If you’re fortunate enough to have a ticket to one of Dropkick Murphys’ four sham-rocking St. Patrick’s shows at Avalon (617-423-NEXT) in Boston this Friday through Monday, you may well hear them play "Skinhead on the MBTA" — their version of the folk-rock chestnut "M.T.A.," which is about a guy named Charlie who hopped the trolley at Kendall Square, transferred to JP (this is back in the day, now), and, when he couldn’t afford the extra nickel fare, was doomed to ride the subway forever. In the event you can’t score a Dropkicks ticket — all four shows have been sold out for weeks, and tickets are going for about $80 a pair on eBay — you can always go hear the original, since the tune’s originators, the Kingston Trio, will show up on Saturday at Memorial Hall (866-468-7619) in Plymouth, where they’ll likely draw on a bushel of hits that includes "Tom Dooley," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", and "Greenback Dollar."

In other folk-fogey news, CSNY’s David Crosby brings his CPR band — on what is not, to our dismay, being billed as the "Lesbian Inseminator Tour" — to the Calvin Theatre (413-584-1444) in Northampton on Sunday. The fetching Brooklyn-bred neo-folkie Lizzie West, whose Warner Bros. debut, Holy Road: Freedom is due next month, offers up a preview on Saturday at the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton and on Sunday at the House of Blues (617-491-BLUE) in Cambridge. Meanwhile, Irish-rock journeymen the Saw Doctors make their annual pilgrimage to Boston with a gig at the Roxy (617-931-2000) on Sunday before hitting the Calvin on Monday.

New-school goth-metal moguls Disturbed bring their "Music as a Weapon" tour to the Civic Center (413-787-6610) in Springfield on Tuesday; the Central Maine Civic Center (207-775-3331) in Lewiston on Wednesday; and Tsongas Arena (617-931-2000) in Lowell next Friday, March 21, with Chevelle, Taproot, and Unloco opening. Old-school goth-metal beasties Pigface head up a roadshow with My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult and a bunch of industrial-strength special guests; it stops at the Webster Theatre (806-246-8001) in Hartford on Sunday. MTV’s "Advance Warning Tour" brings garage-rock buzz-bands the Mooney Suzuki, the Raveonettes, Longwave, and White Light Motorcade to the University of New Haven (203-932-7000) next Thursday, March 20.

Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore keeps wanking, as he joins up with ex–Harry Pussy guitarist Adris Hovos for an experimental-duo session on Wednesday at Flywheel (413-527-9800) in Easthampton. Henry Rollins’s lips keep flapping, as his never-ending spoken-word tour hits the State Theatre (207-780-8265) in Portland next Thursday, March 20, and Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence next Saturday, March 22. And psych-funk grandpappy George Clinton pilots the Parliament/Funkadelic mother ship into the State Theatre on Friday as well as the Palladium (800-477-6849) in Worcester on Saturday.

Issue Date: March 13 - 20, 2003
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