*TREBLEHOOK will be performing songs from its new album, Hooked, at C.H. Booth Library in Newtown tonight/ from 7 to 9 pm. Admission is free, and picnics are welcome (please clean up after yourself). Bring chairs and blankets for seating, and bug spray. If the weather turns lousy the concert will still go on, it will just be moved into the library’s lower meeting room.

*INXS is on the road this week, touring around parts of Australia for the first time in a number of years. The band is during just a few shows right now, with nothing full planned for around the world. In fact, the band is currently working on a feature-length docu-film which will cover its history, a book, its web site and individual solo projects.

For the four shows planned between August 20-25, the band is touring as “INXS with special guest Jon Stevens.” This is not meant to be an introduction of Stevens as the permanent replacement for Michael Hutchence, the band’s lead singer who died late in 1997 (in fact, the band last performed in Connecticut in September 1997, at the Oakdale Theatre, just weeks before Hutchence’s sudden death). Stevens has performed a few times with the band, and only this year, but the fit seems to be working for the band’s five remaining original members and the vocalist so far.

“The reason it has taken us a few years to come back and do anything is because we’ve given Michael and INXS the respect and the time to not launch anything without some concern as to whether we’d be seen as cashing in on Michael’s death,” INXS drummer JON FARRIS said recently, “so it’s been important for us to have respect for Michael’s departure. It’s very important for the people to understand that we have a deep respect for Michael’s connection to us, and that’s why it’s taken us a while to get back on the boards and do something publicly. It’s a very serious thing and it means a lot to us.

“In the future we may have other singers on board,” Farris continued, “but at the moment we feel we want to move forward as Jon Stevens with INXS. It feels very comfortable.” The band and Stevens have shows in Palmerston North on August 20, Willington on the 22nd, Auckland the following night, and Christchurch on August 25.

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. Include a phone number for confirmation, please. If you don’t have a stamp or a piece of paper or a writing utensil that works, give me a call! The phone number at the office is 426-3141. Shows listed on the calendar at club locations are for ages 21 and over unless specified.

 

UPCOMING CONCERTS

AUGUST 18 — Sol Dog at Jimmie’s Seaside Café, Stamford; Lucinda at Bank Street Coffee House, New Milford; Them Bones at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; Eidipus at Laszlo’s Arts Café, Monroe; Shakedown at Toad’s Place, New Haven (all ages);

August 19 — Screaming Broccoli at Tuxedo Junction; Seth Adam and The Unknown at Laszlo’s Arts Café;

August 22 — Little Feat at Toad’s Place, Todd Snider opening; Don Henley at Mohegan Sun Casino’s Uncas Pavilion, Uncasville;

August 23 — Live and Counting Crows at The Meadows, Hartford;

August 23-24 — Eddie Money at Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville;

August 25 — Dave Matthews Band at The Meadows, David Gray opening; Sol Dog at The Avenue Café, Black Rock; The Benjamins at Tuxedo Junction; Physical Graffiti at Toad’s Place (all ages), The Limit opening; Goldfinger and The Urge at The Webster Theatre, Hartford;

August 26 — Future Tense at Tuxedo Junction; Point of View, Dropjaw, Junkie Hunx and Flat Line Crew at Laszlo’s Arts Café;

August 27 — D’Angelo at the Oakdale Theatre, Lucy Pearl opening; Dave Matthews Band at The Meadows, David Gray opening;

August 29 — The Saw Doctors at Toad’s Place, Dave Cook Logic opening; Dream Theatre at the Oakdale.