*Tickets are going on sale this weekend for what will certainly be one of the biggest shows next year at Hartford Civic Center. The Face-To-Face Tour — BILLY JOEL and ELTON JOHN — will be at the civic center on Monday, February 4. The show will also carry some of the highest prices for a concert: Tickets begin at $46.50 and increase to $176.50.

(If you are a regular reader of this column, you know my feelings on those kinds of ticket prices. No one is worth that kind of dough.)

For those who are interested, however, the tickets will be available beginning Saturday, November 17, at 10 am. They will be available through www.ctnow.com, TicketMaster’s phone lines (860-525-4500 or 203-624-0033), or any TicketMaster venue. There will be no first day sales at the civic center’s box office. The Hartford Courant reported last week the possibility of additional Hartford shows if the February 4 date sells quickly.

*I don’t get too much information from Colorado Brewery, but every now and then a show presents itself on my desk that’s worth noticing. Coming up next week is one such show: ADIOS PANTALONES, on Wednesday, November 21. Kick off your Thanksgiving weekend with this funk band that has been ruling UConn/Storrs and winning Hartford Advocate Best Of/Grand Band Slam awards for three years running (Best Rock 1999, Readers’ Choice 2000, and Best Funk 2001). UConn’s newspaper The Daily Campus has also named Adios Pantalones Best Band for the last three years, and was also named the on-campus Best Party Band/Best Band in 1999 by UConn students.

Two of the members of this funk band — bass guitarist and vocalist Floyd Kellogg and drummer Jeff Metcalf — are both from Newtown, so this month’s show in Danbury will be something of a homecoming. The have been together for four years (the band includes, in addition to Floyd and Jeff, sax player and vocalist Chip, trombone player and vocalist Drawz, guitarist John TG Leonard, and sax player, flutist and valist Jonny B), and the guys continue to celebrate the April release of the band’s self-titled debut CD.

Colorado Brewery, which has a cavernous area for live music, is at 6 Delay Street in Danbury. That’s in the heart of the CityCenter district, across the street from the skating rink and diagonally across the street from Patriot Garage. For additional band information visit www.AdiosPantalones.com.

*SOL DOG returns to Hogs & Heifers in Manhattan this Friday night (November 16). A little closer to home, Rev, Ron, Mark and Curt return to The Avenue Café, on Fairfield Avenue in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, next Wednesday. That’s, as lead singer, lead guitarist and one of the band’s main songwriters REV DiCERTO points out, the night before Thanksgiving, “the biggest club night in the world.” The guys have been playing some new material lately and have been thinking about getting to work on their second album (not the mention the live bootleg album they fully endorse).

*THREE DOG NIGHT is back. After a sold-out show two years ago at The Warner Theatre in Torrington, the band returns for a show on Thursday, December 6, at 8 pm, Tickets are $27.50 and $34.50 and are available by contacting the theater’s box office, 860-489-7180.

*B.B. KING will be returning to the state a number of times early next year. In addition to the January 10 show at Stamford’s Palace Theater talked about in a previous column, King himself will be playing the first shows at his new B.B. King Dance & Nite Club at Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard. King announced the club’s creation during a press conference at the casino earlier this month. The clubs (apparently there is a dance club and a nightclub) can hold a total capacity of about 700 people, with the dance club area set up to accommodate 429 of those people. It will be the dance club stage that King will perform on, and which will in the future concentrate on blues, jazz and comedy artists.

*Slide this into the Some-People-Will-Do-Anything-To-Get-Their-Name-In-Print File: Reuters reported on Monday that a special screening in Washington on Sunday of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was greeted by a small band of protesters from “a U.S. interest group” accusing Coca-Cola of using its sponsorship of the movie to peddle junk food to children.

 “The interest in reading that Harry Potter has caused is great,” said the executive director of Washington-based Center for Science for the Public Interest (Reuters quoted the man, but to repeat his name here would defeat my purpose). “What’s not great is Coca-Cola’s use of this literary phenomenon to sell junk food to kids.”

Well where have these people been for the last 30 years??! What did they think was happening every time Pepsi, Burger King, McDonald’s and Taco Bell did the same thing with their movie-tie ins? Where is Andy Warhol and his infamous quote when you need them?

OK, so Coca-Cola signed a $150 million partnership with AOL Time Warner Inc in February, making it the sole global marking partner for the Warner Bros. movie that comes out this weekend based on the popular books by J.K. Rowling (yeah, that’s my mother and sister in line over at Brass Mill Center in Waterbury). But the good news is, according to Reuters, the soft drinks giant has also pledged $18 million to literacy efforts as part of that campaign.

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

NOVEMBER 16 — The Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio at Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield (two shows, 7 and 9:30 pm); Wayne Keenan and Dave Dana at 707 On Main, Monroe; Rocky Lawrence at Next Stop Café, Bridgeport; The Benjamins at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury;

November 18 — George Clinton Parliament/Funkadelic at The Webster Theater, Hartford, Drugs featuring Jen Leigh opening; Erik Bagger at Next Stop Café; Derek Trucks Band at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den, Uncasville; The Clancy Tradition at Towne Crier Café, Pawling, N.Y.; Poppa Squat at Tuxedo Junction;

November 19 — SOLD OUT: Aerosmith at Mohegan Sun Arena, The Cult opening.

November 20 — Phil Lesh & Friends at ctnow.com Oakdale Theater, Wallingford; Bob Dylan at Mohegan Sun Arena; The Barenaked Ladies at The Arena at Harbor Yard, Bridgeport;

November 21 — Adios Pantalones at Colorado Brewery, Danbury; Sol Dog at The Avenue Café, Black Rock/Bridgeport; CSA Songwriters’ Showcase at Acoustic Café; Gargantua Soul at The Webster Theater, Throne, Grey Cell Green and Pleasurecrush all opening (all ages);

November 23 — WDRC’s Legends II featuring Blood, Sweat & Tears with David Clayton Thomas, The Association, Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals, Lou Christie, and The Tymes at ctnow.com Oakdale Theater; Max Creek at The Webster Theater (all ages); Walter & David at Next Stop Café; Cherish The Ladies at Towne Crier Café; John Wesley Harding at Tune Inn, New Haven, David Lewis opening; The Zoo at Tuxedo Junction;

November 24 — Gilberto Santa Rosa at The Webster Theater; Roy Bookbinder at Next Stop Café; Duke Robillard Blues Band at Towne Crier Café; Darik & The Funbags at Tuxedo Junction.