Roadtrips

So yeah, yeah, somebody's putting on a show on Max Yasgur's farm, but everyone knows that the biggest hippie klatsch of the year goes down up in Limestone, Maine, where wank-jam kings Phish blow a load once a year to build a big temporary commune and throw down all weekend. Like last year's Great Went, this year's Lemonwheel extravaganza takes place on the runways of the decommissioned Loring Air Force Base (800-832-4242), with three sets of Phish a day on Saturday and Sunday, plus camping, surprise performances, interactive art projects (hemp bracelets, anyone?), and lots of trimmings. And as always, the festival town has its own radio station, fire department, hospital, commissaries, and power generators. As Gwar always say, if you wanna hide your cash, just stick it under the soap.

Death Day, the anniversary of Elvis Presley's shuffling off this mortal coil, always brings the trash ghouls out of the dumpster. Boston's own 8-Ball Shifter -- who have a new disc coming out on Halloween of this year -- play the Living Room (401-521-5200) in Providence this Friday with Pig Moder, Inflatable Super Heroes, and Room with a View. Then they're back to the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on Saturday, playing a benefit for a new lowbrow lit-comix magazine being put together by 8-Ball frontman/poster artist Ian Adams and Roadsaw honcho/trailer-trash author Tim Catz entitled -- appropriately, and we mean that as a compliment -- Krap. Half-Cocked, the Falsies, and, yes, Roadsaw round out the bill. And how psyched are West Coast munster punks the Groovie Ghoulies? On Death Day proper they're playing at Heartbreak Hotel (Lupo's, that is; 401-272-5876) in Providence; the following night they're at the World Famous Elvis Room (603-436-9189) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire! Somebody give their booking agent a fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich.

Only the second band signed to Rob Zombie's Zombie-A-Go-Go imprint, fiery tiki-surf-garage dudes the Bomboras have been tearing up the country for four years, leaving a trail of slackened jaws in their wake. On the heels of their Head Shrinkin' Fun, they shake, rattle, and roll the Middle East on Wednesday the 19th and the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on Thursday the 20th.

-- CC