If you happened to be watching the news coverage of this week’s renewed flooding in New Orleans and saw Shannon Hicks zooming by on a pontoon boat, it’s because our regular On the Road scribe has flown south for her second annual junket, assisting those who are still being effected by the last big storms to hit the Gulf states.

While she spent most of the week in Biloxi, Miss., by the time you are reading this column, Shannon is scheduled to be heading to The Big Easy. Who knows if her targeted haunts will be dry enough to open, or if she will be sloshing around looking for a jazz club on higher ground?

I’m sure we’ll get to hear all the stories, for good or ill, once she gets back up here to Newtown in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I’ll be heading into a big birthday weekend — myself and my 15-year-old son, Hunter — looking for a few snippets of news from the local live entertainment scene. It’s interesting that although you might think of the holiday season as a good time to draw fans to concert and entertainment venues throughout the region, it’s actually a pretty quiet time when even the touring talents take some time off the road.

Then there are the popular and perennial seasonal shows that everyone waits to see.

Kenny Rogers Christmas & Hits Tour, one of the longest running Christmas tours in the country, is coming to Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville for a performance on Friday, December 21, at 8 pm in Mohegan Sun Arena.

Julienne Irwin, semifinalist on the hit television show America’s Got Talent, has joined the 2007 Kenny Rogers Christmas & Hits Tour. Many performers began their careers working with Rogers.

Longtime fans will remember Garth Brooks got his start as part of the show, as did Emmy-award-winning actor Sean Hayes, star of the hit show Will & Grace. Hayes played an elf on the tour.

“One of the great joys in life is helping out new and upcoming talent and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that Julienne has talent,” Mr Rogers said in a release. “She doesn’t need my help — 20 million people watched her sing and we all agree she is amazing. I can’t wait for her to join the tour.”

The tour also includes Grammy Award-winning artist Linda Davis. A dedicated careerwoman, consummate entertainer, inspirational motivator, and devoted wife and mother are just a few ways to describe the singer/songwriter.

She has built a reputation as a world-class entertainer and is considered one of the best female vocalists in the business by some of her most well-known peers. Local children and local choirs are also chosen in each city to sing in the show as well.

Tickets are $35 and go on sale Saturday, October 27 at 10 am through Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster customers may log on to ticketmaster.com; call any Ticketmaster Charge by Phone number; or visit any Ticketmaster outlet. Tickets may also be purchased at the Mohegan Sun Box Office starting Sunday, October 28, subject to availability.

A little closer to home and closer on the calendar, Australia’s most famous musical export, The Ten Tenors, make their return to North America as their Here’s To The Heroes world tour brings them to the Palace Theater in Waterbury on Saturday, November 3, at 8 pm.

The event is presented in part by the Shrine of St Anne for All Mothers.

The group’s North American dates are the latest installment to their blockbuster world tour in support of their current CD release, Here’s To The Heroes. The Ten Tenors have now been seen by more than 90 million people on four continents, selling out shows and winning hearts with their unmistakable charm, camaraderie, and vocal power in opera, pop, rock, and more.

They have appeared as headliners and alongside such diverse artists as Rod Stewart, Andrea Boccelli, Alanis Morissette, Willie Nelson, and Christina Aguilera to name a few.

In other concert news, LiveDaily.com reports that country songstress Sara Evans is marking ten years in the music biz with a greatest-hits album and fall tour that pulls into the Mohegan Sun Casino November 15. Evans recently launched a monthlong trek of the eastern US that features Josh Turner, Luke Bryan, and George Ducas on various dates.

The singer’s last studio album, 2005’s platinum-selling Real Fine Place, rocketed to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and spawned hit singles “Cheatin’,” “You’ll Always Be My Baby,” “Coalmine,” and the title track.

Last year, Evans teamed with “You’ll Always Be My Baby” co-writers Tony Martin and Tom Shapiro to release a book based on the song. The performer deemed the project a thank you to fans for sticking by her during her much-publicized marital problems, the concert site reports.

Fresh off his gig on THE SOPRANOS, Mob captain Rusty Millio, aka Frankie Valli rejoins his original posse, The Four Seasons, who continue to bring the real thing to concert venues, including Mohegan Sun Casino November 4 Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, who shot to fame in the early 60s with a string of hits including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “Walk Like a Man,” are enjoying a resurgence in popularity thanks to the quadruple Tony Award-winning play Jersey Boys. The musical, based on the lives of the group members, is entering its third sold-out year on Broadway, while two touring companies travel around the US, according to Valli’s bio. Plans are also under way to take Jersey Boys to London, Las Vegas, and Toronto for open-ended runs.

Earlier this month, Valli, who has spent more than five decades working with the Four Seasons and on his solo career, released his first new studio set in 15 years. Romancing the ‘60s is a collection of Valli’s favorite love songs from the decade.

In other headlines: You’ll have to head for New York’s Irving Plaza to catch emo rockers Hawthorne Heights who are back on the road again for a late-year headlining run that follows the band’s recent studio work for a planned new album.

The Dayton, Ohio-based act will kick off a long stretch of new dates with opening support Red Jumpsuit Apparatus supplementing their Big Apple set.

Hawthorne Heights’ first album, 2004’s The Silence in Black and White, shipped platinum and became indie label Victory Records’ most successful debut. The band’s latest set, last year’s If Only You Were Lonely, includes the breakthrough hit “Saying Sorry” and has achieved gold status since its February 2006 release.

Upcoming Shows

October 26 — The Moody Blues at Foxwoods Resort & Casino, Mashantucket; Misfits and Travesty headlining a multiband show at the Webster Underground, Hartford; Sarah Guild at Mocha Coffeehouse, Sandy Hook; Damiera, Moros Eros, Portugal, The Man, The Photo Atlas, and The Stiletto Formal at Bill Baloney’s in Danbury; Dan Stevens at the GW Tavern in Washington Depot; Spin Doctors with Saul Zonana opening at the Ridgefield Playhouse; Pat Metheny with Christian McBride at SUNY, Purchase, N.Y.; Revolutionary Smut at The Maxx in New Milford; Vienna Teng at the Seabury Center, Westport; Burt Bacharach and Jose Feliciano at Mohegan Sun Casino.

October 27 — Blue Man Group Rock Tour at the Hartford Civic Center; Kevin King & Garret Hude at Mocha Coffeehouse, Sandy Hook; Last Comic Standing Live with Jon Reep at the Palace of Stamford; Randy Weston’s African Rhythms at Wesleyan University, Middletown; Jeffrey Foucault and Anais Mitchell at the Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton; comedian Lewis Black at UConn, Storrs; Rob Base and The Fury at the Webster Underground, Hartford; Celtic Women at Mohegan Sun Casino.

October 28 — Paper Rival, The Color Fred, The Pink Spiders, You Me And Everyone We Know at Bill Baloney’s in Danbury; Orion String Quartet at the Wilton Congregational Church; Vance Gilbert at The Ridgefield Library; Gringo Star at The Bar, New Haven; Natalia Zuckerman at The Space, Hamden; August Burns Red, Darkest Hour, Suicide Silence, Unearth at Toad’s Place, New Haven; Derek Trucks of the Allman Brothers at Mohegan Sun.

October 29 — My American Heart headlining at the Webster Underground, Hartford; The Tragically Hip at Toad’s Place, New Haven; The Coathangers at Cousin Larry Cafe, Danbury.

October 30 — The Disco Biscuits at the Chevrolet Theater, Wallingford.

October 31 — Cobra Starship (Snakes on a Plane) and The Rocket Summer headlining a multiband show at the Webster Underground, Hartford.

November 1 — (Dweezil) Zappa Plays Zappa at The Chevrolet Theater, Wallingford; United States Marine Band at Greenwich High School, Greenwich.