ENTER THE . . . Wu-Tang Clan, who roll into the Palladium January 11. |
After a brief late-December break from the usual boatload of good shows, the flood picks up right where it left off in early January. It sounds trite, but there really is something for everyone over the next few months, from blues and soul to indie-pop and art-rock, from R&B and hip-hop to metal and psych-rock. There’s all manner of world music. Mardi Gras celebrations. Comedy, folk, punk rock. You name it. Cash those Christmas checks or make friends with the door guy, and dig in.
JANUARY
Former Muddy Waters sideman LUTHER “GUITAR JUNIOR” JOHNSON gets things off to a bluesy start next Saturday, January 5, at Johnny D’s (17 Holland St, Somerville). The same night, the winter installment of baseball scribes PETER GAMMONS and Jeff Horrigan’s HOT STOVE, COOL MUSIC charity concert series kicks off with a “special preview concert” at the Paradise (967 Comm Ave, Boston). The line-up: SPOOKIE DALY PRIDE, ELI “PAPERBOY” REED & THE TRUE LOVES, and DESOL. The main event’s the following night, also at the Paradise: it features a slew of local and ex-local rock and baseball luminaries, including THEO EPSTEIN, Gammons, Dropkick Murphy KEN CASEY, Bosstones frontman DICKY BARRETT, BRONSON ARROYO, LORI MCKENNA, KAY HANLEY, DEAR LEADER, and the aforementioned Reed.
The Ozzman Cometh — to Worcester January 8. OZZY OSBOURNE plays the DCU Center (50 Foster St) with horror-film obsessive — and, now, auteur — ROB ZOMBIE. On the heels of the drama-imbued release of their Beatles–“interpolating” 8 Diagrams (Motown/Universal) — their fifth album and first in six years — the WU-TANGCLAN play the Palladium in Worcester (261 Main St) January 11; meanwhile, K Records chick MIRAH and pals SPECTRATONE INTERNATIONAL perform their multi-media show “Share This Place” — an exploration of “the tender, dramatic, sordid, tragic and triumphant lives of insects” — at the MFA’s Remis Auditorium (465 Huntington Ave, Boston). The same night is the kickoff of the two-day BOSTON CELTIC MUSIC FESTIVAL — now in its fifth year and taking place at various venues in Cambridge and Medford; visit www.bcmfest.com.
“MONSTERS OF MOCK III: THE ULTIMATE HAIRBALL” brings together APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION (“the ultimate tribute to Guns N’ Roses”) and TRAGEDY, “a metal tribute to the Bee Gees,” which has to be heard to be believed — check their MySpace page. That’s downstairs at the Middle East (480 Mass Ave, Cambridge) January 18; meanwhile next door at T.T. the Bear’s Place (10 Brookline St) it’s New Hampshire bubblegum-punk lifers the QUEERS, and just down the road a bit, mbube masters LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO of Graceland fame do their South African a cappella thing at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre (45 Quincy St).
