*“Mocha Mike” (née Mike Palumbo, the owner of Mocha Coffee House) will host Mocha Reggae Night tonight. Mike and his pal Drix will be playing original and their takes on reggae songs at the Glen Road coffee house on Friday, February 16, starting at 7:30. The show will run until 10.

*JOHN VOKET’s Shining On for the CURE Tour will continue this weekend, when John performs at Proud Mary’s, the lounge at The Inn at Newtown. The show is scheduled for Friday, Febraury 16, from 8:30 until 11:30.

The concert is part of John’s second annual series of fund- and awareness-raising shows for Newtown’s 2007 Relay For Life. This year’s Relay will be the overnight of June 9-10 at Newtown High School, and John’s goal is to “help folks get their hands on luminaries that will line the Relay track to honor those fighting the good fight, and to remember those who are no longer with us,” he said in a recent email.

There is no admission charge, but each month’s show will include requests for donations. Each $10 donation will cover the cost of one luminary, which will join hundreds of others to line the track at the high school on June 9 and will be inscribed with the name of a loved one of acquaintance of your choice.

*Tomorrow night (Feb 17), The Acoustic Café in Bridgeport has a major Mardi Gras Benefit for the musicians of New Orleans. This thing will be running from 4 pm Saturday until 2 am on Sunday. A dozen bands are expected to be performing, and admission for the first five of those performances is open to all ages; after 7:30 the show will be for those ages 21 and up.

Performers and their times are as follows: At 4 pm, THE TOM CROWLEY BAND will get the show started with a set of rock. ROLLA’S FUZZ and CARRIE will play acoustic rock at 5 pm. DAN TRESSLER, a member of the café’s bluegrass house band Hoe, will offer a set beginning at 5:30.

At 6:30, singer-songwriter CHELSEA GENZANO will perform. The recently formed PARK CITY PIMPS (featuring Cosmic Jibaros guitarist Rick Reyes, Larissa DeLorenzo Band guitarist Brendon Muldowney, Raisin Hill bassist Brian Anderson and Rafter Bats drummer MD Rickers) will offer a 30-minute set starting at 7.

At 8 pm — a remember, this is when the age limit kicks in — THE DARIAN CUNNING BAND will play. Singer-songwriter LARISSA DeLORENZO will take the stage at 9.

FEEL THEORY will offer a set of its smoky jazz-influenced rock starting at 9:30, followed by singer-songwriter JOHN TORRES at 10:30.

THE COSMIC JIBAROS will play a set of its Latin-rock at 11 pm, experimental guitarist 9:30 MOON will take over the stage at midnight, and RENARD BOISSIERE’S NARDY BOYS with special guests – including John Hickey “and surprise guests,” will start the night’s final set at 12:30 am.

On top of all this music there will be plenty of New Orleans style food and drink specials, raffles, and a silent auction.

The benefit is being produced by Angel Telesco, who can be reached at Angel.Telesco@AlconeMarketing.com or FatTuez@yahoo.com; her website is MySpace.com/FatTuez. It is being sponsored in part by Abita Brewery of New Orleans.

Admission for this whole shindig is just $10, and there will be New Orleans style food, and drink specials, raffles, and a silent auction. All proceeds – that’s 100 percent, folks – will go directly to The Higher Fund, which aids musicians in the NOLA area who are still impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

Aside from the occasional crime report (which is never good), NOLA has fallen off the front pages again but I can tell you… those folks in Louisiana — and the rest of the Gulf region — still need plenty of help to come back from Hurricane Katrina. So pay the admission fee, and then keep your wallet open and make plenty of donations and bids all night. I don’t have a personal investment in this event, nor do I know any of the performers. I just know that the folks in New Orleans, and Louisiana, etc, still need help and our government has failed them miserably.

The Acoustic Café is at 2926 Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport, and can be reached by calling 203-335-3655. For last-minute details about this show or to see the café’s full schedule, visit AcousticCafe.com.

*Going on sale this morning are tickets for ROD STEWART’s return, following his recent sold-out performance at the same venue. Tickets for a May 18 concert at Mohegan Sun Arena have been set at $70, $95 and $125, and will be available through TicketMaster today, and also through Mohegan Sun’s box office beginning tomorrow.

The May show will feature a culmination of Stewart’s hits from four decades, a concert stage set up in the round (which the performer hasn’t done for about a decade), and a nine-piece band plus three backing singers.

*Tickets for NORAH JONES, who will headline at the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford on Friday, April 13 (oh noooo!), went on sale this week. Tickets are now available through LiveNation.com, TicketMaster outlets and the theater’s box office, priced at $38, $48 and $58.

Also on sale this week (this morning at 10) were tickets for THE MUSIC OF LED ZEPPELIN, to be performed by Hartford Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, April 14, also at the Chevrolet Theatre. These tickets have been set at $35, $42.50 and $65.

*Going on sale tomorrow morning will be tickets for FALL OUT BOY, who will be in Hartford on Saturday, June 2. This Dodge Music Center show will start at 6, which is good considering there will be opening sets by +44, The Academy Is, Cobra Starship and Paul Wall before FOB even step foot on the stage.

Tickets are $39.75 for reserved seats (with a limited number of GA pit tickets available; be sure to ask about this when you buy your tickets) and $24.25 for lawn seating. These tickets will only be sold for the time being through the Chevy Theatre’s box office; the Dodge Center’s box office is still closed for the season.

*Finally this week (I hope, considering I’m running out of room…), tickets for a May 18 concert by STEELY DAN at the Chevrolet Theatre will be going on sale Monday morning. Priced at $40, $60 and $70, these tickets will be available through LiveNation, TicketMaster and the Chevrolet’s box office.

Tickets for the duo’s performance at Mohegan Sun Arena a few days earlier, on May 17, will also be on sale Monday morning. Tickets for that show are $40 and $60, and they will be available through TicketMaster vendors.

Until next week I’ll be seeing you... on the road, awaiting for details on when The Police will be playing Hartford (and more importantly, when those tickets will be going on sale. Using his powers of deductive reasoning, co-associate editor John Voket says the Connecticut show will take place between July 26 and August 5.

Questions and comments should be sent to Shannon Hicks c/o The Newtown Bee, 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown CT 06470, or shannon@thebee.com, or call the office at 426-3141. Shows listed at club locations are for ages 21 and over unless specified.

UPCOMING SHOWS

FEBRUARY 16 — John Voket at Proud Mary’s, Newtown (Relay For Life fundraiser); Reggae Night at Mocha Coffee, Sandy Hook; Mastodon at Toad’s Place, Converge and Priestess opening (all ages); Shakedown at The Acoustic Café, Bridgeport;

February 17 — Mardi Gras Benefit for New Orleans Musicians at The Acoustic Café (see details, including artists and their start times, in write-up above); Hat City Blues Band at The Georgetown Saloon;

February 18 — Joe Bonamassa at Toad’s Place, New Haven (all ages);

February 19 — The Beach Boys at Mohegan Sun Arena;

February 23 — Patti Smith & Her Band at Toad’s Place (all ages); Sevendust, Bloodsimple and Diecast at The Webster Theater, Hartford; The Dan Vaughan Band at The Acoustic Café (all ages);

February 24 — My Chemical Romance at Dodge Music Center, Hartford, Rise Against opening; Alexa Ray Joel at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den; Hat City Blues Band at Jimmy’s Seaside, Stamford; The Cosmic Jibaros at The Acoustic Café;

February 25 — B.B. King at The Palace Theater, Stamford, with special guests Johnny Duke and The Aces;

February 28 — The Lemonheads at Toad’s Place; Three Chicks Singing at The Acoustic Café (all ages).