Roadtrips

Sonic Youth fans will be delighted to note that three-quarters of that band's membership will be playing in Massachusetts in the span of three days, though it's not likely that any two of them will be on the same stage at the same time. This Wednesday, Thurston Moore indulges his avant leanings as part of a trio with Scarnella/Geraldine Fibbers guitarist Nels Cline and Björk cellist Zeena Parkins at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts' Anderson Auditorium (617-267-1219). Next Thursday, the same trio set up shop at Flywheel (413-527-9800) in Easthampton for a family affair for which the opening group is a trio featuring Kim Gordon with downtown NYC pals Ikue Mori and DJ Olive, all regulars at the progressive/avant-electronic hotspot Tonic. We presume Gordon and company will be doing something resembling their SYR5 disc on SY drummer Steve Shelley's Smells Like label. And next Friday, at the other end of the state, T.T. the Bear's Place (617-492-BEAR) in Cambridge hosts a gig featuring three solo artists from the Smells Like roster. Christina Rosenvinge was an '80s Latin American pop star in an earlier life; John Wolfington and Chris Lee are more traditional Amer-indie types. Shelley's side project/rhythm-section-for-hire, Two Dollar Guitar, will serve as the back-up band.

Grammy-nominated classical-guitar virtuoso Paul Galbraith holds his specially designed eight-string guitar as if it were a cello. Which beats Korn, who have only seven strings on their guitars and hold them as if they weighed 50 pounds. Galbraith is at the Brick Church Meeting House (413-625-9511) in Old Deerfield this Friday. Cajun innovator superstars Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys have a new disc, Happytown (Rounder), which was recorded on the banks of the Atchafalaya Swamp, and they make a short stop at Rhodes on the Pawtucket (401-785-4333) in Cranston, Rhode Island, on Wednesday. Jazz iconoclast Don Byron brings his Music for Six Musicians to Scullers (617-562-4111) in Boston tonight (January 18) and to the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton on Friday. LA-via-Boston cult pop icon Aimee Mann and songwriting hubby Michael Penn return for two nights at the Berklee Performance Center (617-747-8890) Friday and Saturday. Providence indie punks Six Finger Satellite play their first Boston gig in more than two years at O'Brien's (617-782-6245) in Allston on Friday. And in "Where Are They Now" news: Peter Tork of the Monkees shows up in a duo with session vet James Lee Stanley at the Framingham Civic Theatre (508-366-6258) on Saturday.

-- Carly Carioli