*HAT CITY BLUES BAND, originally scheduled to perform at Mario’s Café in Danbury on Saturday, will be playing at the Main Street venue tonight (April 9) instead. Showtime is 9:15.

*Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den has been the home of quirky concerts for the last few years, but now The Quick Center at Fairfield University will offer one of its own: THE VILLAGE PEOPLE will be on stage Saturday, May 1. Seventies disco chic or Studio 54 casual dress is being urged for the party/performance and there will be prizes for the best costumes.

Tickets are $30 for the 8 pm show and can be reserved by contacting Music Theatre of Connecticut (MTC), which is sponsoring the event and will benefit from all ticket sales. Higher priced tickets are also available and will allow entry into a pre-show dinner and post-show disco party. For concert tickets or concert-plus tickets contact MTC at 203-254-4010.

A little trivia: The group actually started as one person dancing in his Indian costume in New York’s Greenwich Village. The ensemble evolved with various Village “people” of various American social groups soon joining.

*ZOX continues to tour steadily, and will be returning to Connecticut this month with a show on April 21 at the University of Hartford’s Hawk’s Nest. Showtime is 8:15, admission is free, and co-headliners will be Holiday. (The band’s second in-state show, April 23 at Quinnipiac University, is unfortunately open to students only.)

The band is up for three awards – Best Local Act, Best Jam Act and Best Album – in this year’s Providence Phoenix 2004 Best Music Poll. Want to help? Visit www.ProvidencePhoenix.com/bmp2k4 and cast your vote for the band.

It’s kind of cool because you don’t have to vote in every category and there are listings for favorite local and national acts, so even if you don’t vote on the local level for anyone other than Zox, you can still fill in more than half the survey. Results will be announced on June 13, so hurry to get counted.

*THE DOORS OF THE 21ST CENTURY have been added to the Mohegan Sun Arena calendar and as much as I try to hide my sarcasm sometimes (I do!), I have to say this week that someone is apparently expecting a huge run on tickets. The show goes on sale Monday, April 12, and the concert is less than a month later – on Thursday, May 6.

Founding Doors members Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger recruited former THE CULT lead singer IAN ASTBURY two years ago to tackle the vocals made famous by the late Jim Morrison.

Tickets for the Uncasville show have been priced at $35 and $45. A limited number of wristbands will be distributed beginning at 7 am Monday, and on-sales will begin at 10. If you don’t feel like starting your work week with a drive to the casino, contact any tickets.com outlet.

*TOWER OF POWER is returning to the state this weekend for the first two of three shows it has scheduled this month in Connecticut. There is a pair of free shows on Friday and Saturday, April 9-10, in Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den and then a show at Toad’s Place in New Haven on Saturday, April 24.

As the band approaches its 36th anniversary, the group is on the road promoting its April 2003 release Oakland Zone. The album follows the familiar funky, brassy, groovy sound that defines Tower of Power… and very few other bands succinctly.

“We really have our own brand of music,” founding member Emilio Castillo said recently from his home, which is now in Scottsdale, Ariz. “We still claim Oakland [California] as the home our the band, but this is my home these days.” Not that Castillo is home for long stretches. TOP continues to tour an average of 150 days each year, but when he’s off the road, says Castillo, “I’m home all day long and that’s more than most men can say.”

The band’s longevity lies in the members still enjoying their work.

“It’s the music itself,” he said. “We love making this kind of music.”

 Castillo still works with Stephen “The Funky Doctor” Kupka on the band’s songs. These days, though, instead of living and working in the same house (the two shared a house in Oakland during the band’s earliest years), the two have to make time to work.

“Now we’ve got families and separate lives away from the band, so when we’re going to write it’s like ‘OK we’ll work on Tuesday. You’re coming to my house and we’re going to write songs,’” said Castillo. “We have to fly to get to each other’s homes, so we have to make appointments.”

Once they hook up, though, the work still flows.

“We’ve always got ideas going,” said Castillo, who describes TOP’s sound as “urban soul music.” “Usually we jot them down and then we have plenty to work with when we get together.”

Of course, culling music from a library that already expands nearly four decades makes performances pretty easy, too.

Showtime for both nights at Mohegan Sun is 8 pm, and the Wolf Den is restricted to those ages 21 and above. Call the casino’s Entertainment Hotline for details, 888-226-7711 extension 27163.

Tickets for Toad’s Place – a venue Castillo says usually provides a sell-out performance and “an exciting crowd” – are $25 if purchased or reserved in advance, $30 at the door. It’s listed as an early show. Call 203-562-5589, visit most Strawberries locations or go online to etix.com.

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 club locations are for ages 21 and over unless specified.

UPCOMING CONCERTS

APRIL 9 — Beyoncé, Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott at Hartford Civic Center, Tamia opening; Hat City Blues Band at Mario’s, Danbury; Max Creek at The Webster Theatre, Hartford, Robbing Opie opening (all ages); Musiq at Foxwoods Casino’s Fox Theatre, Ledyard; Tower of Power at Mohegan Sun Wolf Den, Uncasville; John Brown’s Body at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; Tin Roof at The Georgetown Saloon, Georgetown;

April 10 —Tower of Power at Mohegan Sun Wolf Den; Method Man at The Webster Theatre, Q opening (ages 18 and up); Screaming Broccoli at Tuxedo Junction; Curtis T & The Bernadettes at The Georgetown Saloon;

April 11 — Scratch & Sniff Duo at The Georgetown Saloon;

April 15 — Johnny Rawls & His Gospel Revue at Black-Eyed Sally’s BBQ & Blues Café, Hartford (brunch show, starts 10:30 am); Godsmack at Mohegan Sun Arena, ill nino and Dropbox opening; The Wailers at Toad’s Place (all ages); Brand New, Piebald and Denali at The Webster Theatre (all ages);

April 16 — Sol Dog at Café 127, Shelton; Ruben Stoddard at Foxwoods Casino’s Fox Theatre; SideShow at The Brickyard, Hartford; The Mark Rigg Band at The Georgetown Saloon; Bad Medicine at Tuxedo Junction; The Curtis Salgado Band at Black-Eyed Sally’s;

April 17 — “Weird Al” Yankovic at Foxwoods Casino’s Fox Theatre; The Zoo at Tuxedo Junction; Due West at The Georgetown Saloon; Popa Chubby at Black-Eyed Sally’s;

April 18 — Breaking Benjamin at The Webster Theatre, Downward Limit and Look West opening (replaced previously-announced Brett Michaels show, all ages);

April 19 — Reel Big Fish at The Webster Theatre (all ages);

April 20 — Local H and Cobra Verde at The Webster Theatre, C4 and Rabid Abbey opening (all ages);

April 21 — Clutch at The Webster Theatre (all ages);

April 22 — Groove Blenders at Black-Eyed Sally’s;

April 23 — Soul Live & The Bomb Squad at Tuxedo Junction; John Valby at Toad’s Place; Story of the Year at The Webster Theatre, Adair, Motion City Soundtrack and Letter Kills opening (all ages); Hoodoo Band at The Georgetown Saloon; The Phil Guy Band at Black-Eyed Sally’s;

April 24 — Tower of Power at Toad’s Place (all ages); The Nerds at Tuxedo Junction; SideShow at Stash’s, New London; Smokehouse at The Georgetown Saloon; The Phil Guy Band and The Nutmeg Horns at Black-Eyed Sally’s;

April 25 — Less Than Jake at Toad’s Place, The Early November opening (all ages); Cinnamon Sky Trio at The Georgetown Saloon;

April 26 — Rasputina and Murder By Death at The Webster Theatre, Running with Karma opening.

April 27 — Elton John at The Arena at Harbor Yard, Bridgeport; Tiffany at The Webster Theatre, Lucinda & Friends, Maxxtone, Erica Richardson and Jerry Reed opening (all ages);

April 28 — Mary J. Blige at the Oakdale Theatre, Musiq and Glenn Lewis opening; Elton John at The Arena at Harbor Yard; Allister, Hidden in Plain View and Punchline at The Webster Theatre, Grover Dill and Drunken Beernuts opening;

April 29 — Johnny Vibrato & The Razorbacks at Black-Eyed Sally’s;

April 30 — Josh Groban at the Oakdale Theatre (SOLD OUT); Hat City Blues Band at The Georgetown Saloon; SideShow at Sports Bar, North Windham; Blue Oyster Cult at Toad’s Place, Megahertz and Done Mama Proud opening; Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez at Black-Eyed Sally’s; Evolution and Unchained at Tuxedo Junction.