*A reminder this week that guitarist Thom Gomez from Oxford and saxophonist Rick Sadlon from Sandy Hook have teamed up to create The Gomez & Sadlon Smooth Jazz duo. They will be performing three 45 minute sets at the Twisted Vine in Derby from 8 to 11 pm on Saturday, February 26. For a preview of their music, visit www.myspace.com/smoothjazzexpressions.

The restaurant is at 285 Main Street (Route 34) in Derby; call 203-734-2462.

*Also a reminder, THE ADULTS will be performing this weekend at Proud Mary’s, below The Inn at Newtown, 19 Main Street. Jim Sheridan and crew will be there on Friday, March 25.

Then the band has six shows set up for March alone, beginning with another open mic night hosting at The One-Eyed Pig, 71 South Main Street (within Ricky’s Shopping Center) in Newtown, on Thursday, March 3. The following night The Adults will be headlining at The Cookhouse in New Milford.

The band will headline at The One-Eyed Pig on Saturday, March 12 (a full performance, not just an open mic hosting session); Friday, March 18 they’ll be at The Bank Street Tavern in New Milford; then the next night they’ll be performing at The Lumberyard Pub in Georgetown; and then they’ll be at Greenwoods Ale House & Grille in Bethel on Friday, March 25. Plenty of opportunities in the next few weeks to check out one of Newtown’s busiest bands.

*BlackRock Rocks will present its 6th Annual Mardi Gras fundraiser on Saturday, March 5, and this year for the first time the event will shift its focus from New Orleans to concentrate its efforts locally on arts education. The musical event will take place from noon until last call at three venues in the heart of Black Rock: Acoustic Café (at 2926 Fairfield Avenue, which will be transformed for the day into Rue Bourbon Stage), Marty’s Brick Oven of Black Rock (41 Clark Street, a/k/a Rue Decatour Stage, and I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a play on words or just a typo in the preview materials), and Neutral Ground (2931 Fairfield Avenue, home of Rue Canal Stage).

The beneficiary this year will be Original Works, Inc., which serves youths from the Bridgeport region. The organization provides substantive arts experiences in dance, music, theater and film while participants work with professional artists in creating, developing, and performing original artistic products. More information is available at www.OriginalWorksInc.net.

Local and regional performers will be playing the all-day, all-night party including THE PRIMATE FIASCO from Massachusetts and local performers including OTIS AND THE HURRICANES, NARDY BOY, I ANBASSA, KUNG FU, SAINT BERNADETTE, THE PAT LATTIN BAND, MIKE FALZONE, STEEP GRADE, RICK REYES, BRIAN DOLZANI, CHRIS D’ANGELIS, LISA FURMAN & THE BLUE FLIES, DARIAN CUNNING, SEPARATE INCIDENTS, STEVE DETROY TRIO, JOHN TORRES, 930 MOON, THE MICHAEL CLEARY BAND, JOSH DOUGLAS, KING FOR A DAY and IRON CHICKEN FOOT. There will also be New Orleans-inspired food for sale at each venue, and raffle tickets for unique prize packages will be on sale as well.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $5 for ages 12-20, which will give admission to all three venues throughout the course of the event. Children 11 and under enter for free.

More information including the final performance schedule and advance ticket specials can be found at www.BlackRockRocks.org. Additional updates will also be made to the group’s event page on Facebook.  Questions can be directed to BlackRock Rocks Chairperson Angel Telesco at angel@blackrockrocks.org.

*Country superstar ALAN JACKSON will hit the road this spring, and will bring his tour to Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday, April 29, with special guest Sunny Sweeney.

Tickets are $40 and $60 and go on sale Friday, February 25, at 10 am, through TicketMaster. Tickets will also be available at the Mohegan Sun box office on Saturday, February 26, subject to availability.

*Tickets will then be available Saturday morning for a May 13 (Friday the 13th!) show by EARTH, WIND & FIRE, also at Mohegan Sun Arena. I cannot locate the ticket prices for this show, and I apologize for that.

*3 DOORS DOWN will headline 106.9/WCCC’s Big Gig 2011, which will be at the Comcast Theatre a week later. Tickets for the May 20 show go on sale Friday morning, starting at $13.50 for this show (a price that is nearly doubled once the $11 service fees are added in) and run to $49, but lawn tickets will be available all weekend for $12, and that apparently includes the service fees.

The show will also include sets by SEETHER, HINDER and POP EVIL.

*Also on sale Friday morning will be tickets for Revolt Tour, which will bring  HOLLYWOOD UNDEAD, 10 YEARS, DRIVE A and NEW MACHINE to The Dome at the Oakdale on Friday, April 8. All seats are $25, and these will be available through LiveNation.com.

*The Warner Theatre in Torrington is continuing its series of Backstage Live! Concerts, offering shows in its Nancy Marine Studio Theatre, with a Cinco de Mayo performance by SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY & THE ASBURY JUKES. The show will be in the Warner’s state-of-the-art, 300-seat black-box style theater, and tickets ($56.50) are available now; call 860-489-7180 or visit tickets.WarnerTheatre.org.

Meanwhile, tickets for DAVE MASON, on March 2 in the Marine Studio; GARY ALLAN, March 3, in the full Warner theater; GORDON LIGHTFOOT, March 28, also in the full theater; RODNEY CARRINGTON, April 15, full theater; and THE DOOBIE BROTHERS, April 23, full theater, are also all available.

*I hear that the regular tickets for Friday night’s AARON LEWIS show at The Webster are sold out, but a limited number of VIP Platinum packages are still available. If you don’t already have tickets and were planning on driving to Hartford for this show, I strongly suggest you call the box office (860-525-5553) before heading up.

These tickets are $200 a pop, but they not only include general admission tickets to the show, an Aaron Lewis T-shirt, VIP laminate, admission to the sound check party and Meet & Greet, and a copy of Town Line CD, the proceeds of these tickets will be donated to St Jude Children’s Hospital and ITAC.

*Finally this week, tickets for WHITESNAKE’s show at The Webster on May 12 will be on sale Friday morning, all priced at $45.

That’s it. I’m done. Until next week, I’ll be seeing you… on the road.

Questions and comments should be sent to Shannon Hicks c/o The Newtown Bee, 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown CT 06470, or shannon@thebee.com, or call the office at 426-3141. Shows listed at clubs are for ages 21 and over unless specified.

UPCOMING SHOWS

FEBRUARY 25 — The Adults at Proud Mary’s, Newtown; Aaron Lewis at The Webster, Hartford;

February 26 — Gomez & Sadlon Smooth Jazz Duo at The Twisted Vine, Derby.

MARCH 2 — Dave Mason at The Warner Theatre’s Nancy Marine Studio, Torrington;

March 3 — The Adults at The One-Eyed Pig, Newtown (hosting open mic night); Gary Allan at The Warner Theatre;

March 4 — Bon Jovi at Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville; The Adults at The Cookhouse, New Milford; River City Slim & The Zydeco Hogs at Infinity Music Hall, Norfolk; Johnny Winter at Toad’s Place, New Haven; Robert Cray at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den, Uncasville;

March 5 — Billy Ray Cyrus at The MGM Grand at Foxwoods, Mashantucket; King For A Day, John Torres, Rick Reyes, Nardy Boy, I Anbassa, Darian Cunning Band and St Bernadette at The Acoustic Café, Bridgeport (part of 6th Annual BlackRock Rocks Mardi Gras Festival, one admission for all three venues); Kung Fu, Steve Detroy Trio, Michael Cleary Band, Otis & the Hur-ricanes, Lisa Furman & The Blue Flies, The Primate Fiasco, Pat Latin Band and Steep Grade at Neu-tral Ground, Bridgeport (also part of BlackRock Rocks Mardi Gras Festival); Chris DeAngelis, Iron Chicken Foot, Josh Douglas, Brian Dolzani, Mike Falzone, 930 Moon and Separate Incidents at Marty’s Brick Oven, Bridgeport (also part of BlackRock Rocks Mardi Gras Festival); David Cassidy at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den.