*MOPPIN SAUCE has a hometown show scheduled for next weekend. The funky band will be at The Fireside Inn on Friday, April 21.

*Tickets are going on sale this weekend for the Connecticut stop of what radio 104’s lunchtime DJs would certainly call a Big Hair Scare. The Power To The People Tour — featuring POISON, CINDERELLA, DOKKEN and SLAUGHTER — will make its way to The Meadows Music Theatre in Hartford on Friday, June 16. Good thing it’s going to be a weekend show, with that many bands on the bill, and the folks at the Meadows have planned around that fact. Showtime is 6 pm.

Tickets will be on sale Saturday, April 15, beginning at 10 am, through tickets.com. Visit the ticket vendor’s Web site or call 860/422-0000. Seats are $23.50 and $32.50 for the pavilion, or $15.50 up on the lawn.

*Also definitely going on sale this weekend will be the tickets for a June 14 show by 311 and INCUBUS at the Oakdale in Wallingford. Showtime for that one is 7:30 pm, and tickets are $27 and $28 apiece. These tickets can also be purchased online at www.tickets.com, but phone orders have to be called in to 203/265-1501 (the Oakdale’s box office line).

*Tickets are not yet on sale for the Connecticut date, but now that Two Against Nature, the band’s first studio album in 20 years, has been released, STEELY DAN is ready to hit the road. A 38-date US tour has been announced, and Hartford is among the much-anticipated summer dates. Founding members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker have assembled a full band, which will visit The Meadows Music Theatre in Hartford on July 9. No on sale date yet for that show, but it should be coming soon; the band’s shows through June 10 in California just went on sale Monday morning.

To build up your pre-concert excitement, a “Storytellers” special that was taped on February 1 will debut on VH-1 on May 1. And on June 5, a concert video and DVD of a live Steely Dan performance of earlier this year, titled 2 Against Nature Plush TV Jazz-Rock Party in hi-fi Stereo, will be released.

*The band line-up for next weekend’s annual radio 104 Earth Day in the Park concert has finally been announced. The music gets started around noon at Bushnell Park, and the event, as always, is totally free.

Performing this year will be VERTICAL HORIZON, GOLDFINGER, SPLENDER, NINE DAYS, RANE, ADIOS PANTALONES and WAYWARD.

*When they’re done performing at the big radio 104 event, VERTICAL HORIZON will make its way over to the Pitt Center at Sacred Heart University for a headlining concert less than a week later. Vertical Horizon will at in Fairfield on Thursday, April 27. The concert is set to get going around 8 pm. Tickets are just $12 apiece, and there is plenty of on-campus parking available. For details or reservations, contact SHU Student Events at 203/371-7846.

*Two of the top-selling bands of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, neither of which has managed to keep the hits coming in recent years, will be sharing share the bill on a amphitheater tour that gets underway in early May. R.E.O. SPEEDWAGON and STYX, both of whom emerged from Chicago battle-of-the-bands competitions in the early 1970s to become two of the top-selling rock acts of the late 1970s and early ‘80s, will team for a two-month amphitheater tour that gets underway in early May.

The closest dates as of now, however, for the tour are set for Jones Beach Amphitheatre on May 26 at Jones Beach Amphitheatre and May 30 at the Tweeter Center, formerly Great Woods, in Mansfield, Mass. Perhaps the reason the double-bill won’t be immediately visiting has to do with the fact each band as a solo headliner was recently in Connecticut. REO Speedwagon was at Foxwoods on March 19, and Styx just performed a fully sold out concert at Mohegan Sun last Saturday night. Don’t be discouraged, though; the itinerary can always be added to.

Besides, though these groups have sold a combined total of more than 65 million albums over the years, the bands’ touring lineups will differ from those of their heydays. Styx will feature guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw and guitarist/vocalist James ‘’JY’’ Young, both original band members. Joining them will be bassist Glen Burtnick (who briefly replaced Shaw in Styx’s 1983 lineup), Lawrence Gowan on keyboards and vocals, and drummer Todd Sucherman. Original bassist Chuck Panozzo will appear on select dates.

Missing from the lineup will be Dennis DeYoung. Of late, DeYoung has been playing solo concerts backed by a full symphony. DeYoung appeared on the latest Styx album, 1999’s ‘’Brave New World.’’

R.E.O.’s touring lineup will include singer-songwriter Kevin Cronin, keyboardist and founding member Neal Doughty, and original bass guitarist Bruce Hall. Dave Amato, a former lead guitarist for Ted Nugent, joined the band in 1990, as did drummer Bryan Hitt of Wang Chung.

SURVIVOR, of “Eye of the Tiger” fame, will appear on select dates. Group members Frankie Sullivan and Jimi Jamison had been touring with separate bands in recent years, each using the Survivor name. Pollstar reports that the two have put an end to various lawsuits over the use of the name, and are now touring together as Survivor.

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

Questions and comments 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! The 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

APRIL 14 — The Radiators at Toad’s Place, New Haven; Future Tense at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury;

April 15 — Peat Moss & The Fertilizers at Tuxedo Junction;

April 16 — moe at Toad’s Place (all ages);

April 19 — The Flaming Lips at The Webster Theatre, Hartford;

April 20 — String Cheese Incident at University of Hartford’s Lincoln Theatre; Bloodhound Gang at The Webster Theatre;

April 21 — Moppin Sauce at The Fireside Inn, Newtown; Off The Hook at Sogno, Newtown; Acoustic Junction at The Webster Theatre; Simple Jim at Tuxedo Junction;

April 22 — Max Creek at The Webster Theatre; The Wallbangers at Tuxedo Junction; radio 104 Modern Rock the Earth Day, Bushnell Park, Hartford, with Vertical Horizon, Goldfinger, Splender, Nine Days, Rane, Adios Pantalones and Wayward;

April 23 — Kenny Wayne Shepherd at The Webster Theatre;

April 27 — Vertical Horizon at SHU’s Pitt Center, Fairfield; Dick Dale at Toad’s Place;

April 28 — The Nerds at Tuxedo Junction;

April 29 — The Benjamins at Tuxedo Junction.

MAY 3 —The Vibrators at Tune Inn, New Haven;

May 4 —Nine Inch Nails at Hartford Civic Center, A Perfect Circle opening; Mustard Plug and Edna’s Goldfish at Tune Inn;

May 5 — Spring Heeled Jack USA at Toad’s Place, New Haven (all ages); The Zoo at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury;

May 6 — Darik & The Funbags at Tuxedo Junction;

May 7 — Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen at Towne Crier Café, Pawling, NY;

May 11 — “Weird Al” Yankovic at The Bushnell, Hartford;

May 12 — Max Creek at Toad’s Place (all ages); FUBAR at Tuxedo Junction;

May 13 — Big Orange Cone at Tuxedo Junction;

May 18 —Gunga Din at Tune Inn;

May 19 — Simple Jim at Toad’s Place, Ink opening; Simple Jim at Tuxedo Junction;

May 20 — The Wallbangers at Tuxedo Junction;

May 26 — Future Tense at Tuxedo Junction;

May 27 — The Benjamins at Tuxedo Junction.

JUNE 13 —Red Hot Chili Peppers at The Meadows Music Theatre, Hartford, Foo Fighters and Red Hot Blonde opening;

June 14 — 311 and Incubus at The Oakdale, Wallingford;

June 15 — Tina Turner at The Meadows Music Theatre, Hartford;

June 16 — Poison, Cinderella, Dokken and Slaughter at The Meadows Music Theatre;

June 21 — Britney Spears at The Meadows.

June 30 — Phish at the Meadows Music Theatre (no tickets until May 13).

JULY 1 — Phish at The Meadows Music Theatre, Hartford (no tickets until May 13);

July 8 — Kiss at The Meadows, Skid Row and Ted Nugent opening;

July 24 —The Slackers at The Webster Theatre, Hartford.

AUGUST 9 — Santana at The Meadows Music Theatre, Hartford, Macy Gray opening;

August 23-24 — Eddie Money at Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville.