Roadtrips

It would appear there's no hard feelings left between Nas and Puffy Combs over that scene from the former's video for "Hate Me Now," which featured the two hip-hop icons nailed to crosses. You may remember that Puffy got cold feet at the last minute and asked that the video be edited to remove the offending passage, then allegedly beat down Nas's manager when the video aired with the scene intact earlier this year. Nonetheless, Nas is still on the A-list of luminaries scheduled to appear on Puffy's Forever (Arista), which hits the streets in late August. In the meantime, Nas is headlining his own tour -- after a stint on the undercard of R. Kelly's trouble-plagued juggernaut -- that brings him to the Palladium (508-797-9696) in Worcester on July 14; Boston godfather Ed O.G. opens up.

If Puffy gets convicted on his assault charges, he could always just ask the judge to let him go on tour with techno bigwigs Orbital and the Crystal Method, who have conveniently titled their package "Community Service." They'll serve a few hours along with Lo-Fidelity Allstars at the Palladium on July 10.

Salem gets the blues this weekend thanks to the Winter Island Blues Festival (617-423-NEXT), which in its fourth year has produced a sizzling slate of top-notch talent. Perhaps the most storied R&B ensemble of them all, Booker T. and the MG's, bring Stax voltage to the grounds on July 10, along with an undercard including Another Planet, Boston's outstanding Delta-style duo Mr. Airplane Man, the Miracle Orchestra, Entrain, I-Was-A-Teenage-Allman-Brother dude Derek Trucks, and Jazz Is Dead. Then on Sunday the voodoo-beat man himself, Bo Diddley, stars atop a bill with Shemekia Copeland, the Slip, the Jazz Mandolin Project, and Entrain and Jazz Is Dead again.

Overlapping the Winter Island Fest -- but falling safely before Phish's sold-out two-night stand at the Tweeter Center July 12 and 13 -- is the fourth annual Ho-Down put on by local jam-band fiends Schleigho. You can camp out and hear the likes of Electric Blue and the Kozmik Truth, Soulive, Actual Proof, Percy Hill, the Jazz Mandolin Project (again), the Miracle Orchestra (yep, them too), the Slip (um, you get the picture), and more starting Friday the 9th at 5 p.m. and running from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at Wendell State Forest (914-923-4300) in Wendell, Massachusetts.

Elsewhere, former Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera leads his Soulfly into battle at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on July 12 along with Neurosis, Hatebreed, and Willhaven; Cavalera's crew hook up with Iron Maiden and Monster Magnet for West Coast dates next month. Grade-B punk rock hits the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence on July 8 courtesy of AFI and 88 Fingers Louie. And aging wiseacre George Carlin cracks large in two suburban hemispheres -- the North Shore Music Theatre (978-232-7200) in Beverly on July 12, and the Cape Cod Melody Tent (508-775-9100) in Hyannis on July 13.
-- Carly Carioli