Roadtrips

Rudie extraordinaire Jimmy Cliff celebrates his 50th year -- and the 25th anniversary of his performance in The Harder They Come, which broke reggae in the US with Cliff playing a country boy removed to the city who finds pop stardom only after he embarks on a life of crime -- with a tour that brings him to Pearl Street (413-584-0610) in Northampton on September 28 and to Avalon (617-262-2424) in Boston on the 30th.

Further proof that white appropriation of hip-hop often leads its practitioners to flights of vaudvillean fancy comes from Everlast, that guy from House of Pain, whose latest album, Whitey Ford Sings the Blues (Tommy Boy), begins with a song called "The White Boy Is Back." Did he ever leave? Find out when Everlast checks into Axis (617-262-2437) in Boston on the 26th (note the 6 p.m. start time) and the Call (401-751-2255) in Rhode Island on the 27th.

Tacoma's Girl Trouble -- whose line-up contains no girls -- used to be on K Records back in the day, but don't let that fool ya. They were the resident garage punks amid the lo-fi pop, and they've just gotten leaner and meaner over the years. Now residing on eMpTy, they'll get as close as Dinny's (508-752-9667) in Worcester on the 27th. From girl troubled to troubled girl is Juliana Hatfield, who'll make it to Boston next month, but if you just can't wait she's at Pearl Street tonight (September 24) behind Bed (Zöe/Mercury), the most savage and immediate album she's yet turned out. You could say the same thing about Frank Black's latest incarnation -- he's fronting a really raw, loose, hungry rock-and-roll band (i.e., minus the cut-and-paste Pixies thing, and without all the evasiveness of his previous solo outings) whose line-up includes local guitar god Rich Gilbert. They're at the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on the 29th.

If we had our druthers, we'd attempt to link everyone else in this column to him in six steps or less -- but alas, deadline beckons (feel free to play along at home). Yep, cult-hack film icon Kevin Bacon and his brother are back doing . . . well, something, as the Bacon Brothers, at the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton on the 25th. And in other news of the arcane, it's not often that we get an honest-to-goodness rodeo north of the Mason-Dixon line, but the regional finals of the IPRA World Championship Rodeo are running September 25 through 27 and October 2 through 4 at the Shriners Auditorium (800-50-RODEO) in Wilmington, Massachusetts. You get bull riding, steer wrestling, roping, barrel racing, live country music in the round-up room, and the 1998 Miss Rodeo USA. Round 'em up.

-- CC