Sun. July 11

Last call! Do Red Sox fans go to the theater? Do theatergoers care about the Red Sox? Those are key questions facing director Diane Paulus, her cast and crew as “Johnny Baseball” goes up at the A.R.T.’s Loeb Drama Center. I’m both a fan of quality theater and quality baseball (sometimes this involves the Red Sox), so maybe I’m biased. But “Johnny Baseball” is terrific any way you cut it – and there are many ways to look at this. A glorious old-school style musical. A look at harsh racial relations in Boston and Boston sports history. A triumph of will. A redemption story. It’s hilarious and it’s heartbreaking. And look, I’m not an easy sell. Sports dramas, musicals and comedies have a checkered history. Yes, there’s “Field of Dreams,” “The Natural” and “Damn Yankees,” but there’s a lot of dross out there, too.

If there’s a “cliché” in “Johnny Baseball,” it’s that the underdog triumphs. We’re not revealing anything here. That’s history. So be it. The play is set during Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees, when the Sox staged that comeback – Dave Roberts’ steal, Big Papi’s game-winning dinger – to bring the series to 3-1. We all know what happened next. The biggest, most dramatic sports comeback in history, with the icing on the cake being the World Series sweep against the Cardinals.
Baseball-obsessed writer Richard Dresser and the musical team of the Reale brothers, composer Robert and lyricist Willie, set to write something about the Red Sox fanaticism – and another take on the famous Curse - after the team’s spectacular 2003 season collapsed. They did not know history would throw them the ultimate curveball in terms of the comeback and subsequent series victory. But that became part of the script and as the play opens, we find ourselves watching a dozen or so fans of every stripe in the grandstands, rooting (futilely it would seem) on their team, indulging in magical thinking, tying their own lives and fates so closely to the Red Sox it’s scary – and real.

Sun. July 11

  “Dude,” I said to Tommy Chong, the elder half of Cheech & Chong, after he picked up the phone at his L.A. home.
   The comedy duo is playing the Cape Cod Melody Tent Sunday July 11, after a Boston date Frida. I asked, “Will Dave be there”
   “Oh, Dave’s still not there,” Chong said.
   “How many years has Dave not been there? Forty?”
   “Yeah, he just hasn’t appeared,” Chong answered. “We just recorded something for ‘The Simpsons’ and Dave didn’t show up there either. It’s a whole bit on Cheech and I breaking up. We break up because I just got tired of doing ‘Dave’s not here.’ They wrote it. It’s very funny.”

Fri. July 9

Rasputina probably started this whole classical-rock-cello-based fusion back in the '90s. It wasn't a bad idea then or now. Locally, we have the Cello Chix - electric cellists Susanna - or Zoom-sanna -  Porte and Becca Thornblade (aka Roberta Plantblade) with new drummer Dave Jamrog (not: not a chick, can't even guarantee it's his real last name) are at the Plough & Stars Friday July 9 around 10:20.  The Chix are what you want to hear when you want to hear some of your classic rock tunes done with some elegance, some panache, and some humor. They'll do "Sunshine of Your Love," "Come Together," "The Ocean," "Light My Fire," "Paint It, Black" and a whole lot more. New in the repertoire: Led Zep's "Kashmir." Now, that's classic rock. The Chix which began in 2002, have solid classical cred, too, so there's always that option, too. Which is to say they might play songs written before Led Zeppelin hatched. They also have a way with subtle self-promotion: For instance, for this gig they're looking around at the weather and deciding one of the selling points is exactly that, so they're tagging this as a "Baby, It's Hot Outside!" show and note this show will feature "new tunes, and air-conditioned yum." Tickets; $6.

912 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, 617-576-0032  www.ploughandstars.com

 Fri. July 9

It's been a while between discs for Amos Lee. Still is, actually. Lee - who began to make a name for himself in 2007 - is working on a new album, and he's touring this summer. He's got a gig Friday July 9 at the Lowell Music Series at Boarding House Park. Lee is a master of what some call forosoco - folk, rock, soul, country. We can't tell you about the new record because - right, it's not done - but we can go back to when we talked to him his third album, “Last Days at the Lodge,”  Some background: Lee has spent time  opening up for some heavyweights like Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Van Morrison. "Listen," the first single from "Lodge," was #1 most added on the R&R AAA chart.  “Last Days at the Lodge” was produced by superstar producer Don Was (the man has good taste) and features Lee on guitars, Doyle Bramhall, Jr (Eric Clapton) on guitar, Spooner Oldham (Neil Young, Aretha Franklin) on keys, Pino Palladino (The Who, D'Angelo) on bass and James Gadson (Bill Withers) on drums, along with many others. The former Philadephia school teacher is soulful and gritty, and he writes songs where the melody and words intertwine beautifully. He’s absorbed Philly soul and blues, and is an obvious fan of Bill Withers’ smooth stylings. Here's some of our chat with Lee. 

How did you approach this record?
When I went into the studio, I never know exactly what I want to play. W hat I tried to get is a palette of songs,  get a bunch of songs together I think work. I worked with Don Was on this record, and it was pretty organic. He had called up my manager and said, “What’s this guy doing?” and he said “He’s in LA right now,” and Don said. “Why don’t you come over?” And I went over to his house and played him some songs. He’s a pretty laid-back guy, a music lover, and I worked with him. Who knows what’s happening with record labels? I’m on one now, and figured this might be the last one I make for the label. I always wanted to work with a couple of the musicians who are on this record, so I figured now is the time to try. All the guys – Palladino, Spooner

Sat. July 10

Andy Shernoff can and will drop a few names when he plays a solo acoustic show at the Rosebud Diner in Somerville Saturday July 10. They’ll be names from the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, the Heartbreakers, well a lot folks from the early punk rock days, mostly in New York, but elsewhere too. Andy’s got stories to tell. That’s because, as the main songwriter (and bassist, guitarist and sometime singer) for the Dictators, he’s been there and done that. He’s also written some damn fine music, with the ‘tators, who pre-dated punk by a couple of years and also his latest band, the Master Plan (with Keith Streng from the Fleshtones). But what brings Shernoff to our neck of the woods is the result of something he started doing last November in New York and continued to do elsewhere: Small, intimate acoustic gigs, structures sort of like what Ray Davies did with his Storyteller tour.
    “I was getting more and more disenchanted with what I see in rock ‘n’ roll bands,” Andy tells us. “I wasn’t getting excited. The best concert I saw in the last two years was Nick Lowe in a small bookstore, just him and his guitar. It was really powerful. I enjoyed it. Maybe I’m getting old or I’m more of an adult. I’m not gonna get a band better than the Dictators.” (JSInk note: The Dictators, fronted by satellite radio star Handsome Dick Manitoba, are pretty much on hiatus right now. They were one of the bands to close down CBGB and it was one of the best club shows-cum-wakes I’ve seen.)
    “Let me try acoustic,” continues Andy - who, once upon a time in the Dictators, called himself Adny.