garage-rock favorites the Ummm, with Annabel Lee keyboardist Kim 13; Pirate School, aka electric Kamikaze Hearts, with Annabel Lee drummer Gaven Richard; and the recently resurfaced Flying Buttresses, with Annabel Lee saxophonist Armenius Hugenstien. (May 10, $3, 432-6572)

Tret Fure
Caffe Lena, Saturday

Perhaps best known for her collaborative work with Cris Williamson—and their pioneering tactics for the burgeoning women’s-music genre in the ’70s—Tret Fure has been penning tunes for more than 30 years. At the tender age of 19, the prolific songwriter toured with the Spencer Davis Group as a guitarist (her guitar work can be heard on Davis’ Mousetrap album from 1972), and even her eponymous MCA debut, produced by Little Feat’s Lowell George, contains big names: Bonnie Raitt, Van Dyke Parks and several members of Little Feat make appearances. Fure’s engineer work on many of the popular punk-rock and new-wave acts in the ’70s turned her on to the electric guitar and influenced her artistically—to which her solo releases packed with pop-rock ditties can attest. Her most recent, My Shoes, released earlier this year, finds Fure back in her folk-rock roots, and hopefully she’ll perform her new songs and old when she plays Caffe Lena on Saturday. (May 10, 9 PM, $15, $12 advance, 583-0022)

Mastodon, Cephalic Carnage, Uphill Battle, Dysrhythmia
Valentine’s, Tuesday

The folks who brought the world the Contamination Festival—Relapse Records—now unleash the Contamination tour, with four brain- smashing acts. Headlining will be Mastodon, an Atlanta-based quartet featuring two ex-Northeasterners, Brann Dailor and Bill Kelliher (ex-Today Is The Day). “With throat-grabbing guitar riffs, eerie samples and a colossal wall of sound, Mastodon’s music crushes as hard as the extinct animal that gave the band its name,” says Revolver magazine. Also featured will be grindcore faves Cephalic Carnage, whose recreational enthusiasms landed them on the cover of High Times; Uphill Battle, described by A.P. as “California insane-o-core,” and Philadelphia’s Dysrhythmia. Dysrhythmia have been compared to Wire, Dillinger, Henry Cow and King Crimson—in the same sentence. The all-ages event (don’t forget to bring the kids) takes place at Valentine’s on Tuesday. (May 13, 8 PM, $10, 432-6572)

ROONEY

Rooney, AM Radio
Pearl Street Nightclub, Northampton, Mass., Tuesday
Valentine’s, Wednesday

Indie-rock young’uns Rooney are huge Weezer fans. Wait. Weezer are huge Rooney fans. Well, both are true. Los Angeles-based quintet Rooney had to pinch themselves when they found out that their idol Rivers Cuomo liked their demo, and not only that—Weezer wanted to tour with them. And local pop- loving boy-crazy teens apparently will have to pinch themselves to believe that their hunky heroes are indeed on stage in the flesh (if you go by what’s on the band’s message board, that is). Rooney’s show at Valentine’s on Wednesday is one of the band’s early stops on their first headlining tour, and all kidding aside, if you like the pop—the type that leans toward ELO, Superdrag and Fountains of Wayne—you’ll like Rooney. The band came into being last year as an opening act for Phantom Planet (Rooney singer-guitarist Robert Carmine is kid brother to Planet drummer Jason Schwartzman), and their self-titled debut album on Geffen just hit the streets. AM Radio and our very own Suggestions open the 16-and-over show. Rooney and AM Radio also will play Pearl Street Nightclub in Northampton, Mass., on Tuesday. (May 13, 7 PM, $8, 800-THE-TICK; May 14, 8 PM, $10, 432-6572)

also noted

REVEREND HORTON HEAT

Punk-a-billy bandleader and guitarist extraordinaire Reverend Horton Heat brings his scorching ensemble to Saratoga Winners tomorrow (Friday), with the Legendary Shackshakers, Roger Miret and the Disasters and NY Rel-X sharing the bill (8 PM, $16, $14 advance, 783-1010). . . . Friday’s TulipFest entertainment consists of Ashley MacIsaac, Enter the Haggis, Victor Gagnon (5 PM, free, 434-2032). . . . Head around the corner from the TulipFest activities to the Lark Tavern Friday, and check out local ’80s rock gods the Extras, who have regrouped to preach to the kiddies who may have missed those decadent times ’round here; another area rock outfit, Mime Choir, will open the show (10:30 PM, $3, 463-9779). . . . South Carolina-based folk troubadour Jack Williams, whose 40-year-plus career includes guitar work for John Lee Hooker, will play the Coffehouse at Burnt Hills Friday (8 PM, $10, 399-5875). . . . Saturday’s TulipFest music is as follows: Main Stage: David Clayton-Thomas and Blood, Sweat & Tears, the Big Smoothies, the Figgs (1 PM); Amphitheatre Stage: Funkshop Loomis, C Jane Run, Leslie Ritter and Scott Petito (1:45 PM). . . . Ex-Journey drummer Steve Smith brings his jazz-fusion combo Vital Information to the Van Dyck on Saturday; the lineup features guitarist Frank Gambale (Chick Corea Elektric Band), keyboardist Tom Coster (Santana), bassist Baron Browne (Billy Cobham/Jean-Luc Ponty) and guest saxophonist Bill Evans (7 and 9:30 PM, $20, 381-1111). . . . Hardcore heroes Straight Jacket will play a reunion show at Saratoga Winners on Saturday; Irate, 357 Justice, Sub Zero, deadEFFECT and Mourning Would open (7 PM, $12, 783-1010). . . . Interpretive songstress Maura O’Connell will perform a Mother’s Day concert on Sunday at SPAC, and the first 1,400 mothers in the gate get a carnation (2 PM, free, 476-1000). . . . This month’s Tuesday-night concert at the Branches Coffehouse in St. John’s Lutheran Church features Anthony Prezio singing and playing piano from his original musical An Evening at the Trojan Hotel, a local landmark owned and operated by Prezio’s family; he will be joined by his nephew, local singer-songwriter Sean Rowe (7 PM, free, 465-7545). . . . And finally, Sunday’s TulipFest music: On the Main Stage it’s Key Bank Jazz Sunday, with Maynard Ferguson and Big Bop Nouveau, Steve Tyrell and Brenna Bavis/Cary DeNigris Group (12:30 PM); the Amphitheatre Stage features Jerkwater Ruckus, Deni Bonet, Lunch Money and Joy Adler (noon).

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