Street Dogs

Valentine’s, Friday

You might know Mike McColgan of Street Dogs from his stint at the helm of Dropkick Murphys. Some Murphys fans say McColgan’s departure heralded the Murphys’ movement away from straightforward punk and toward bagpipe-laden folk music. Street Dogs—along with a number of other punk bands—have taken to calling themselves “working-class punk” or “pub punk.” We understand that it might be necessary for more straightforward punk bands to differentiate themselves from the Irish punk and the Hot Topic punk, but is it us or is there something a bit paradoxical about a punk band calling themselves working-class? Doesn’t it just take the urgency right out of the genre? “Hey, Bob. How’s the wife and kids?” “You know, Tom, just another day at the office, punching the old rock & roll clock.” (March 10, 7 PM, $10, 17 New Scotland Ave., Albany, 432-6572)

Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Band

Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Friday

The most famous cheeks in jazz history, sadly, went flat in 1993, when bebop pioneer John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie passed away. But, with the help of some old friends and colleagues, his spirit lives on in the form of the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Band. The current lineup includes longtime Gillespie cohorts Slide Hampton, John Lee, Justin Robinson, Dennis Mackrell, Roy Hargrove and Mulgrew Miller. Most of the band’s arrangements are taken from the Dizzy big bands of the 1940s and ’50s; it should be a real treat to hear those classic charts brought to life by this mega-talented cast of musicians. (March 10, 8 PM, $28-$31, 30 2nd St., Troy, 273-0038)

Cjay Hardy-Philip

WAMC Performing Arts Studio, Saturday

The Black Women’s Association of Albany presents a special performance by gospel artist Cjay Hardy-Philip at WAMC this weekend. Hardy-Philip, an Albany native, moved to New York City when she was awarded a full scholarship to the Empire State Institute of Performing Arts, where she concentrated on her talent as a singer, dancer and choreographer. After school, she landed roles in off-Broadway productions, which led her to a role on Broadway in Big. She now hosts a gospel showcase in Manhattan called the Sunday Night Gospel Groove, where she performs and introduces new gospel artists. This show is part of the BWAA Women’s History Month celebration, highlighting various women’s poetry, dance and song. (March 11, 2 PM, $25, $10 children under 12, 339 Central Ave., Albany, 465-5233)

Cherish the Ladies

Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Sunday

You know what time of year it is. In some parts of the United States, Christmas rules; in others, it’s all about Thanksgiving or Arbor Day. In the Capital Region, however, we bleed green—and St. Patrick’s Day is Christmas, New Year’s and Groundhog Day rolled into one big spasm of Irish joy. In this spirit, we direct your attention to a concert this Sunday night in Troy. Cherish the Ladies are, according to the good people at the Music Hall, “first generation Irish- American with pride in their roots, a terrific sense of fun and heaps of music in their fingers and toes.” The last reference is to the fact that the ladies not only sing and play the usual instruments, they step dance, too, with a level of virtuosity to satisfy the most demanding Riverdance aficionado. So, start the countdown to the big day in style with Cherish the Ladies, who promise to celebrate “all the best of Irish traditional culture.” (March 12, 7 PM, $28, $25, Second and State streets, Troy, 273-0038)

tracy + the plastics

Tracy + the Plastics

Grand Street Community Arts at John A. Howe Library, Tuesday

Tracy + the Plastics (don’t mess with the plus sign, buddy) is the brainchild of lesbian feminist video artist and performer Wynne Greenwood. She got her start making short videos whose stories were told through their musical soundtracks. Greenwood took her concept to the live medium in 1998, when Tracy + the Plastics made their debut. Of course, “their” isn’t quite the right word—Greenwood actually plays the roles of all three electro-punk-rocking Plastics. In the, um, band’s uniquely solipsistic performances, Greenwood sings live—as Tracy—while interacting with the other band members (Cola, drums, and Nikki, keyboards, both played by Greenwood), who are projected onto a video screen behind her. We wish we could do that. Check “them” out as they help benefit Grand Street Community Arts, a not-for-profit organization working to create an Arts Center in Albany’s South End. (March 14, 8 PM, $6 donation, corner of Schuyler and Broad streets, Albany, 472-9485)

Fall Out Boy

Pepsi Arena, Wednesday

Having ridden waves of success since their inception—and especially over the last year—Fall Out Boy will hit Albany with their fashionable cast of mainstream pop-rock sensations for the kickoff of their Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour. Last fall they played the Washington Avenue Armory, which has a capacity of less than 3,000; since then, a whirlwind of popularity has brought them back to the area, but their audience has propelled them to heights that the Armory can no longer accommodate, and so upon their return, they’ll play the Pepsi Arena. Rolling Stone writes that Fall Out Boy’s new record, From Under the Cork Tree, is a mix of jokes and dramas that “post- adolescents are unlikely to care about.” The target audience, however, are eating it all up, and they will surely swarm the Pepsi on Wednesday. Support acts include the equally poppy All-American Rejects, Hawthorne Heights, From First to Last and the Hush Sound. (March 15, 6:30 PM, $28, 51 S. Pearl St., Albany, 487-2000)

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