*The first concert of the summer 2001 season at the ctnow.com Meadows Music Centre in Hartford was announced this week. Tickets will be going on sale Saturday, March 17, for the return of OZZFEST on Sunday, August 5, starting at 11 am. Tickets start at $45.25 for lawn seating and jump to $65.25 and $75.25 for the pavilion.

This year’s even will feature BLACK SABBATH with its original line-up (OZZY, TONY IOMMI, GEEZER BUTLER, BILL WARD), MARILYN MANSON, SLIPKNOT, PAPA ROACH, LINKIN PARK and CRAZYTOWN. Headlining the second stage will be DISTURBED, with 14 additional bands to be announced before the show date. The festival will also feature an all-new “Village of the Damned.”

Tickets for all Meadows shows are available through tickets.com online and its in-person outlets (Strawberries Record stores), or by calling 203-265-1501. That telephone number is actually for the box office at the ctnow.com Oakdale in Wallingford; tickets for OzzFest will be sold through the Oakdale for now because the Meadows’ box office is not yet open for the seaon. In-person purchases will also be accommodated at the Oakdale’s box office.

By the way, JETHRO TULL will return to the Oakdale on August 16. No ticket details yet.

*Speaking of the Meadows, JIMMY BUFFETT unveiled this week a light spring-summer itinerary that is broken into two seven-city runs. And Hartford, which was hosting Buffett regularly at the Meadows, isn’t found among any of those stops.

Buffett had already significantly scaled back his touring schedule in recent years, and this year is lighter than ever. He and his Coral Reefer Band are wrapping up a ten-city winter tour this week in San Jose, Calif. The musicians will break for more than two months before taking to the road in May and June. After another break, they will return to the road at the end of August, hitting the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Mass., on August 31 and September 4, and then the Post-Gazette Pavilion in Pittsburgh before heading south for the winter.

*BRIAN SETZER’s new trio, 68 COMEBACK SPECIAL, will begin recording its first album later this month, and already has a summer tour set to begin on June 15. Among the stops will be a July 20 date at Mohegan Sun Casino.

68 Comeback Special includes drummer Bernie Dresel and bassist Mark Winchester, both members of the Grammy Award-winning BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA. The trio, which has performed live on only three occasions, plays “a cross-section of American music including (but certainly not limited to) their own brand of high-octane rockabilly,” according to Setzer’s official Web site. The group takes its name from an Elvis Presley television special broadcast in 1968 that eventually came to be known as Presley’s “’68 Comeback Special.”

*In local music news: On March 16, the eve of St Patrick’s Day (just in case you’ve forgotten), Ridgefield Playhouse will host LENAHAN, a Celtic folk-rock band that last March played to sold out audiences at The Kennedy Center. Tickets for this show are $18 orchestra, or $14 mezzanine and balcony. The playhouse is at 80 East Ridge Road.

The first American Celtic rock band, founded in 1985 as The Clan and renamed Lenahan after its leader in 1994, the ensemble combines the beauty and tradition of Celtic music with the lively energy of American rock, jazz and blues. During the course of performances, Lenahan’s members play more than a dozen different instruments including bagpipes, tin whistle, fiddle, bodhran, guitars, drums and keyboard. The band’s two Irish step dancers in colorful costumes are All-Ireland Champions. For further information call the box office at 203/438-5795.

*MOPPIN SAUCE is celebrating St Patrick’s Day this year at Fat Daddy’s, a neat little place in Watertown.

*Speaking of all things musical on St Patrick’s Day, SOL DOG is making a return to Classic Rock Brew Pub in Danbury on Saturday night. Rev, Ron, Mark and Curt will be singing to a backdrop of green beer “and some other stuff to be announced.”

The guys will then be at Café 127 in Shelton on Friday, March 23; at Tobacco Road (355 West 41st Street, between 8th & 9th Avenues) in New York City on March 31; and back in Connecticut for a show at The Avenue Café in Black Rock on April 6.

*The on-sale date is yet to be announced, but BILLY IDOL is going to be at Foxwoods Resort Casino’s Fox Theatre on Friday, April 20. Idol is set for a 9 pm show, and tickets will be priced at $38.50 and $55 apiece.

In May, LITTLE FEAT returns to the area on Thursday the 24th. On-sale date for that show is also in the air. On May 25 and 26, HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH will be back in the state for the first time since a Toad’s Place show in April 1998. Tickets for either show are $49.50 and $60.50 apiece, showtime is 9 pm both nights, and those tickets will be going on sale April 12 at 8 am.

Until next week, I’ll be seeing you... on the road.

Questions and comments should be sent to Shannon Hicks, c/o Bee Publishing Co., 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown 06470, or shannon@thebee.com; or call The Bee office at 426-3141.

Shows listed on the calendar at club locations are for ages 21 and over unless specified.

 

UPCOMING CONCERTS

MARCH 16 —John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den, Uncasville; Marshall Tucker Band at Toad’s Place, New Haven Highland Rovers, Whiskey River Band and 31 North opening; SR-71 at The Webster Theatre, Hartford; The Wallbangers at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; Joe Proc (Off The Hook) at Carl Anthony’s, Monroe; Lenahan at Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield; Walter Lewis and David Anastasia at Next Stop Café, Bethel;

March 17 — Fuel and 3 Doors Down at SHU’s Pitt Center, Fairfield, Oleander opening; Joe Rockstar at Tuxedo Junction; Moppin Sauce at Fat Daddy’s, Watertown; Sol Dog at Classic Rock Brew Pub, Danbury; Slam Allen at Next Stop Café;

March 18 — Adrienne & Deb Talen at Acoustic Café, Bridgeport; TimRegan at Next Stop Café;

March 21 — CSA Songwriters’ Showcase at Acoustic Café, featuring Bill Pere, Les Julian, and Leila & Robert Seven Williams;

March 22 — Overkill at Toad’s Place, Cyd Xmas and Rise from the Ashes opening (all ages);

March 23 — Shakedown at Toad’s Place, Electric Mayhem, Smoke the Prophet and Buzzhound opening (all ages); The Benjamins at Tuxedo Junction; Avishai Cohen Quintet at Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield; Joe Proc (Off The Hook) at Putnam House, Bethel; Junkie Hunx and New Aladonia at Laszlo’s Arts Café; Sol Dog at Café 127, Shelton; Badd Jack at Next Stop Café;

March 24 — Screaming Broccoli at Tuxedo Junction; Electric Mayhem at Laszlo’s Arts Café; David Maxwell at Next Stop Café;

March 25 — Murray the Wheel at Next Stop Café; The Toasters at The Webster Theatre, Monty’s Fan Club and Switchstance opening (all ages);

March 27 — Luciano at Toad’s Place, Jr Kelly opening (all ages); Off The Hook at Green Room Café, Black Rock;

March 29 — Electric Mayhem at Laszlo’s Arts Café; The Beer Scouts of America and Grover Dill at Toad’s Place (all ages);

March 30 — Bryan Adams at The Warner Theatre, Torrington; Culture at Toad’s Place (all ages), The Lightning and Above Suspicion opening; The Nerds at Tuxedo Junction; Joe Proc at Carl Anthony’s; No Frills at Laszlo’s Arts Café; Big Blue at Next Stop Café; Aztek Trip at The Webster Theater (all ages);

March 31 — FUBAR at Tuxedo Junction; Local Talent Showcase featuring Dorie Colangelo, Darian Cunning, Chelsea Genzano & Christina Abbot at Acoustic Café; Edipus at Laszlo’s Arts Café; Luxx at The Webster Theater, 30 Stones, Facing Sideways and Hard Luxury opening (all ages).

APRIL 1 — Bennett Harris at Next Stop Café, Bethel; Yngwie Malmsteen at The Webster Theatre, Hartford, Lizzy Borden, Core and Buff Daddy opening (all ages);

April 3 — The Pat McGee Band at Toad’s Place, New Haven (all ages);

April 5 —Dark Star Orchestra at Toad’s Place, Ink opening (all ages);

April 6 — Riders on the Storm at Toad’s Place (all ages); Sol Dog at The Avenue Café, Black Rock.

April 12 — Pork Tornado (featuring Phish’s Jon Fishman) at Toad’s Place (all ages);

April 13 —Dar Williams at Garde Arts Center, New London; Cabeza de Vaca at Toad’s Place, Kohath & The Uplight Ensemble opening;

April 19 — Overkill at The Webster Theatre;

April 20 — Darik & The Funbags at Toad’s Place, Ink opening; Tree at The Webster Theater (all ages);

April 20 — Billy Idol at Foxwoods’ Fox Theater, Ledyard (tickets not yet on sale);

April 22 —Soulive at Toad’s Place (all ages);

April 24 — Mark Knopfler at the ctnow.com Oakdale Theatre, Wallingford;

April 25 — CSA Songwriters’ Showcase at Acoustic Café, Bridgeport;

April 26 — The Melvins and Folk Implosion at Toad’s Place;

April 29 — Tower of Power at Mohegan Sun, Uncasville.