All three days of this weekend, starting tonight…, have great offerings of music either by local bands and/or in local venues. Read on…

*THE DOUG WAHLBERG BAND has been receiving radio airplay for its new single, “Broken,” on over 25 radio stations across the country and one of those stations is right in neighboring Danbury. 98Q FM (98.3 FM) has been helping Sandy Hook resident Wahlberg and friends with airplay.

Meanwhile the band continues to reach fans through iTunes, where the single is now available for download. Touring also continues as well, and will include a show tonight at Georgetown Saloon in Redding. Showtime will be about 9 pm; call 203-544-8003 for details.

The guys will also by headlining on the Danbury Green next month, playing a concert in the CityCenter Summer Concert series. That show will be on Friday, August 8, starting at 7:30. Admission for this outdoor concert is free. Marc Huberman will have an opening set. Bring a chair or blanket for seating.

*For the first time in six years THE SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS are ready to perform again and we’re going to have an opportunity to enjoy one of the band’s shows this weekend. Original and founding members Katherine Whalen, Jimbo Mathis, Chris Phillips, Je Widenhouse and Stuart Cole will be performing at New Haven Green this weekend – Saturday, July 19.

In addition to their signature fusion of delta blues, jazz and 1930s-era swing that the band is so well known for, there will be a special live performance with SNZ’s animated video for the song “The Ghost of Stephen Foster,” done by the folks from The Simpsons.

Showtime is 6 pm Saturday and the concert is free. BYO chairs or blankets for seating, along with your own picnic basket if you want to bring in your own food or enjoy some food that will be available (for purchase) from local eateries set up under tents around the green.

*Four bands, all based in the greater Danbury area, will be playing a benefit at Danbury’s CityCenter on Sunday, July 20,  from 1 to 6 pm. The concert will benefit Danbury’s Regional Child Advocacy Center, a private, non-profit, child abuse prevention agency which helps high-risk parents increase their skills and knowledge in order to prevent out-of-home placement of their children.

The lineup includes BLACK VELVET, SLIGHT RETURN, TALESPIN and RELIC.

Black Velvet performs an engaging mix of covers and originals. Slight Return features the only female performer of the show, Brandee Carl-Werner, a mezzo soprano with 20 years of classical training who began her singing career in talent shows and school musicals. Slight Return regularly opens for Relic and TaleSpin.

TaleSpin plays classic and progressive rock including Mountain, Green Day, Moody Blues, Alice Cooper, and Uriah Heep.

Relic’s members bring more than 160 years of collective experience to the stage, and provided the impetus for the group’s name. Newtowner Rich Blewett, who plays keyboards and sings with in Relic, said his guitarist, Bill Werner, a former local resident who also plays in TaleSpin, brought up the idea of playing this benefit.

As the youngest guy in the band at age 52, Werner, bass player Kurt Ahlberg, and Blewett have been jamming together for 40 years, 15 of them together right here in town.

Blewett said he and his bandmates see this benefit as an opportunity  to have some fun, and to benefit a good cause.

Those heading out to the show this weekend will hear loads of classic rock from Relic, including material from ELP, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Edgar Winter, The Who and The Beatles.

The child advocacy center will benefit from donations made during Sunday’s concert, Sue Thomas, the executive director of DRCAC, said this week.

“We’ll bring info about our agency, and we’ll share stories about the families we work with so that donors know about us and how to prevent child abuse,” Ms Thomas said Tuesday morning. Those donations on Sunday will help cover the cost of running the center’s programs, which are always offered free of charge.

“Every program we operate runs at a deficit, so [Sunday’s concert proceeds] will help to reduce the deficit the programs carry,” she said. Those programs are designed, she said, to protect children through the support of families.

“We work with high-risk families, and we work from the assumption that parents don’t intend to abuse children but it happens because they have stressful and chaotic lives. As most of us who are parents know, kids are very good at pushing buttons.

“We’ve all had the impulse to lash out, but we don’t want to,” she continued. “We work with parents at common ground, in a nurturing and non-judgmental way.

“At the same time, we make it clear that we are about raising children in safe and happy environment and that there is never a reason to be physical, to use abuse as a discipline,” said Sue.

*Also this weekend — unfortunately a conflict with the benefit in Danbury — will be the next concert over at Woodbury Ski Area.

Ski area owner Rod Taylor will welcome tribute bands playing the best of Jimmy Buffett and reggae with a concert he’s calling “Parrotheads Meet Reggae” on Sunday, July 20, from 1 to 8 pm. Performers will include GARRATT WILKINS & THE PARROTHEADS (“a celebration of Jimmy Buffett”), MYSTIC REBELS, a Bob Marley tribute; PETE SCHIEPS BAND, performing Jimmy Cliff; and THE SCREW-UPS, offering Toots & The Maytals music.

Tickets are $25 if you buy or reserve them in advance or $35 at the gate. The grounds will be open for camping, and the event will once again offer a skate park demo and competition, plenty of arts and crafts vendors, swimming, and food. Coolers are welcome.

Call 263-2203 for additional information or reservations.

*THE WHO will be hitting the road in 2008 and are making a stop at Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday, October 28, at 7:30 pm. Tickets will range from $75 to $175 and will be on sale Friday, July 18, at 10 am, through TicketMaster vendors.

Tickets will also be available through the Mohegan Sun box office starting Saturday, July 19, subject to availability.

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

JULY 18 — The Doug Wahlberg Band at Georgetown Saloon, Redding; Three Doors Down at Dodge Music Center, Hartford, Staind and Hinder opening; Badfish at Toad’s Place, Scott Don’t, All in Blind and One Jack Move opening (all ages); The Fifth Dimension at Meadowbrook Park, Hamden (Hamden High School if rain);

July 19 — Big Jim’s Birthday Bash at Toad’s Place featuring Megahertz, Souls Astray, Mugshot Militia, Chain Reaction and Nasty Disaster; Gunsmoke at Georgetown Saloon, Redding;

July 20 — Black Velvet, Slight Return, TaleSpin and Relic at CityCenter Danbury (1-6 pm, free benefit for Danbury Regional Child Advocacy Center); Projekt Revolution 2008 at Dodge Music Center, Hartford; Parrotheads Meet Reggae festival at Woodbury Ski Area, Woodbury, featuring Garratt Wilkins & The Parrotheads, Mystic Rebels, Pete Schieps Band and The Screw-Ups;

July 24 — Brad Paisley at Dodge Music Center, Jewel, Chuck Wicks and Julianne Hough opening; Immortal Technique at Toad’s Place (all ages);

July 25 — Loudon Wainwright III at Fairfield Theatre Company, Fairfield; Starship with Mickey Thomas at Meadowbrook Park, Hamden (Hamden High School if rain);

July 26 — The Jonas Brothers and Avril Lavigne at Dodge Music Center; Sheryl Crow at Mohegan Sun, James Blunt opening.July 28 — Explorations at Toad’s Place, New Haven (also July 29);

July 29 — Poison at Mohegan Sun Arena, Dokken and Sebastian Bach opening; Explorations at Toad’s Place;

July 30 — King’s X at Toad’s Place (all ages); Sevendust at The Webster Theater, Alter Bridge opening;

July 31 — The Eagles at Mohegan Sun Arena.