[Sidebar] March 5 - 12, 1998
[Music Reviews]
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Roadtrips

This week is all about the undead . . . and the punk bands who love 'em. Observe, my fair Van Helsings, the trash/spook/goth-punk (dis)harmonic convergence lining up late next week: in the span of three days, the Damned, the Cramps, and the Misfits are playing in New England . . . in 1998! Here's the true-blue horror-rock casualty's dream roadtrip of the decade. The Cramps are at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) on March 18, in the middle of a leg with Tiki-surf luminaries the Bomboras and fave sons (not to mention the only major-label band on the tour) the Amazing Royal Crowns. Then the major-label Danzig-less Misfits are at Lupo's on March 20 with Orange 9mm and Marky Ramone's (yes, of those Ramones) new band, the Intruders. On March 21 the 'fits are at the Palladium (508-797-9696) in Worcester with the Intruders again and Tree. And the Damned -- with Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible intact -- arrive at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on March 21. Just to prove that the last word on this stuff wasn't written 20 years ago, the world's greatest rock-and-roll party band, Rocket from the Crypt (who acknowledge generous debts to all of the above), are at the Middle East on March 20 with the Get Up Kids, and at the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence with Mother Jefferson and the Sinners Club on March 21.

Blanks '77, a dress-the-part, sound-the-part '90s gutter-punk outfit, haven't yet figured out that statements like "I Wanna Be a Punk" and "I Don't Wanna Be like Everyone Else" form a nice oxymoron, especially when they're delivered at punk shows. A nice fan's tribute nonetheless -- think of 'em as a cover band who do originals -- they're at the Middle East on March 16 and the Met Café on March 18. And look out for Shotgun Willie, 'cause the Outlaw himself, Mr. Willie Nelson, is out at Lupo's with the venerable roadhouse warhorse Billy Joe Shaver. Meanwhile Joan Baez, who's become mentor to a whole new generation of folkies like Dar Williams and Richard Shindell, is at Lupo's on Tuesday the 17th, at Smith College (413-586-7282) in Northampton on the 20th, and at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre (617-496-2222) on the 23rd. And Portishead are just a trip, hop, and jump away on Saturday, when they'll be at the Palladium in Worcester.

--C.C.

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