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Crazy train
Kelly Osbourne's wild ride, words ablaze in Boston, metal takes Worcester, and Tosca tours New England



Daddy’s little girl

She single-handedly saved Mom and Dad’s TV soundtrack, The Osbournes Family Album, from the cutout bin — and simultaneously stole off-screen sis Amy’s thunder — with a snarling cover of Madonna’s "Papa Don’t Preach." Then she did the same for the last OzzFest live album, courtesy of her duet with Andrew W.K. on "The Girl Is Beautiful." So no surprise that Kelly Osbourne’s debut album, Shut Up (Epic), is the best thing anyone in the family has released in almost a decade. And after kicking her mall-rat drummer friend out of her band (with a nice $10,000 severance check), Kelly’s finally ready to hit the road with indie rocker turned R. Kelly–ish neo-soul loverboy Har Mar Superstar, who was rumored to have co-written some of Shut Up — and who scared the bejesus out of Sharon O. when a Polaroid of his scantily clad, pudgy self turned up on Kelly’s wall. They’re both at Axis, 13 Lansdowne Street, in Boston, on March 29. It’s a 7 p.m. all-ages gig, and tickets, at $15, go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. Call (617) 423-NEXT.

Words on Fire

A mammoth celebration and meditation on freedom of expression in theory and practice, the sprawling, eight-week festival "Words on Fire" brings together many of the area’s cultural heavyweights — including the Museum of Fine Arts, the Boston Public Library, the Museum of Afro-American History, the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, and Boston’s New Center for Arts and Culture — for readings, gallery exhibits, lectures, film screenings, and much more, beginning in March and running through May. It kicks off March 13 with the opening of three arts exhibits, including Sheryl Oring’s "Writer’s Block," an installation of 500 pre–World War II typewriters locked in 16 metal cages at the Boston Public Library. Events range from American Repertory Theatre founder Robert Brustein engaging in conversations with William Styron about his The Confessions of Nat Turner (Boston Public Library, March 30), and with playwrights Tony Kushner and Craig Lucas (BPL, April 6), to a screening of Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator with appearances by his daughter, Geraldine Chaplin (Museum of Fine Arts, April 12), a conference on free speech in the digital age (BPL, May 1), and a marathon reading marking the anniversary of the May 10, 1933, burning of books in Berlin (BPL, May 11). The majority of events are free and open to the public; for more info, visit www.wordsonfireboston.com.

Metal meltdown

Brace yourself: the annual New England Metal and Hardcore Festival — which has grown to rival such regional one-offs as the Milwaukee Metalfest and New Jersey Metal Meltdown — returns May 16 and 17 at the Palladium, 261 Main Street, in Worcester, with a line-up scheduled to include Brit black-metal fiends Cradle of Filth, Massachusetts thrash overlords Shadows Fall, Swede death kings Opeth, and sets by close to 50 others, including the Haunted, Converge, Suffocation, Nevermore, Killswitch Engage, and Lamb of God. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m.; call (800) 477-6849.

21st-century girl

Puccini’s bloody Tosca, a tale of love, treachery, and political intrigue, was premiered at the dawn of the 20th century and has been an operatic touchstone ever since, but the Boston Academy of Music, in tandem with its southern neighbor Opera Providence, is bringing the work into the 21st century for a production that’ll hit both cities in late March and April. The staging calls for "spectacular large-scale projections, digital video effects, and state-of-the-art light fixtures": a Tosca, finally, for the Grand Theft Auto age. Before traveling to Providence’s VMA Arts and Cultural Center on April 4 and 5, it’ll be performed March 21 and 25 at 7:30 p.m., and March 23 at 2 p.m., at Northeastern University’s Blackman Auditorium, 360 Huntington Avenue, in Boston; tickets are $20 to $83. Call (617) 373-2247.

Issue Date: February 20 - 27, 2003
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