*A reminder this week that HAT CITY BLUES returns to Classic Rock Airport Pub on Saturday night. Showtime for the March 22 show is 9:30 and the cover is $4.

Harmonica player David Lott provided the photo accompanying this week’s column of the band during its debut show at the pub last month. Lott says the band has added new songs by Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Delbert Mcclinton to its repertoire of works by The Allman Brothers, B.B. King, Clapton, Santana, Hendrix, John Mayall, The Rolling Stones and others, including stuff from The Commitments soundtrack – one of my all-time favorites!

Hat City Blues will also be playing a benefit concert for Newtown Youth Services on Friday, May 16. The show will run from 7:30 to 10:45 and admission is $8. Location details to follow.

*THE MACVITTIES have a show in their hometown next weekend. Chris and Fred will be at Proud Mary’s on Friday, March 28, from 9 am to midnight. Proud Mary’s is the way cool lower lounge at The Inn at Newtown, 19 Main Street (270-1876).

*Tickets for the MATCHBOX TWENTY show I told you about a few weeks ago are going on sale this weekend. The band added a number of shows to its itinerary recently, including a May 20 show at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville. The band announced a full series of dates, in fact, which will be the first full tour for the guys since 2001 and a support for the recently-released More Than You Think You Are. By the way, the Connecticut date was originally announced as May 17. The 20th is the firm date now. Sugar Ray still has the opening set.

Tickets are set at $35 and $45. Mohegan Sun’s website says only that 250 wristbands will be distributed beginning at 7 am Saturday, and that on-sale will start at 10. I don’t know if that means the venue will be handing out wristbands in sequential order or if it will be using the lottery-style wristband system which seems to be a total crapshoot.

*Tickets are on sale next weekend for JETHRO TULL at Mohegan Sun. Prices are $20 and $30 for the August 10 concert.

*BOSTON, which was mentioned in a recent column as planning on launching its summer tour at Mohegan Sun, will actually make Connecticut the second stop of a tour to support last year’s Corporate America. The tour will begin on June 6 in Manchester, N.H., and then arrive in Uncasville two nights later. No word yet on tickets.

*CHICAGO tickets – for a June 14 show at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford – went on sale Monday morning. Seats range from $30.25 to $40.25 and $50.25 and are available through tickets.com or the venue’s box office, 203-265-1501.

*The Rock/WCCC is working on its Third Annual Rock Expo these days, which is coming up on Saturday, April 19, at The Connecticut Expo Center. Music highlights of the all ages, all day event will be performances by COLD, SEETHER, FROM ZERO, DOUBLE DRIVE, SPLITSHIFT and GARGANTUA SOUL. Additional festival features will include Assault Championship Wrestling; games including Gladiator Jousting, Velcro Wall, Bouncy Boxing, Trampolining and The Rock Wall; a beer garden; “Hot Girls in Hot Tubs”; various exhibitors and vendors including Strawberries Music Stores; opportunities to meet bands and get autographs; and an ongoing live broadcast from the expo center.

Tickets are just $19 for this thing and are on sale now through tickets.com including its call centers, 860-422-0000. Doors open at noon and the expo center is at 265 Reverend Moody Overpass in Hartford – it’s the large building right next to the Meadows Music Centre.

*The Webster Theatre had to cancel a couple of shows last week. The VINCE NEIL appearance planned for Thursday, March 13, was called off 24 hours before showtime. Also off is the April 2 SKID ROW show.

If you have tickets for either show contact the outlet where you purchased your tickets for a refund.

*Whether this is directly related to the previous note or not I’m not sure, but POISON will be headlining a show at The Meadows on Wednesday, June 11, with Skid Row and Vince Neil playing opening sets. This is already being posted on the venue’s website, although an on-sale date for tickets isn’t yet mentioned.

*The LOLLAPALOOZA itinerary was announced this week and Hartford didn’t make the cut. The capital city had been mentioned about four weeks ago when the announcement was made that Perry Farrell’s traveling festival was returning this summer, but when the final itinerary was released this week the closest date for the big event now stands as July 25 at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Mass. Bummer.

Until next week I’ll be seeing you… on the road, applauding Dixie Chick NATALIE MAINES for her awkward reminder that Americans can always speak our minds without fear of prosecution.

Questions and comments should be sent to Shannon Hicks c/o The Newtown Bee, 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown, CT 06470, or shannon@thebee.com, or call the office at 426-3141.

Shows listed at club locations are for ages 21 and over unless specified.

UPCOMING CONCERTS

MARCH 21 — Hipnotic at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; Tim Sather Band at Acoustic Café, Bridgeport; The Nerds at Toad’s Place, New Haven; Off The Hook at Murphy’s Law, Bridgeport;

March 22 — Sol Dog at The Avenue Café, Black Rock/Bridgeport; Screaming Broccoli at Tuxedo Junction; Hat City Blues at Classic Rock Airport Pub, Danbury; Club Lucy at The Webster Theatre, Hartford (all ages); The Duke Robillard Band at Black-Eyed Sally’s BBQ & Blues Cafe; Bouncing Souls at Toad’s Place, The Casualties opening (all ages); Jonatha Brooke at Towne Crier Café, Pawling, N.Y.;

March 23 — Afterdark Punkfest featuring Doozer at The Webster Theatre, also A Certain Something, AKA Preston, Far From, Faulter, et al (doors open at noon, all ages); Zen Tricksters at The Webster Underground, Hartford;

March 26 — Queens of The Stone Age at The Webster Theatre;

March 27 — Renata at The Bistro/Koeppel Student Center at Trinity College; Barbie Anderson at Acoustic Café; S.P.A.D. Management Showcase at Toad’s Place (all ages, call for details);

March 28 — Sol Dog at The Brew House, SoNo; Off The Hook at Carl Anthony’s, Monroe; The Zoo at Tuxedo Junction; Jez Lowe at Acoustic Café; De La Sol at Toad’s Place (all ages); Taking Back Sunday at The Webster Theatre, From Autumn To Ashes, Recover and Breaking Pangaea opening (all ages);

March 29 — Peter Obre and Alan Johnson at 707 On Main; Dry Kill Logic, Downfall, Dioxide and Redefined at The Empress Ballroom (all ages); Off The Hook at Murphy’s Law; Them Bones at Tuxedo Junction; Sum 41 at The Webster Theatre, The Starting Line, No Use For A Name and Authority Zero opening (all ages);

March 30 — The Tony Levin Band at Toad’s Place (all ages); Project/Object at The Webster Theatre, The Goods and Circus Fire opening (all ages); Susan Tedeschi at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den;

March 31 — Concrete Blonde at The Webster Theatre (all ages).