*A correction this week: The June 8 show at Hot Shots II announced last week for SUGAR, the Newtown band formerly called Playback, has been cancelled. The April and May dates for the band remain intact and a feature on this band and its new incarnation will run in these pages next week.

*THE BLACK CROWES and OASIS, along with special guest Spacehog, will bring one of this summer’s biggest tours — “The Tour of Brotherly Love” — to the ctnow.com Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford on Sunday, May 27, at 7 pm. Tickets are going on sale Saturday morning (April 7) at $38.50 and $48.50 each, beginning at 10 am. Tickets for this show will also be available at the ctnow.com Oakdale Theater box office by calling 203-265-1501, on the web at www.tickets.com, by calling tickets.com at 800-477-6849, or by visiting any tickets.com outlets including Strawberries Records.

The ctnow.com Oakdale Theatre is one of the smallest venues booked for this tour and one of the few indoor venues to host this event (most stops are at amphitheatres). Expect a four-hour plus show from these two major bands.

By the way, promoters are pushing this as “the first time Oasis has appeared in the state of Connecticut,” but I have to disagree. It’s been a while, but those arguing Gallagher boys actually played at Tuxedo Junction in Danbury years ago. They may have been openers and it may have predated their so-called breakthrough into mainstream vocabulary (never mind becoming tabloid fodder), but they were there nevertheless. Believe me, I’m still kicking myself for not getting out to photograph that show so I know what I’m talking about.

*At noon on Saturday, the JOURNEY with PETER FRAMPTON and JOHN WAITE concert scheduled for July 7 at the ctnow.com Meadows Music Theater in Hartford will be going on sale. Because the Meadows’ box office has not yet opened for the season, these tickets will be handled through the Oakdale box office and its regular sources (tickets.com online or phone charge) for the time being. Telephone numbers are listed in the opening paragraph above. Tickets are $26, $36.50 and $52.50 for the pavilion, $17.50 for the lawn.

*Also going on sale this weekend — but originally announced by promoters to be available last weekend — are tickets for this year’s Big Eighties Hair Scare: a concert by POISON with WARRANT, QUIET RIOT and ENUFF Z’NUFF all opening. This show will be on Friday, June 16, beginning at 6 pm. Tickets for this show are $25 and $35 in the pavilion, $15 for the lawn, and will also be available through the Oakdale’s box office or tickets.com options.

*The WPKN benefit show this month at Acoustic Café in Bridgeport will be a mini festival of sorts next weekend. The café will be hosting singer-songwriter PETER SPINK, an acoustic set by X-IT, a set by the “edgy, moody contemporary singer” MILA DRUMKE, and a performance by a solo appearance by the rock veteran LAURIE GELTMAN. Tickets are $10 and the fun starts at 9 pm.

On April 18 the café will host a special musicians’ workshop. Jennifer Canning, a writer from The Weekly, will help musicians who are struggling to be heard put together a press kit that makes sense for both a venue and press. Cost is $5 and the ‘shop starts at 8:30.

Slide guitarist PATTY LARKIN, who has grown accustomed to playing venues that seat hundreds of people, will be a very special guest for Acoustic Café on April 27. Larkin is continuing to tour in support of her 2000 release Regrooving The Dream, on which she handled not only vocals but also contributed work on acoustic guitar, electric guitar, octave mandolin, bazouki, lapsteel, accordion, acoustic slide, vocal loops and keyboards. She also co-produced the album with Bette Warner.

Larkin’s will be an early show, starting at 7:30, and admission is $20. You might want to call the café ahead of time to put a seat on hold for this show, just to be on the safe side (203-335-folk [3655]).

*TOWER OF POWER and AVERAGE WHITE BAND will shake up things at Stamford’s Palace Theatre on Saturday, April 21. Tickets for the 8 pm show are $30 and can be charged by calling the theater’s box office directly, 203-325-4466.

TOP has over 25 years of experience behind them and the band became known during the 70s for such tunes as “What Is Hip?” and “You’re Still A Young Man,” yet the band continues to receive reviews calling them “a very contemporary sounding band.” Credit for that can be the addition of new members and a fresh outlook over the past few years.

Average White Band, which originally disbanded in 1982 but regrouped in 1989 and has been touring three-quarters of every year since, is one of the most sampled bands around. You may not recognize the band’s name immediately, but AWB’s music has been covered by dozens of hip-hop and rap artists including JANET JACKSON, BOBBY BROWN, TLC, LENA CONQUEST and PUFF DADDY. AWB’s #1 hit “Pick Up The Pieces” was given the Big Band treatment by PHIL COLLINS on one of his releases; “A Hot Night in Paris” was turned into a “musical conversation” by the comedian CHRIS ROCK on his CD Bigger and Blacker and was also chosen by Mitsubishi for a commercial introducing its 2000 Eclipse. “Pick Up The Pieces” has also been featured in the films Swingers, Private Parts, The People vs Larry Flynt, Bowfinger and Blue Streak.

*And finally, I loved this segment from Enid Nemy’s “Metropolitan Diary” earlier this week (The New York Times, Monday, April 2, 2001): Sandra Barron and a friend were in an East Village hangout one Saturday morning when, to the horror of the staff, they took out a camera and approached the man sitting next to them. They didn’t recognize the man in question, who happened to be ADAM HOROVITZ of THE BEASTIE BOYS, who was naturally surprised when they handed him the camera and asked him to take their picture. He smiled, snapped the picture and the women returned to their seats. When he left, the waitresses came over. “We couldn’t believe what you did,” they said as they told the young women the photographer’s identity. Mr Horovitz, who is usually the one on the other end of a camera, probably couldn’t believe it either.

Until next week, I’ll be seeing you... on the road.

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

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

 

UPCOMING CONCERTS

APRIL 6 — Riders on the Storm at Toad’s Place, New Haven (all ages); Sol Dog at The Avenue Café, Black Rock; Leftover Salmon at The Webster Theatre, Hartford; Joe Proc at Easton Village Store, Easton;

April 7 — Chris Rello at Next Stop Café, Bethel; Cyd Xmas and Another Dark Day at Players (formerly Our Place Café), Danbury;

April 12 — Pork Tornado (featuring Phish’s Jon Fishman) at Toad’s Place (all ages); Monster Magnet and Buckcherry at CT Expo Center, Hartford, Taproot, 6gig and Gargantua Soul opening;

April 13 —Dar Williams at Garde Arts Center, New London; Cabeza de Vaca at Toad’s Place, Kohath & The Uplight Ensemble opening; Brad Mehldau at Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield; Joe Proc at Carl Anthony’s, Monroe;

April 14 — The Samples at The Webster Theater; Satan and Adam at Next Stop Café (Charlie Hilbert and Adam Gussow); Vicious Cirkill and Vitamin F at Players (formerly Our Place Café);

April 19 — Overkill at The Webster Theatre;

April 20 — Billy Idol at Foxwoods Casino’s Fox Theater, Ledyard; Darik & The Funbags at Toad’s Place, Ink opening; Tree at The Webster Theater (all ages); Joe Proc & Abu at Mimi’s, Danbury;

April 21 — Sugar (formerly Playback) at Hot Shots II, Newtown; Of My Own…, Eventide and Dismay at Players (formerly Our Place Café); Amortar at City Hall, Woodbury; Tower of Power and Average White Band at Stamford’s Palace Theatre;

April 22 —Soulive at Toad’s Place (all ages);

April 24 — Mark Knopfler at the ctnow.com Oakdale Theatre, Wallingford.

April 25 — CSA Songwriters’ Showcase at Acoustic Café, Bridgeport;

April 26 — The Melvins and Folk Implosion at Toad’s Place; Savatage at The Webster Theater, Fates Warning opening;

April 27 — Strangefolk at The Webster Theater; Joe Proc at Carl Anthony’s;

April 28 — Sugar (formerly Playback) at Hot Shots II; Mourning Widows at The Webster Theater; Edipus, Swift and Still Life at Players (formerly Our Place Café);

April 29 — Tower of Power at Mohegan Sun, Uncasville; Blues Traveler at The Webster Theater.