Roadtrips

Sharpen those gag reflexes and prepare to be shocked, amazed, and thoroughly grossed out -- the Jim Rose Circus is back with yet another installment of masterful exploitainment. This year the self-described "P.T. Barnum meets John Waters" has wrestling on the brain -- the line-up of self-made freaks includes both a topless female sumo match and Mexican transvestite wrestling, plus a woman who takes an electric sander to her genitals. Just in time for Halloween, they're at Pearl Street (413-584-7771) in Northampton on October 28, the Paradise (617-562-8800) in Boston on the 29th, and the Strand (401-272-0444) in Providence on the 30th.

More Halloween raising-the-Dead goings-on when Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman bring their Ratdog to the Strand on October 28; they're also at the Orpheum (617-423-NEXT) in Boston on the 26th. Home-grown groovy garage ghoulies 8-Ball Shifter spread the spook vibe at the Call (401-274-8584) in Providence on the 29th before returning to their usual haunt at O'Brien's (617-782-6245) in Allston on Halloween. Everyone's making Minutemen comparisons with the release of Mike Watt's new album. Watt's always in season, and no less so when he brings a new band featuring former Saccharine Trust guitarist Joe Baiza and drummer Steven Hodges to the Met Cafe (401-861-2142) in Providence on October 29 and the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge the day before Halloween. If you were dumb enough to miss Link Wray's show in Boston last Wednesday -- or if you thought the last word on aging rock-and-roll heroes was the Stones at Foxboro -- your final chance at redemption comes October 25 at the Met Cafe. The Itchies open.

And we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the return of Motley Crue to stadiums -- hereabouts they'll be at the Worcester Centrum (331-2211, and tickets are still available) on the 25th. Somehow it seems this should've been a bigger deal, as a sign of the encroachment of the apocalypse, a malfunction in the cycle of rock death and rebirth, or at least some sort of advertising/product placement coup. In the end, though, the event seems just as forgettable and irrelevant as ever.