Roadtrips

The Ramones had their limits: a few years back, Johnny Ramone admitted they'd once written a song making fun of cripples, then decided that baiting the handicapped just wasn't cool. James Hetfield once recalled that he'd originally written "Enter Sandman" about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome before deciding the subject was just too depressing. Not so for the death-metal band called Dying Fetus, right? Well, maybe. Baiting the easily offended is sorta like shooting fish in a barrel, but that's Dying Fetus's game, and they're sticking to it. Back in '98 or so, they penned a song called "Kill Your Mother/Rape Your Dog," which was just a front for a fairly standard rant about how much they think the Spice Girls, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews, R.E.M., and the mainstream media suck. There's more of the same on their new Destroy the Opposition, which they're supporting with a tour -- including All Out War and Diecast -- that hits the Palladium (508-797-9696) in Worcester on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Palladium's big winter skate-punk "Boardfest," originally scheduled for last weekend, was at the last minute moved to this Saturday. The line-up now packs a little less punch than did the original. Still on board, though, are such emo/hardcore/punk standouts as Boy Sets Fire, Glassjaw, the Stryder, the Hope Conspiracy, and Garrison, along with Jaya the Cat, Kicked in the Head, Fairweather, Another Victim, Small Town Hero, the Dedications, and the odd-man-out Mercury Rev offshoot Hopewell. The Stryder then hit Bill's Bar (617-421-9678) in Boston for an afternoon all-ages show on Sunday with Junction 18.

The former leader of the Pixies is back with a new album by Frank Black and the Catholics called Dog in the Sand (on What Are Records?). Prior to making the album, writes Frank, "every morning in the van we listened to Exile on Main Street and Blonde on Blonde in the afternoon." You can hear it -- the disc has a country-ish feel thanks to the addition of a pedal-steel player and some deft work on the ivories by PJ Harvey/Captain Beefheart keyboardist Eric Drew Feldman. And the band's one-take, no-overdubs policy leaves the sound raw and vital. Mr. Black and company hit the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on Friday and the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton on Saturday, then jiggle around New England and upstate New York before coming to rest at Lilli's (617-591-1661) in Somerville on January 24.

Rocker-turned-country-singin' single mom Amy Rigby is joined by Mary Lou Lord -- another mom who's been known to pen insightful countryish songs -- at the Iron Horse on Friday; Mary Lou also headlines at Club Passim (617-492-7679) in Cambridge on January 20. Van Morrison makes his only New England stop at the (sold-out) Orpheum Theatre (617-931-2000) in Boston on Friday, with a band including the Killer's sister, Linda Gail Lewis, who appeared on Van's latest disc, an album of standards called You Win Again. Former Van Halen star Sammy Hagar hits the Lowell Memorial Auditorium (617-931-2000) on Friday and then the State Theatre (207-775-3331) in Portland on Sunday.

Finally, garage-punk freaks will want to be in Worcester this Saturday, as the Fleshtones headline the Lucky Dog Music Hall (508-363-1888) while Ralph's (508-753-9543) hosts a bill including the Kenne Highland Clan and -- get this! -- some sort of reunion of Kenne's '76-'78 Indiana punk/pop outfit the Gizmos (of "Gimme Back My Foreskin" fame), whose highly sought-after sides were reissued in limited quantities last year.

-- Carly Carioli