*Now that SEETHER frontman Shaun Morgan has entered a rehab facility, the band has been forced to pull out of a number of planned dates including this weekend’s show at Mohegan Sun Arena. The band was to be playing an opening set, along with Three Days Grace and Soil, for headliner STAIND.

The other three bands are still scheduled to go on with their performances Saturday night, and tickets do remain for the show.

Seether seems optimistic about Morgan’s recovery, too. As of Wednesday morning, when the announcement was made of the canceled tour dates, the band’s website was still listing October 1 shows in the UK – implying they hope to be back on the road next month.

*Fairfield County will be well represented when six preliminary round-winning blues bands from all over Connecticut vie for the opportunity this month to represent Connecticut in Memphis during the final state-level competition of Blues Challenge 2006. The final round of the annual competition – the 11th annual blues talent search sponsored by Connecticut Blues Society (CTBS) – will be held outdoors on Saturday, September 9, at the Hannon-Hatch VFW Post, 83 South Street in West Hartford.

Performances will run from 2 to 7 pm. In case of inclement weather, the competition will be held indoors in the VFW Hall.

Admission is $8 per person, or two for $15, with food and drinks available for sale.

The acts are scheduled as follows: Fairfield County based FADE TO BLUE will open the afternoon at 2; ERAN TROY DANNER & HOT DALLAS, from New Haven County, at 2:45; THE MIKE CRANDALL BAND, from New London County, 3:30.

THE JOHNNY BOOTS BAND, another Fairfield County band, will take the stage at 4:15; RYAN HARTT & THE BLUE HEARTS, from Middlesex County, will follow at 5; and Fairfield County’s MOJOMATICS, also from Fairfield County, will wrap the competition at 5:45

THE SHAKES with guest DREW BLOOD, the 2005 CTBS talent search winner from Hartford County, will perform from 6:20 until 7 pm while the ballots are tallied.

The winner of the finals will receive a cash prize (last year’s winning band received $1,500) to help defer the cost of traveling to Memphis to compete with bands from across the country in the Blues Foundation’s International Blues Competition (IBC), which is considered to be the nation’s biggest and most respected showcase for “undiscovered” blues talent.

Major players in the blues recording industry, including Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records and Bob Koester of Delmark Records, have been on the panel of judges in Memphis. In fact, noted blues artists Susan Tedeschi, Michael Burks, Larry Garner, Tommy Castro, Michelle Wilson and Sean Costello were all discovered at the IBC.

*LITTLE FEAT played to a sold-out audience last spring, and it’s beginning to look as though the crowd-pleasing group might just do that again. Tickets continue to sell well for The Great American Band’s show at The Ridgefield Playhouse for Movies and the Performing Arts on Tuesday, September 5. Showtime is 8 pm, and tickets are $55 for mezzanine seats, $65 for the orchestra.

*Shows recently added to The Webster’s theater include one in just a week: BERE HAMMOND and MARCIA GRIFFITHS will be at the Hartford club on Friday, September 8. Tickets are $20 for that show.

LENNON will headline on Wednesday, September 13, in the Webster Underground; THE RECEIVING END OF SIREN will headline an ALS/Punk Rock Mom Benefit on Sunday, September 17 (showtime for that one is 5 pm, call for additional information); PURE REASON REVOLUTION and 3 will co-headline October 5, also in the Underground.

Also in October, DEICIDE will play its make-up date, with Desolation opening; the club will host The Misfits Feind Fest on October 27, with THE MISFITS, THE ADDICTS, OSAKA OP (featuring MARKY RAMONE), BALZAC, JUICEHEAD and ORANGE; and will then open November with THIS DAY & AGE in the Underground on November 1. Rookie of The Year, Inkwell and Rory will also have opening sets.

METHOD MAN will be at The Webster on November 3; and MUTE MATH headlines a show in the Underground on November 6, with The Whigs and Jonezetta in tow.

*Also one cancellation note from The Webster this week: The September 20 CHARLOTTE MARTIN show in The Underground has been cancelled.

*KEVIN COSTER and his unnamed band will make their East Coast debut as part of Mohegan Sun’s 10th Anniversary Celebration next month. The band plays original rock and popular music, made its national debut earlier this year at Field Of Dreams in Iowa in front of 6,000 fans, and will make its first casino concert on Friday, October 20, at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den.

Also performing as part of the casino’s tenth anniversary, running Thursday through Sunday, October 19-22, will be KEITH URBAN, also playing October 20 but in the casino’s arena (tickets go on sale this Friday morning, priced at $65 and $85).

Performances are also being planned by BARENAKED LADIES (free, in the Wolf Den), comedians Jerry Seinfeld, Lily Tomlinson and Craig Ferguson, and the original Laugh-In cast on Sunday, October 21.

*TOWER OF POWER continues to promote its latest studio release, Oakland Zone (April 2003), as well as the return of original guitarist Bruce Conte, who left the band 20 years ago but returned recently to play with longtime friends on the road. The band will be back in New Haven on September 29, performing at Toad’s Place. Tickets are $30 in advance, or $35 at the door.

*Tickets are on sale for a pair of shows by THE CHEETAH GIRLS, who will be at Hartford Civic Center on October 18 and then on November 3 at Arena at Harbor Yard. Tickets for either show are $29.50 and $39.50. Venessa Anne Hudgens opens.

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 club locations are for ages 21 and over unless specified.

 

UPCOMING SHOWS

SEPTEMBER 1 — George Clinton & The P-Funk All-Stars at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den, Uncasville; Collective Soul at Foxwoods Casino’s Fox Theatre, Ledyard; Murray The Wheel at Georgetown Saloon;

September 2 — Staind at Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Three Days Grace, Seether and Soil opening; KC’s Boogie Blast (KC & The Sunshine Band, Gloria Gaynor, Tavares, and Sister Sledge featuring Kathy Sledge) at Foxwoods Casino’s Fox Theatre; Spontaneous Combustion at Georgetown Saloon;

September 3 — Family Values 2006 at Dodge Music Center, featuring Korn, Deftones, Stone Sour, Flyleaf, Direngrey, et al; Asia at Foxwoods Casino’s Fox Theatre;

September 4 — Shakira with special guest Wyclef Jean at Mohegan Sun Arena;

September 5 — Little Feat at The Ridgefield Playhouse; Rob Zombie at Toad’s Place (all ages), New Haven; The Bulletboys at The Webster Theater, Hartford (all ages);

September 6 — Shinedown at Toad’s Place, Livintrust opening (all ages);

September 7 — Aerosmith and Mötley Crüe at Dodge Music Center, Hartford; One Love Festival at Toad’s Place, featuring Buju Banton, Capleton, Gregory Isaacs, Coco Tea, Assassin, Elan and The Live Wyaa Band;

September 8 — Darik & The Funbags at Toad’s Place; Bere Hammond and Marcia Griffiths at The Webster Theater (all ages); Darryl Worley at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den;

September 9 — Brooks & Dunn at The Dodge Music Center, Hartford, Sugarland and Jack Ingram opening; Hat City Blues at Georgetown Saloon; Final round of state-level 2006 Blues Challenge at Hannon-Hatch VFW Post, West Hartford, with performances by Fade To Blue, Eran Troy Danner & Hot Dallas, The Mike Crandall Band, The Johnny Boots Band, Ryan Hartt & The Blue Hearts and Mojomatics competing, also performance by 2005 state winner The Shakes;

September 10 — Hall & Oates at The Chevrolet Theatre, Wallingford.