Roadtrips

Celebrate Lincoln's Birthday the Canadian way with an evening of earnest crafted guitar pop from those shaggy dudes in Sloan. With hooks that could put a smile on any Posies or Gigolo Aunts fan, and the negligible sales figures to prove it, the former DGC band's latest, Navy Blues, was relegated to release on the band's own murderrecords. They're back in the area to support it with shows February 11 at the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton and February 12 at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge.

The Amazing Crowns were one of the opening bands during the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' inaugural "Hometown Throwdown" engagements, and after a year of touring with the likes of the Cramps and the Reverend Horton Heat, they're now in a position to offer their own version of the local fan-appreciation event. During their "Providence Payback," they'll do a three-night stand in the intimate environs of the Met Café (401-861-2142) starting February 18, when their guests will be the Big Bad Bollocks, the Speed Devils, the Brass Monkeys, and the Brunt of It. The engagement runs through the 20th.

Two guys from Traffic who are not Steve Winwood -- Dave Mason and Jim Capaldi, both of whom did plenty of subsequent album-rock fellow-traveling -- are on tour with a set list that does indeed include a few Traffic songs, which they'll bring to the Copley Theatre (617-499-9797) in Boston on February 14 and Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on February 16. Those trying to navigate in and out of traffic might want to check out the New England Motorcycle Expo, February 13 and 14 at the Rockingham Park Expo (800-759-7469) in Salem, New Hampshire, which includes a side order of tattoos and a lace and leather fashion show. The latter might come in handy if you're thinking of checking out the "all-original-members" line-up (which, as many folks have pointed out, doesn't include now-deceased original guitarist and future Ozzy sideman Randy Rhodes) of Quiet Riot at the Station (401-823-4660) in West Warwick, Rhode Island, on February 13.

You may have caught that awful Jordan's Furniture TV ad featuring an anonymous-looking (and -sounding) frat-rock band with their own neon sign. Well, Entrain are hoping to parlay the commercial's success into . . . , er, commercial success and to that end are releasing the song as a single, as well as re-releasing the three-year-old CD it was taken from. The band are at the Met Café on February 11.
-- CC