*Jim Sheriden sent over a note this week to let me know that THE ADULTS have a trio of shows coming up, and all three are right here in Newtown.

The band will be at Proud Mary’s, the lounge at The Inn at Newtown on Main Street, this Friday night; they’ll be hosting the open mic night at The One-Eyed Pig, at 71 South Main Street (within Ricky’s Plaza), on Thursday, April 26; and then they will be one of the featured performers during the Fifth Annual Newtown Earth Day Festival when that big event returns to Newtown Middle School on Saturday, April 28.

Speaking of the Earth Day festival, while the schedule has not yet been published by organizers, they have begun listing the names of those who will be performing during the six-hour event. Once our rockin’ First Selectman Pat Llodra offers her opening remarks, Dana Greenfield will sing the national anthem, and then the day will continue with (and again, I don’t know if this is the order in which everyone will be performing) JOHN VOKET (yep, my friend and co-editor here at The Bee) performing classic rock, acoustically; MINSTREL MATT, with “slippin’ and slidin’ slide guitar instrumentals, blues and folk”; LITTLEseed PROGRAM, with songs and movement by Michelle Wenis; DR C, a/k/a The Sultan of Spine, with “infectious acoustic grooves to stimulate your mind”; students from Waldorf School; classic rock and high energy originals by THE TROLLS; SUNDAD, an acoustic jazz-fusion guitar duo comprised of father and son guitarists John Eurell, Sr of New York and John Eurell, Jr of Newtown; TIME AND AGAIN, with “straight ahead rock”; dancers from The Gray School of Irish Dance; and singer-songwriters CADENCE CARROLL & BILLY BURTON, in addition to The Adults.

If you’re interested in following the musical developments, or any aspect of the upcoming festival, visit www.newtownearthday.org.

The Newtown Bee is one of the festival’s sponsors this year, so be sure to find out table and come say Hello to those of us who will be there on Saturday.

*More shows were announced this week by LiveNation, including MARTINA McBRIDE at the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford on Friday, August 24 (tickets are $45 and $65 before service charges); the closing night of the Rock Star Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, which will bring SLIPKNOT, SLAYER, MOTORHEAD, ANTHRAX and others to the Comcast Theatre in Hartford on Sunday, August 5 ($20.50 for lawn seating, $34 to $63.50 for pavilion seating); and JASON MRAZ, also at the Comcast, on Saturday, August 25 ($17 lawn, $33.50 and $53.50 pavilion), with special guest Christina Perri.

Then on Saturday, LiveNation will be putting tickets for an August 2 O.A.R. show, at the Comcast Theatre on the venue’s recently launched Festival Stage, on sale. Those tickets are all $29, general admission.

All of these tickets will be available through LiveNation.com (direct links to each show are offered above; click on a band or performer’s name to go straight to their ticket page).

*The first concert announcement from Ives Concert Park came out this week: Grammy Award-winner FIONA APPLE will perform at the Danbury venue on June 29.

Tickets will be going on sale next Friday (April 20) through www.PremierBoxOffice.com, and they are $35 for the lawn area, $45 and $50 for the reserved seating area. Blake Mills will be opening.

*The 17th annual Gathering of the Vibes will return to Bridgeport July 19-22, and organizers have begun unveiling the 2012 line-up.

Performers will range this year from PRIMUS, PHIL LESH & FRIENDS, BOB WEIR & BRUCE HORNSBY with special guest BRANFORD MARSALIS, MICKEY HART BAND, SOUND TRIBE SECTOR 9 and THE AVETT BROTHERS to YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND, 7 WALKERS, THE GREYBOY ALLSTARS and STEEL PULSE.

Additionally, Vibes favorites DARK STAR ORCHESTRA, ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA and Bridgeport’s own DEEP BANANA BLACKOUT will return, among the more than 40 bands who will perform on multiple stages located throughout the 370-acre beachfront venue that is Seaside Park.

Continuing its tradition of embracing new, undiscovered artists, Vibes is letting its 130,000 Facebook fans select one up-and-coming band to perform in front of 20,000+ music enthusiasts. Fans are encouraged to vote by June 1 using the Road to the Vibes App. Head over to the festival’s page on Facebook, then click on the box within the upper banner for Road To The Vibes to participate. The winner will be announced in early June.

Early Bird tickets have already sold out, but Way Advance ticket pricing has been extended. A limited number of these tickets are still available, and can be purchased through the festival’s website .

Day ticket and one-night camping passes are not yet available, but the website has an option where you can sign up for a newsletter and other announcements, so you may want to do that as well.

*Here’s something a little different, yet still musically related: An exhibit of paintings by Billy Martin (a/k/a “illy B”)  — drummer for THE LOUNGE LIZARDS and MEDESKI, MARTIN & WOOD — will open this weekend at Morrison Gallery in Kent. The collection will be on view April 14 until May 13. An opening reception (which Martin does plan to attend) will be hosted by the gallery on Saturday, April 14, from 5 to 7 pm.

According to a press release from the gallery, Martin “has had an interest in visual art since childhood spanning many mediums and forms of expression. He was influenced particularly by African, Oceanic and Brazilian cultures and, like his music, most of his drawings stem from chance and an improvisational style. Through this technique he has created iconic images, multimedia collages and his own style of bird portraits.

“In his most recent body of work,” the press release continued, “three distinct subjects present themselves as if in a dream-like collage: the Vessel, the Shaman and the Bird. Each is suspended in space like an incomplete phrase, rendered with an urgency that at first glance appears awkward, but soon reveals itself to be a cunning, highly developed approach toward Martin’s expressive intent, which is to question the nature of creative identity itself.”

This will be the second time Martin’s work is on view in the gallery, but it is the first time his art is the featured one-man exhibition.

The 7,000-square foot space is at 8 Old Barn Road in Kent (just southeast of the intersection of Routes 7 and 341), and speaking from experience: it’s a cool little place. Make some extra time to walk around Kent if you head up for the reception. There are plenty of shops and eateries worth spending some time (and money) in. Morrison Gallery can be reached at 860-927-4501 and is online at www.MorrisonGallery.com.

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

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 clubs are for ages 21 and over unless specified.

UPCOMING SHOWS

APRIL 13 — The Adults at Proud Mary’s, Newtown; Cee Lo Green at The MGM Grand at Foxwoods, Mashantucket, Melanie Fiona opening; NRBQ at Infinity Music Hall, Norfolk; The Mickey Hart Band at The Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield; Blues Traveler at Mohegan Sun Casino’s Wolf Den, Uncasville; The Blue Yodels at The River Bistro, New Milford; Jonathan Edwards at Fairfield Theatre Company’s StageOne, Fairfield;

April 14 — The Fray at The MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods; Red Dirt Road at Fast Eddie’s Billiards Café, New Milford;

April 15 — Hot Buttered Rum at Infinity Music Hall, Norfolk; Leo Kottke at Fairfield Theatre Company’s StageOne;

April 19 — Merle Haggard at The Warner Theatre, Torrington;

April 20 — The Moody Blues at the Oakdale Theatre, Wallingford; Nancy Griffith with The Kennedys at Infinity Music Hall;

April 21 — The Charlie Daniels Band at The Palace, Waterbury (rescheduled from October; tickets from original date will be honored); Creed at Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville; Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas at the Oakdale Theatre; Greg Lake: Songs Of A Lifetime at The Ridgefield Playhouse; Mighty Mystic at Fairfield Theatre Company’s StageOne; Jonathan Edwards at Infinity Music Hall;

April 22 — The Bacon Brothers at Infinity Music Hall;

April 26 — Dickey Betts and Great Southern at The Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield; The Adults at The One-Eyed Pig, Newtown (hosting Open Mic Night); Off The Hook at My Place Restaurant, Newtown;

April 27 — An Evening with Paula Cole at Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University, Fairfield; Nickelback at the XL Center, Hartford, with special guests Bush, Seether and My Darkest Days; Counting Crows at The MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods; Taylor Hicks at The Ridgefield Playhouse; Bernie Williams with Chieli Minucci and Special EFX at Infinity Music Hall;

April 28 — Fifth Annual Newtown Earth Day Festival at Newtown Middle School, live music 10:15-4 pm by John Voket, Minstrel Matt, Dr C/The Sultan of Spine, The Trolls, SunDad, Time and Again, The Adults, Cadence Carroll & Billy Burton, et al; Daughtry at The MGM Grand at Foxwoods; The Regulators at Fast Eddie’s Billiards Café;An Acoustic Evening with Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin at Infinity Music Hall;

April 29 — Chicago at The MGM at Foxwoods; Colin Hay at The Ridgefield Playhouse; Graham Parker & The Figgs at Fairfield Theatre Company’s StageOne; Charlie Musselwhite at Infinity Music Hall.