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[Roadtripping]

Lollapalooza’s carnival atmosphere was the perfect environment for the freak-show antics of the Jim Rose Circus, but with the diminishing profiles of Rose’s most ardent patrons — Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails — the Circus has been somewhat adrift, and Jackass’s Johnny Knoxville has seized the spirit of the uncouth cultural moment. Now, though, Rose’s coterie of sideshow freaks, transvestite wrestlers, and self-mutilators may have found its natural home: reality television. For its current tour, the Jim Rose Circus is being followed around by a camera crew for an Osbournes-style behind-the-scenes TV series that will air on a network to be named later. If you can’t wait for syndication, you can catch Rose and crew on Sunday at the Asylum (207-772-8274) in Portland; on Monday at Axis (617-423-NEXT) in Boston; and on Tuesday at Toad’s Place (203-562-5589) in New Haven.

It’s pop disaster week — pop as in the stuff you hear on the radio, disaster as in you forgot to get tickets and now it’s too late. The Tweeter Center (617-931-2000) in Mansfield opens for the summer with a barrage of big names in the form of radio station KISS 108 FM’s annual blowout, an event that has grown from a schizoid smorgasbord of rock-lite hitmakers into a schizoid smorgasbord of across-the-board superstars. Celine Dion flies in from Vegas, Disney Radio star Aaron Carter gets in synch with big bubba Nick, Shakira belly-dances up from, well, wherever she’s from, No Doubt finally get the audience their last album sought, neo-soul queens from Alicia Keys to India.Arie to Mary J. Blige get their diva on, and alterna-rock stars of yesteryear (and today!) come out and play in the form of the Goo Goo Dolls and Alanis Morissette. Alanis turns around and headlines her own show at the Tweeter on Wednesday.

Who would ever have thought back in 1994 that a band would eventually come along who’d make Green Day appear to be in good taste? A snot-punk-superstars tour brings Billie Joe’s boys together with Blink-182, Saves the Day, and A Simple Plan for a sold-out gig at the Tweeter on Sunday. Also sold out: Friday’s gig at the Orpheum (617-931-2000) in Boston by R&B diva turned grunge-revival rock-grrrl Pink, whose opening act — the NYC all-girl sleazepunk outfit Candy Ass — could’ve fit right in with Green Day and the gang.

Okay, back to some shows you can actually get in to. They ain’t exactly ? and the Mysterians, but the Fabulous Wailers — not to be confused with Bob Marley’s backing band — were one of the prime movers in the ’60s Northwest garage-rock explosion that launched the Sonics and, by proxy, a bunch of the groups collected in the legendary Nuggets series. (Among other things, the Wailers were the first to turn " Louie Louie " into a frat-punk standard.) A reunited version of the band hits T.T. the Bear’s Place (617-492-BEAR) in Cambridge on Friday, the Met Café (401-272-5876) in Providence on Saturday, and Ralph’s Diner (508-753-9543) in Worcester on Tuesday.

BY CARLY CARIOLI

Issue Date: May 30 - June 6, 2002
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