Date: Fri 27-Aug-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Tuxedo-ectofest-Meadows-Verve

Full Text:

ON THE ROAD WITH SHANNON HICKS

Connecticut band DARIK & THE FUNBAGS is at Tuxedo Junction in Danbury tonight.

The club's schedule next month includes shows by FUTURE TENSE, September 3;

SUGAR on the 4th; another "special event" (call the club) with THE ZOO on

September 10; THE NERDS, September 24; BIG ORANGE CONE, September 25; and

here's a big flashback for ya: NELSON on September 26.

Next weekend, Danbury will host a big benefit concert at Kenosia Lake Park.

HAPPY RHODES, THE MILA DRUMKE BAND and RACHEL SAGE are among the performers on

the roster for ectofest 1999, a benefit for The Women's Center of Greater

Danbury.

Gates will open at 11:30, and the music begins at noon on Saturday, September

4 (good Lord, is it September already??!). Also on the bill are SLOAN

WAINWRIGHT, THE ECTOPLASMS, ROB BRERETON and DRAMA CHIC. Additional musicians

are expected to be announced by showtime.

Admission is $10, and tickets will be available the day of the event. The

rules of the park are simple: NO pets, NO open containers, NO alcohol, and NO

glass containers. Picnics are welcome, and you should being your own lawn

chair or blanket for seating (organizers are asking that when possible, use

the lower-resting lawn chairs, just to keep the visibility lines a bit more

open).

The music is expected to last until about 7 pm, and the festival will go on

rain or shine. Kenosia Park is off Mill Plain Road in Danbury.

"Ecto," by the way, is the name of New York-based singer-songwriter Happy

Rhodes' fourth album. It is also the name of an Internet discussion group that

was started in 1991 to discuss her music.

Couple of new shows have been announced for Mohegan Sun Casino's Wolf Den.

CHEAP TRICK will be at the Uncasville venue next week for a 7 pm show on

Wednesday, September 1. In November, J. GEILS & BLUESTIME will be at the Wolf

Den on the 7th, and THE DEREK TRUCKS BAND visits on November 21.

G. LOVE & SPECIAL SAUCE will be at The Webster Theatre in Hartford on

September 11.

Speaking of The Webster, the club is hosting a SKUNK FEST this weekend. It's a

combination ska and punk event, get it? Headlining performances are Friday by

THE AMAZING ROYAL CROWNS, and then Saturday night by SPRING HEELED JACK USA

and SGT SCAGNETTI. Tickets for either night are $12 at the door; call

860/246-8001 (the club) for details.

Sunday night is a show by SEVENDUST, and then next Friday (Sept 3) is another

headliner by FUEL. Jimmie's Chicken Shack and Vertical Horizon open the Fuel

show.

Toad's Place will host an evening with former Led Zeppelin bassist JOHN PAUL

JONES on Wednesday, October 13. The show will be Jones' third date on the US

leg of a tour that will continue through November 1, when he plays in Las

Vegas. After that, he's off to Europe for the remainder of the month. Tickets

for the all-ages show in New Haven are already on sale, at $20 in advance or

$25 the night of the show.

In November MICHAEL GALBRICKI, of RUSTED ROOT fame, will be at the club for a

show on the 11th, also for all ages. Those tickets are $12 in advance, $14 at

the door.

Plenty of tickets are still available for the Labor Day concert by LENNY

KRAVITZ at The Meadows Music Theatre in Hartford. Showtime for the Monday

night event is 7 pm, with SMASHMOUTH and THE FREESTYLERS offering opening sets

before Mr Kravitz takes the stage.

Tickets are $28.50 and $45.50 for the pavilion area, and $20 for the lawn.

Tons of tickets are still available for the radio 104 Big Day Off '99 concert,

which was announced by the radio station last week and has already been

plugged mercilessly ever since. Brace yourself, though, because the preview

commercials and ticket giveaways will no doubt continue right up to showtime,

too.

The lineup for this year's fall festival already includes 311, EVERCLEAR,

VERVE PIPE, STAIND and GUSTER; more bands will be added. The show will be

Friday, September 24, at The Meadows Music Theatre in Hartford. Tickets -- if

you don't win any of the thousands of tickets that are going to be given away

by the station's on-air personalities -- are $25 for pavilion seating or $15

for the lawn area.

Connecticut resident MEAT LOAF will be at the Mohegan Sun Casino on November

13, part of a three-month US theatre tour. No ticket details yet.

Until next week, I'll be seeing you... on the road, contemplating this

stumper: If you run a stop sign in an otherwise empty parking lot and no one

is there to see you, have you still broken the law?