These tickets will be priced at $45, $55 and $65, and will be available at all TicketMaster outlets (in person, online or over the phone at 860-525-4500 or 203-624-0033). They will not be sold on Saturday at the civic center’s box office.

*Local classic rock band FOG will be playing at The Alexandria Room on Saturday, February 7, as part of a benefit evening for Trinity Episcopal Church’s Workcamp program. About 34 adult and young adult (ages 13 and up) members of the church are planning to attend Workcamp in Canton, Ohio, later this year, and they could use some help to pay for their transportation and other related costs.

“Trinity Rocks the Town Hall: The 1st Annual Dance Party Benefit” is one of several fundraisers being organized by the church to do just that. Tickets are February 1 are $25 per person or $40 per couple, which gets you into the event, allows you to enjoy hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, and enjoy the live music and some dancing to work off those treats. Attire is jacket and tie.

Contact Leslie Konneker, 270-9116, to purchase tickets and receive additional information. Anyone unable to attend the dance but interested in helping the Workcampers can also made a donation. Call Leslie for that information as well.

*NEIL YOUNG will be returning to the state in a few weeks. Tickets for his March 15 show at the Oakdale in Wallingford are on sale (sorry this is late; I didn’t run a column last week). This will be one of Young’s Greendale shows – the first portion of the show will consist of Young’s album of the same name, played in its entirety. A few songs from earlier albums complete the show.

Rolling Stone described the shows like this in August: “Young has enlisted a cast of more than fifty to bring the fictional musical portrait of the Green family – who reside in Greendale and face an impending eco-disaster – to life. … Though Greendale is the focus of the sets, Young begrudgingly offers a few chestnuts in the mix.”

Tickets are $39.50 to $75 a pop, and available from the Oakdale’s box office or any TicketMaster outlet.

Also returning to Connecticut is Grammy winner JOHN MAYER, who will be at The Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport on St Patrick’s Day. The Bridgeport native – this should be a fantastic show for him – will headline a show that will feature an opening set by GUSTER. Tickets are $38 and also available through TicketMaster outlets and the box office at Arena at Harbor Yard.

A second show, on April 30, by the phenomenal young singer JOSH GROBAN at the Oakdale, who was already playing the same venue on April 8 show, has sold out.

*The Ridgefield Playhouse for Movies and The Performing Arts recently released its schedule for the first part of 2004, and there are some good concerts (in addition to children/family shows, programs and film screenings) coming in to the venue. The playhouse opened its season with a show last week by David Sanborn. Coming up David Johansen will be pulling his alter ego, BUSTER POINDEXTER, out of retirement for a special “Champagne & Diamonds Valentine’s Day Fundraiser” on Saturday, February 14. Tickets for the 7:30 performance are $60 and $70. Proceeds will benefit the playhouse.

Allman Brothers Band founding member DICKEY BETTS will also be returning to the area. Betts and his current band The Great Southern will be at the playhouse on Saturday, March 6. Tickets are also $60 and $70 for this show.

In April former state troubadour KEVIN BRIODY will be joined by LIVINGSTON TAYLOR and JEN CHAPIN for a triple bill on April 3; tickets are $45 and $55. Also appearing in the spring: EDDIE MONEY on April 8 (tickets $65 and $75), JOAN JETT on May 8 ($75 and $85), and MARC COHN will headline on May 15. Tickets for Cohn’s show are available in three tiers – $46, $56 and $75 – the highest of which will include a meet and greet reception with the musician.

For details or to reserve tickets for any of these shows contact the playhouse’s box office at 203-438-5795.

*New at The Webster is a March 3 show by MEST. Tickets are $12 for the all ages show and doors open at 7.

Also new is a March 27 date by EDWIN McCAIN, who will be performing with a full band. Tickets for this show, also open to all ages, are $15.

*Tickets are on sale for the 35th anniversary tour of YES, which will feature keyboardist Rick Wakeman and include a stop on May 12 at Mohegan Sun Arena. Tickets are a bit of a flashback, at just $15, $25 and $40. That’s not a typo.

*Before I leave for the week I must address what’s easily the biggest topic of the week: JANET JACKSON. Did anyone else perform during the Super Bowl Half-Time Show last weekend? Because I’ve forgotten if anyone else was there. That Justin kid was there, but who else? Count me among those millions who saw Ms Jackon’s breast exposed and could only respond by thinking “Did I just see what I think I saw? What? What??!”

Last week Ms Jackson’s choreographer, Gil Duldulao, promised viewers/fans/listeners of MTV that Jackson would have some “shocking moments” during her Super Bowl halftime show. Does that mean viewers were supposed to have been shocked by the raunchy movements between Ms Jackson and her dancers, or even between her and Justin Timberlake? Because honestly, that stuff is – unfortunately – run of the mill with stage shows these days.

Said Matt Drudge on Monday afternoon: “The Jackson-Timberlake moment drew the biggest spike in audience reaction TiVo has ever measured. TiVo said viewership spiked up to 180 percent as hundreds of thousands of households used TiVo’s unique capabilities to pause and replay live television to view the incident again and again.”

By Monday evening Ms Jackson had admitted that it was indeed a “wardrobe malfunction,” as Timberlake had contended all along. But my favorite comments on the whole fiasco came from my editor, who compared Janet Jackson to an Advent calendar, and Ted Koppel, who called Sunday’s flash “one of the seminal cultural events of the new millennium.”

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 CONCERTS

FEBRUARY 6 — SideShow at Sports Bar, North Windham; Hat City Blues Band at Bohemian Pizza & Blues Bar, Litchfield; Molly Hatchet at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; The Marshall Tucker Band at Toad’s Place, New Haven, The Highland Rovers, The Whiskey River Band and Done Mama Proud opening (all ages); Jeff Pitchell & Texas Flood at Black-Eyed Sally’s BBQ & Blues Café, Hartford; Icons Of Filth, Broken and Thought Crime at The Empress Ballroom, Danbury (all ages); Alternate Routes at Acoustic Café, Bridgeport;

February 7 — Fog at Edmond Town Hall’s Alexandria Room, Newtown; River City Rebels, Lost City Angels and The Ducky Boys at The Empress Ballroom (all ages); The Daria Musk Trio at Tuxedo Junction (in The Lounge); The Mary O’Hare Band at Acoustic Café, Bridgeport; SideShow at Murphy & Scarletti’s, Farmington; Believer at The Webster Theatre (all ages);

February 11 — Henry Rollins at The Webster Theatre (all ages);

February 12 — Johnny Lang at The Webster Theatre, Cross Canadian Ragweed opening (all ages).                           

February 13 — Stephen Kellogg at Acoustic Café (shows at 8 & 10 pm); Howie Day and Stereophonics at The Webster Theatre (all ages);

February 14 — Buster Poindexter at The Ridgefield Playhouse for Movies & Performing Arts; Matt Haimovitz at Acoustic Café; Sam Taylor Blues Machine at Black-Eyed Sally’s;

February 20 — Barenaked Ladies at Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville; NRBQ at Mohegan Sun Wolf Den, Uncasville; Roomful of Blues at Foxwoods Casino’s BB King Nite Club, Ledyard; Badfish at The Colorado Brewery, Danbury, Zox opening; SideShow at Stash’s, New London; Silverstein at The Empress Ballroom (all ages); Raisin Hill at Acoustic Café;

February 20-21 — Roomful of Blues at B.B. King Nite Club at Foxwoods, Ledyard;

February 21 — Hat City Blues Band at The Redding Roadhouse, Redding; Toby Keith at Mohegan Sun Arena;

February 26 — Living Colour at Toad’s Place (all ages show; rescheduled date, tickets from original show date will be honored); The Leon Russel Band at Black-Eyed Sally’s; The Slip featuring Nathan Moore at The Webster Theatre, Leslie Helpert, Mos Opus and DOT opening (all ages);

February 27 — Styx at Foxwoods Casino’s Fox Theatre, Ledyard; Big Shot at Toad’s Place; America at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den;

February 27-28 — Roomful of Blues at B.B. King Nite Club at Foxwoods;

February 28 — SideShow at Sports Rock USA, Bristol; Cyndi Lauper at Foxwoods’ Fox Theatre; tHrOnE at The Webster Theatre, Look West, Base 2, Downward Limit and Monty’s Fan Club opening (all ages); 3rd Sister at Acoustic Cafe.