Roadtrips

The publishing arm of Dave Eggers's McSweeny's media empire will release Amy Fusselman's The Pharmacist's Mate sometime this summer. It's "only sort of about electrical engineering on boats," according to the typically obtuse McSweeny's promo copy. "In fact, it does not really involve engineering at all, though it does involve boats . . . and while it involves the Navy and WWII, it is at its core a truly gorgeous book about family and procreation, and that's about all we will say for now. It also involves music and death." Fusselman reads at WordsWorth Books (617-498-0062) in Cambridge on Friday with Donnell Alexander, whose Ghetto Celebrity, a memoirish novel about the author's upbringing in black, small-town Ohio in the 1960s, is likewise forthcoming from McSweeny's. You can also catch Fusselman reading with Gilmore Tamny -- formerly of the Ohio indie-rock band the Yips, who were signed to Matador a few years back -- at Brookline Booksmith (617-566-6660) on Monday.

Local funky-jazz sensations Soulive pull a two-night stand tonight (April 26) and tomorrow at the Paradise (617-423-NEXT) in Boston in support of their Blue Note debut, Doin' Something. After that they're off to the State Theatre (207-780-8265) in Portland on Saturday and to the Higher Ground (802-654-8888) in Winooski, Vermont on Sunday.

WBOS's EarthFest (617-822-9600) confab commandeers the MDC Hatch Shell, on the Charles River Esplanade, this Saturday starting at noon; on the bill are such soft-rock faves as Blues Traveler, Joan Osborne, Fisher, Double Trouble (Stevie Ray Vaughan's old band), and the Cowboy Junkies. Most of 'em are flying in for the gig and flying back out just as quick, but you can also catch the slimmed-down John Popper and the rest of Blues Traveler on Sunday at the Webster Theatre (860-525-5553) in Hartford.

Dayton indie heroes Guided by Voices have a new disc and a tour with Spoon that hits the Higher Ground on Monday and the Paradise on Tuesday. And that gig's just the tip of a May Day modern-rock iceberg that includes American Hi-Fi opening for Our Lady Peace at Avalon (617-423-NEXT) in Boston; metal pranksters hed (p.e.) mouthing off at Axis (617-423-NEXT) in Boston; and a 15th-anniversary gig by the Fort Apache Studios (617-868-2242) folks that'll include performances by Juliana Hatfield, Tanya Donelly, Bill Janovitz, and Fuzzy at the Fort itself, in Cambridge.
-- Carly Carioli