Date: Fri 28-May-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNON

Quick Words:

Cranberries-Oakdale-Collective

Full Text:

ON THE ROAD/SHANNON HICKS

This weekend's 2nd Annual WPLR Memorial Day Picnic will run on Saturday (May

29) from noon to 8 pm at Yale Field in New Haven (just follow Route 34 out of

Sandy Hook, through Seymour, Derby and Orange, and you can't miss it).

Performances this year will be by BLUE OYSTER CULT, NRBQ, INDIGENOUS, HUBINGER

STREET, ECLECTIC NOBODY'S and GROOVE FICTION SEX CEREMONY. Tickets are $5 in

advance and can be reserved through the New Haven Ravens box office (782-1666

or 800/RAVENS-1 -- yeah, I hate those translate-the-letters phone numbers

too). The picnic will also feature interactive entertainment like the Team

Challenge Obstacle Course, a giant slide, Rock Wall and a Voodoo Tent.

THE CRANBERRIES are coming back to Connecticut, on August 22 to the Oakdale

Theatre in Wallingford. COLLECTIVE SOUL will be opening the show. Tickets, $34

and $44, will most likely be going on sale to the public next weekend.

Also going on sale, and also most likely next week, will be the ridiculously

priced WHITNEY HOUSTON tickets for the diva's July 11 date at the Wallingford

theatre. I have said it before and I'll say it again: NO ONE is worth paying

anywhere near $100 just for a concert appearance. Houston's tickets are being

hawked for $45, $75 and $125. The good thing about the Oakdale is you can go

with the so-called "cheap" seats (not that $45 per person just for the seat is

a subtle cough, either) and still have a great view of the stage and the

performer.

Woodbury Ski Area has its summer schedule set up, and the Route 47 ski area

and concert venue has three concerts planned this year. The first will be the

27th Annual Reggae Music Festival & Skate Show, on June 20, featuring BIG

MOUNTAIN (the original "Baby I Love Your Way"), Djoliba, and Victor Essier &

The Mandators; the One World Music Festival, August 22, featuring the original

WAILERS and other artists yet to be announced; and LOLLAPALOOZA MUSIC & SKATE

JAM on September 19, which will present ten modern/alternative bands on two

stages. I'm curious to see how long that name lasts, I have to say; I thought

Perry Farrell had a lock on the use of Lollapalooza.

For ticket prices and other details, contact Woodbury Ski Area directly at

263-2203.

ANN & NANCY WILSON are touring this summer, but don't expect a brilliant,

smoke-filled, lights-flashing show when the sisters are at Mohegan Sun Casino

in July. The Wilsons are spending time performing with just each other for a

few months, which is something the two have never done before. The tour, "An

Acoustic Evening with Ann & Nancy Wilson," is just that: Nancy on electric and

acoustic guitars, mandolin, dulcimer, dobro, blues harp, bass, piano and of

course vocals, and Ann handles bass, rhythm guitar, piano, flute, and also

vocals.

This is not a Heart reunion tour, although the Wilsons will perform some of

the music made popular while Heart was still a connected band. They will most

likely be performing work from their first side band, LOVEMONGERS, as well

some of the results of each of their own solo projects. It won't be until

after the summer tour that the two will head back into the studio to cut a new

album, and that album will be under the Ann & Nancy Wilson moniker, not Heart.

The girls will be part of a benefit for the group Home Alive (a collective of

performance and visual artists which fights all forms of violence, and offers

education in self-defense) at the Aro-Space Center in Seattle on July 19.

Their acoustic tour begins in Hampton Beach, N.H., a week later. After

performances in Massachussetts and New York, the Connecticut date is July 2 in

Uncasville. The tour then continues for eight weeks.

Until next week, I'll be seeing you... on the road, where I will be wandering

not too aimlessly and keeping an eye out for Amanda, Kyle, Jane, Peter,

Michael and everyone else we will no longer be bumping into every Monday

night.

Questions and comments concerning "On The Road" (or anything music related)

should be sent to Shannon Hicks, c/o Bee Publishing Co., 5 Church Hill Road,

Newtown 06470, or shannon @thebee.com. Include a phone number for

confirmation, please . If you don't have a stamp or a piece of paper or a

writing utensil that works, give me a call! Phone number at the office is

426-3141. Shows listed on the calendar at club locations are for ages 21 and

over unless specified.

UPCOMING CONCERTS

MAY 28 -- Future Tense at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; Santana at the Oakdale

Theatre, Wallingford, Ozomatli opening; John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band

at Toad's Place, New Haven, St Tone and The Mercury Seed opening; Frank

McGoldrich at Laszlo's Arts Cafe, Monroe;

May 29 -- WPLR Picnic at Yale Field, New Haven (Edgar Winter Band, NRBQ,

Hubinger Street, Blue Oyster Cult, Indigenous, Hubinger Street, Eclectic

Nobody's & Groove Fiction Sex Ceremony); F.A.C.E. Benefit Concert at Laszlo's

Arts Cafe (performances by My Dad's Truck, Gail Rombin Simon, Kent Aldrich,

Water Bacon and The Bonaccorso-Lewis-Shanley Trio); Big Toe at Tuxedo

Junction;

May 31 -- radio 104 Fest at The Meadows (Live, Silverchair, Fuel, Crash Test

Dummies, Spin Doctors, Local H, Orgy, Sponge, Reel Big Fish, Dovetail Joint,

Fountains of Wayne, Joy Drop, Zebrahead, Tenstar, My Friend Steve, Babe The

Blue Ox, Train, et al).

JUNE 2 -- Flotsam and Jetsam at The Webster Theatre, Hartford;

June 4 -- Free Style at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; The Violent Femmes at Toad's

Place, New Haven;

June 5 -- Harvey and the Wallbangers at Tuxedo Junction; Moppin Sauce at Fat

Daddy's, Watertown; The John Whelan Band at Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling, NY,

Matthew Phelps opening;

June 6 -- Leftover Salmon at Toad's Place (all ages), Blueground Undergrass

opening; The McKrells at Towne Crier Cafe;

June 8 -- Firehouse at Toad's Place (all ages);

June 11 -- Channeling Jim at Tuxedo Junction; Shakedown at Toad's Place (all

ages), Carnival Dogs and Smoke the Prophet opening;

June 12 -- Big Orange Cone at Tuxedo Junction; Moppin Sauce at TK's, New

Haven;

June 13 -- Volunteer Jam at The Meadows Music Theatre, Hartford (Charlie

Daniels Band, The Marshall Tucker Band and Molly Hatchet);

June 18 -- Susan Tedeschi at Toad's Place;

June 18-20 -- 4th Annual Gathering of the Vibes at Seaside Memorial Park,

Bridgeport (with Gov't Mule, John Scofield, Deep Banana Blackout, Strangefold,

Percy Hill, et al);

June 19 -- Men at Work at Mohegan Sun Casino (Wolf Den), Uncasville; Ozzfest

'99 at The Meadows Music Theatre, Hartford (Black Sabbath, Rob Zombie,

Deftones, Slayer, Primus, et al); Mighty Purple at Arts Barn, Madison;

June 20 -- 27th Annual Reggae Music Festival & Skate Show at Woodbury Ski

Area, Woodbury, featuring Big Mountain, Djoliba, Victor Essiet & The

Mandators, et al;

June 22 -- Beenie Man at Toad's Place (all ages);

June 24 -- Buddy Guy, Jimmie Vaughan & Shemekia Copeland at the Oakdale,

Wallingford; Spring Heeled Jack USA at Toad's Place (all ages);

June 25 -- Hootie & the Blowfish at Mohegan Sun Casino (Wolf Den); Simple Jim

at Toad's Place, What Up! and 13 O'Clock opening;

June 26 -- J. Geils Band at The Meadows; Seal at the Oakdale Theatre, Joan

Jones opening;

June 27 -- The Allman Brothers Band at The Meadows; Susan McKeown & The

Chanting House at Towne Crier Cafe, Kila opening;

June 29 -- Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers at The Meadows, Lucinda Williams

opening.