Jason James and the Bay State Houserockers @ Vincent’s on April 16

Jason James and the Bay State Houserockers

Jason James and the Bay State Houserockers, Friday June 19 at Vincent's in Worcester

Selected live music for Friday, June 5 and Saturday June 6

By Jeremy Shulkin

Is it going to rain? Will the sun come out? The suspense is killing me.

@ Recital Hall (1 Gorham st.): Jazz Benefit Concert w/ the Seven Hills Septet | 7:00 | $7. From their entry on Socialweb.net “benfit concert for the Share Program of Central Mass Healthlink. A healthy blend of Blues, Latin, Bebop, Standards, Funk and World music will start you off on a great week-end and support a terrific program.”

@ Biagio’s Grille: Hat On, Drinking Wine | 7:30 | No cover. These guys are everywhere, and are releasing a new album next week.

@ Ralph’s: Age of Punishment, Wreckoning, Crimson Orchid, Boring Kind of Guy and 7 Hill Psychos | 8:00 | Cover. Age of Punishment is back in action after a long hiatus, Boring Kind of Guy has a song called “Skanks Slam Pigs and Eggnog.” Wreckoning and 7 Hill Psychos are from Worcester. Their names do a good of describing the music they play.

@ Nick’s: Niki Luparelli and the Speakeasy Combo ft. Dan Burke, w/ opener Bobby Gadoury | 8:00 | No cover. If you haven’t seen this show yet, please do yourself a favor.

@ Jillian’s: 10 Year Vamp | 9:00. Voted best rock band by Albany’s Metroland Magazine and has shared bills with some heavy hitters.

@ Vincent’s: Joel Cage | 10:00 | No cover. Acoustic guitarist from New Hampshire with a voice that can carry over the din at Vincent’s.

@ Gilrein’s: Shirley Lewis | 9:30 | $10. Some good videos of her singing here: http://shirleylewis.us/, but even more impressive is the crowd’s dancing, especially at the beginning of “Can’t Eat, Can’t Sleep”.

@ The Lucky Dog: Forever Young w/ Charles River Music Whores | 9:00 | Cover. Forever Young is a Neil Young tribute band, but it’s hard to get info on them because Google goes beserk if you search for “Forever Young.” Seriously, The Band, Mel Gibson, Bob Dylan, IMDB…the list goes on.

Saturday

@ Tammany Hall: 2nd Annual Remembering Mike & Mike Beneift Show with Kenny Michaud, Brother’s Burden, Love Money, Charles River Music Whores, The Grand Arkanum, The Humans, and Mass Elite | 1 pm | $5. An all day event set up by Mass Elite in memory of their friends and bandmate. All the money goes to charity.

@ Ralph’s: The Commandos, Classic Ruins, and Bovachevo | 8:00 | Cover. The Commandos are punk rock from Worcester/Rutland, Classic Ruins are from Boston and will sound great at Ralph’s, and Bovachevo have a song called “Drums Guitar then Yelling”. That kind of honesty is refreshing.

@ PJ’s Bar and Grill: Beatles for Sale | 9:00 | No cover. A Beatles cover band, just like the name suggests.

@ The Blue Plate Lounge: Chet Williamson | 9:00 | $5. Worcester’s ubiquitous bluesman—always guaranteed a good show.

@ Irish Times: Flock of Assholes | 9:00. I’ve got a feeling that the crowd will be drunker and more obnoxious at Irish Times than at the Lucky Dog, but the band will still be awesome.

@ Vincent’s: John Cate | 9:30 | No cover. http://www.myspace.com/johncateband

@ The Lucky Dog: Panther Lee, Southern Bastard, God’s Green Earth, Skulltoboggan, One Bullet Solution, Mongrel, and Supernaut—The Black Sabbath Experience, all brought to you by Dirtnap Entertainment | 8:30 | $8 or $5 for girls dressed as schoolgirls. Ladies, it’s “Naughty School Girl Night 2009,” so clear some time in your schedule today to go raid Holy Name for some costumes.

Very select live music for Friday and Saturday, May 29 and 30

By Jeremy Shulkin

Another shorter than usual entry because I’m off to New York and there’s no such thing as a Fung Wah bus with wireless.

Friday: @ Nick’s: Niki Luparelli with Dan Burke and the Speakeasy Combo, opener Bobby Gadoury | 8:00 | No cover. @ Vincent’s: The Stumbleweeds | 10:00 | No cover. High-energy, female-singing rockabilly. @ The Lucky Dog: Trendkill, Army of None, and Of the Gods | 8:00 | cover. Trendkill is a Pantera cover band. I could go for a joke, but it really does suck that Dimebag is dead. @ Gilrein’s: The Delta Generators w/ guest Jon Short | 9:00 | Cover. This is probably the show of the night. The Delta Generators have been on a tear lately, winning some major awards (Best Blues Album from the Independent Music Awards) and putting on some great local live shows. Jon Short joins them, which is essentially like saying Ray Allen joins a Celtics team that already has Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. http://www.myspace.com/deltagenerators @ Bull Run Restaurant (Shirley, MA): The Tubes | 8:00. The Tubes have been around since the 70s, earning a cult following for their satiric songs and bizarre live shows. Watch:

or

Listen to that yell @ 58 seconds in. Very Rock and Roll.

Saturday: @ The Emerald Isle: The Silverbacks | 9:00. Members of the R&B band the Valves mixed in. The Silverbacks put on an awesome show. @ Nick’s: Worcester, City of Sin! Featuring Goli, Tomas Nola et son Orchestra, Niki Luparelli w/ Dan Burke | 9:00 | No cover. It’s burlesque, it’s at Nick’s, there’s no cover, why wouldn’t you go? @ Ralph’s: 28 Degrees Taurus, The Wandas, Necktie Party, Dental Plan | 9:00 | Cover. An all around solid rock and roll lineup. 28 Degrees Taurus plays some great reverby psychadelia which should sound great with Ralph’s soundsystem, and the Wandas, Necktie Party, and Dental Plan are local bands that rock. Worth checking out.

Selected live music for Friday, May 22 and Saturday, May 23

With Jeremy Shulkin

I’m going to get carpal tunnel syndrome just typing out all the live stuff going on this weekend.

Friday:

@ The Cannery (Southbridge): The Delta Generators w/ Jon Short | 8:00 | $7.  Bluesman Jon Short is one of Worcester’s finest musicians and the Delta Generators just won the Independent Music Award for best blues album.  This is guaranteed to be an awesome show.

@ Gilrein’s: CD Stone and his Screamin’ Blue Orchestra | 9:00 | Cover.  From Chicago and now based in Boston, CD Stone and his band bring their “blues with a taste of jazz, jazz with a blast of blues” to Worcester.

@ Fiddler’s Green: Fergus | 9:00 | No cover.  Talked all about them a couple weeks ago: http://www.worcestermagazine.com/content/view/4018/

@ Nick’s: Niki Luparelli w/ Dan Burke and the Speakeasy Combo | 9:00 | No cover.  Always a winner show.  I’ll be there tonight.  Stop by and say hi, or buy me a beer.

@ The Raven: Almost Heros | 9:00 | $5.  Almost Heroes breaks the fourth wall in their band bio, which is actually pretty refreshing (http://almostheroesband.com/#), and it’s right across the street from my apartment.

@ The Lucky Dog: Alive, Overshine, Boone, and Vining Hill | 9:00 | Cover.  Alive is a Kiss cover band, so if you like that sort of thing, then this show is yours.

@ Tammany Hall: Fenario and Jay Berwick | 9:00 | Cover.  Of the band RAQ fame.

@ Vincent’s: Johnny Carlevale’s Band of All-Stars | 10:00 | No cover.  Rockabilly/blues from Rhode Island.  Think the Stray Cats minus the amphetamines.

@ Ralph’s: Mindset X, Before the Fall | 9:00 | Cover. Mindset X played with Korn, so take that as you will.

Saturday:

@ The Lucky Dog: Mullethead, Sevlau, Tester, Full Blooded Mutt, the Uncomfortables | 9:00 | Cover.

@ The Hotel Vernon: The Valves | 9:00.  One of Worcester’s loudest and proudest soul/R&B bands.  If you haven’t seen them yet, go check them out.

@ The Palladium: Enslaved with Swallow the Sun and Keep of Kalessin | 7:00 | $20.  Norwegian black metal comes to Worcester! (And it’s authentically Norwegian.)

@ Tammany Hall: The Workout, Mission Hill, Chaos Before Creation, the Airport Morning, Mr. Fyner and the Tech Ed Room | 8:00 | Cover.  Do you like shows with five bands on the bill?  It’s a legitimate question.  Light up the comments page.

@ Vincent’s: The Paul Buono Band | 10:00 | No cover.  Playing as a jazz quartet!

@ The Dive Bar: The Wheels with Kelleigh Bannen | 9:00 | No cover.  Dive Bar Thursdays throws you for a loop and moves to Friday this week, with Duncan Arsenault and Jeremy Curtis playing drums and bass with these two acts from Nashville.

@ Ralph’s: Pulp 45, The Preston Wayne 4, The Long Goodbyes, Soul Reapin 3 | 9:00 | Cover.  Show brought to you by Milltown Ink.  The Long Goodbyes are not to be confused with Michael Cera’s band, The Long Goodbye, and they totally rockabilly harder anyway.

@ Nick’s: Amy Allison | 9:00 | No cover.  The show of the week, folks.  Go. See. This.  Profiled in this weeks’ WoMag: http://www.worcestermagazine.com/content/view/4100/

@ The Dive Bar: Dueling Hammond B3 Organ Allstars | 9:00 | No cover.  Or, go see this.  It’s all happening on their back patio/beer garden.  You can never go wrong with a B3, let alone dueling B3s.