*Look for JANET JACKSON to be in Hartford on August 14. The Jackson diva has released her tour dates for her All For You World Tour 2001, named, appropriately, for the singer’s seventh album. The tour will feature eight dancers and seven musicians performing Jackson’s enormous chart-topping catalogue of music, including songs from All For You. Award-winning set designer Mark Fisher and lighting designer Abbey Holmes will work with Jackson, who has set the standard for innovative stage shows. The new tour will be Jackson’s first since the critically acclaimed (and sold out) Velvet Rope Tour of 1998.

Tickets for the Connecticut show are going on sale this weekend. TicketMaster phone charge (860-525-4500, 203-624-0033) and Internet lines (www.ticketmaster.com) will be open at 10 am on Saturday, May 5.

It’s going to be an extremely busy day for operators at TicketMaster — let’s hope for the sake of his or her sanity, no one decides to make May 5 their first day on the job! In addition to the Janet Jackson show going on sale, so will three more shows at the Meadows: THE BARENAKED LADIES with VERTICAL HORIZON, July 20 (tickets $35 and $45 pavilion, $20 lawn); PHIL LESH & FRIENDS and RATDOG with BOB WEIR, co-headlining on July 21 ($39.50 pavilion, $22.50 lawn), and (one I’ve been waiting for!) JOHN MELLENCAMP with special guests THE WALLFLOWERS, September 12 ($45 and $65 pavilion, $22.50 lawn).

By the way, this year’s Phil Lesh & Friends line-up includes Lesh on stage with JOHN MOLO, ROB BARRACO, WARREN HAYNES and JIMMY HERRING.

Also, ROD STEWART is being talking about for an August 10 date at the Meadows, but no tickets yet.

*Another one I’ve been waiting for! DAVE MATTHEWS BAND will be returning to Hartford after all this year, on Friday and Saturday, August 3 and 4. Tickets for these shows are going on sale Saturday, May 19 (there is enough of a strain on the box office this weekend, don’t we think?), at $50 for the pavilion and $35 for the lawn. This show will be sold through www.ctnow.com and the Oakdale Theatre’s box office, which can be reached at 203-265-1501.

Thee will be a wristband policy put into use for these shows, which are almost guaranteed to be sold out yet again. Details for you guys as soon as they come into the office.

*The Newtown band (with a little bit of New Haven thrown in there for good measure) SUGARR™ will return to Hot Shots II in Newtown for its third straight weekend Saturday night.The 10 pm show will be the musical portion of a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the bar. Hot Shots on the hill is at the corner of Route 25/Mt Pleasant and Route 6. The modern rock band — Shannon Dooley, David Goodwick, Jason Hirou and Joshua Swetts — will then return on May 19.

 *The BOSSTONES are coming! The BOSSTONES are coming!

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones will will be featured act of that annual daytime musical occasion in Danbury otherwise known as WestFest, and the Boston band will be the this year’s featured performers. WestFest 2001 will be Saturday, May 12, at Ives Concert Park – that’s on top of the hill and through the woods of Western CT State University’s westside campus in Danbury. Tickets are $18 and the show is of course open to the public. Tickets can be purchased at the WCSU Student Center, 181 White Street in Danbury, and through TicketMaster outlets.

The concert will be held rain or shine. Alcohol and open containers will not be allowed on or near the location of the event. Neither will recording equipment of any kind. Gates open at 10 am, and there will be a number of live bands performing all afternoon. If one of the interns at WestConn’s office of public relations had done her job and returned my phone call, I could have given you that list of opening bands. Maybe next week.

*The Empress Ballroom, 155 Main Street in Danbury (telephone 796-0000; behind the old Palace Theater) is quickly gaining momentun. The venue is presenting shows aimed at the younger crowd, so every event is an all-ages gig and there is no alcohol. That last stipulation means the club is receiving support from the police and fire departments and even the mayor’s office, despite the fact a number of the shows, by running until 4 am, are the latest goings-on in downtown Danbury.

The club’s May schedule includes TARMAK and NEGATIVE HATE tonight (May 4), a festival called The World Cup of Punk on May 19 that will feature BLOOD FOR BLOOD and REACH THE SKY among others, the return of CT WHITEBREAD on May 25, and GARGANTUA SOUL headlining on May 26. Details are available by following the weekly listings here, calling the club or visiting www.empressballroom.com.

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

MAY 4 — Amphibian (featuring Tom Marshall of Phish) at Toad’s Place, New Haven; After Dark IV at The Webster Theater, Hartford, featuring Chair 13, Fuse 5, Missing Joe and Renata (all ages); The Benjamins at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; Murali Coryell at Colorado Brewery, Danbury; Tarmak and Negative Hate at The Empress Ballroom, Danbury (all ages); Joe Proc and Abu at Mimi’s, Danbury;

May 5 — SugarR at Hot Shots II, Newtown; Cynics at Tune Inn, New Haven; America at Mohegan Sun, Uncasville; Groove Homes Band at The Webster Theater, Hartford (all ages); The Limit, Kudra and Sterves of Neal at Players, Danbury (formerly Our Place Café); The Smugglers at Toad’s Place (at noon, for record release and video shoot); Joe Rockstar at Tuxedo Junction; Off the Hook at The Green Room, Black Rock; Hubinger St at Acoustic Café, Bridgeport;

May 6 — Tim Reynolds at The Webster Theatre; Hothouse Flowers at Toad’s Place, Edie Reader and Colin Reid opening;

May 8 — Chris Tofield & The Bluesbenders, Stanley Maxwell, The Roaster and Faultline at Toad’s Place (special benefit show for National Spinal Cord Injury Association);

May 9 — MxPx at The Webster Theatre;

May 10 — Train at The Webster Theatre, Five for Fighting opening; Patti Smith at Toad’s Place (all ages); Electric Hill at Colorado Brewery; Urban Muse at Acoustic Café;

May 11 — Blue Oyster Cult at Toad’s Place, Earth and Megahertz opening; The Zoo at Tuxedo Junction; Grapes of Vaudevillian Frntasy, Angel Baby and Rafterbats at Colorado Brewery; Joe Proc at Carl Anthony’s, Monroe;

May 12 — Mighty Mighty Bosstones at Ives Concert Park, Danbury (main show of WestFest 2001, mid-afternoon start); Paul Rogers at Mohegan Sun; Maceo Parker at The Webster Theatre; radio 104’s Loud and In Your Face show with Staind, Disturbed, Tantric and Boy Hits Car at Meadows Music Centre; Sanity Assassins, Facing Sideways and Earth at Players (formerly Our Place Café); John Hammond at Tune Inn; The Wallbangers at Tuxedo Junction; Max Creek at Colorado Brewery; Off The Hook at Hot Shots II;

May 13 — Jerry Cantrell (of Alice in Chains) at The Webster Theater;

May 15 — Capleton at Toad’s Place;

May 17 — Evan & Jaron, Angie Aparo and Howie Day at Toad’s Place;

May 18 — Dr John at Mohegan Sun; Shakedown at Toad’s Place, Silent Majority opening (all ages); The Nerds at Tuxedo Junction; Joe Proc and Abu at Mimi’s;

May 19 — SugarR at Hot Shots II; Psycloptics and Dogfish at Players (formerly Our Place Café; third band TBA); Jim Carroll at Tune Inn; Darik & The Funbags at Tuxedo Junction; World Cup of Punk Festival at The Empress Ballroom featuring Blood For Blood and Reach the Sky (doors open 1 pm, call the club for full festival line-up); Off The Hook at Sky Box Café, Fairfield;

May 20 — H20 at Toad’s Place, Midtown and Cooter opening (all ages);

May 23 — CSA Songwriters’ Showcase at Acoustic Café, Bridgeport;

May 24 — Lynyrd Skynyrd at Mohegan Sun’s Uncas Pavilion, Uncasville, George Thorogood & The Destroyers opening; Little Feat at Foxwoods’ Fox Theater, Ledyard (tickets not yet on sale); Melissa Ferrick at The Webster Theater;

May 25 — Kenny Wayne Shepherd at ctnow.com Oakdale Theatre, Double Trouble and Lizzie West opening; Candira at Toad’s Place, Edipus and Sterves of Neal opening (all ages); Screaming Broccoli at Tuxedo Junction; CT Whitebread, Faultline and Last Kid Picked at The Empress Ballroom (all ages); Joe Proc at Carl Anthony’s;

May 25 & 26 — Hootie and the Blowfish at Foxwoods Casino;

May 26 — Adrian Legg at Acoustic Café; Bile at The Webster Theater, 13th Hour opening (all ages); Amortar at Laszlo’s Arts Café, Monroe; Pleasure Crush and SugarR at Players (formerly Our Place Café); Them Bones at Tuxedo Junction; Another Dark Day, Bigtoplow, Dismay and Gargantua Soul at The Empress Ballroom (all ages); Joe Proc at Putnam House, Bethel;

May 27 — The Black Crowes and Oasis at ctnow.com Oakdale Theatre, Spacehog opening; Lucinda at Kent Summer Arts Festival, Kent (noon-3 pm);

May 31 — Dick Dale at Toad’s Place, The Swaggerts and Steel Rodeo opening.