Sat. June 19 

  “It makes my career a constant education instead of a boring hamster wheel,” says Amanda Palmer.
     “It” is Evelyn Evelyn, the latest project from Boston-based cabaret-punk singer, formerly of the Dresden Dolls. Palmer put together Evelyn Evelyn with longtime pal, singer-multi-instrumentalist Jason Webley.
      The two play the parts of conjoined-at-the-hip twins, who just happen to have a tragi-comic story to tell in song. The duo just released their debut CD as Evelyn Evelyn, - that’s the name of the disc, too - and kicked off an international tour at Club Oberon in April and returns to House of Blues Saturday June 19. Webley and Palmer will play solo sets, as will their friend, musician-storyteller Sxip Shirey, who also plays the evil narrator in the Evelyn Evelyn show. 

     “It’s a theatrical undertaking with a lot of surprises,” Palmer says, on the phone, before the tour started. “It does feature Evelyn Evelyn in full costume.”  Before the album came out, Palmer floated the notion that Evelyn Evelyn were real conjoined twins “discovered” by her and Webley. People suspected, of course, that it was Palmer and Webley all along. This subterfuge – and the purported subject matter itself - created a mini-storm online. Some bloggers – including ardent Amanda fans - derided the project as insensitive and exploitative.

Sat. June 19 & Sun. June 20

The first time we met Joe Strummer - February, 1979, Harvard Square Theatre (then a one-room concert and movie venue) - we talked with him about what the Clash was doing compared to what had been done before. "How're any kids gonna have a chance, if they grow up listening to Yes?" he said. (I'm paraphrasing; my memory isn't that sharp.) Basically, he said, part of the punk rock revolution - rebellion against the staid status quo, high unemployment, class division - also had a lot to do with musicianship. Anyone could pick up punk rock. Sure, some were very good at it and got better, but it three-chords was a great DIY way into making yourself heard, making yourself matter. That's one of the things he hoped the Clash would inspire. Which it did.
But every wave has a backlash. The neo-hippies came in with the jam-band rock of Phish and its offspring. Prog rock came back with, well, lots of bands, the best of which is Porcupine Tree. Rock is cyclical. As much as we identify with Strummer and the Clash - it hit us where we lived - we were (remain) big fans of Peter Gabriel and most anything Robert Fripp does. We talked to Gabriel just after he left Genesis and he said one reason he left was he thought prog-rock "was about exploring music and it came to be about using keyboards." It also got abstract, obtuse and ornate. Lots of demons and wizards and stuff, not exactly connected to rockin' around the clock and searching for sweet 16 or, for that matter, hoping for a white riot.

On Saturday June 19 and Sunday June 20, the kids will have their say when it comes to prog-rock as the best of the 9-17-year-old studetns at the Arlington branch of the School of Rock will tackle odd time signature tunes from the likes of Rush, Yes, Genesis, Tool, Dream Theatre, Jethro Tull, and King Crimson (in photo).

Sun. June 20

Call it – as Little Feat once titled a song – “Old Folks Boogie.” Not in a derogatory way, mind you. We all age. It happens. It’s what you do with it. Do you become sedentary? Is golf your whole life? (Look, it’s part of ours, but … ) Is every night a TV party?
   There’s certainly a lot to be said for still supporting – and enjoying – the musicians you loved back in the day. Especially, if those people are, somehow, in peak performing form today. Such is the case with James Taylor and Carole King, who share a bill at TD Garden tonight. Sunday June 20. I caught last night’s show at reviewed it for the Boston Herald, www.bostonherald.com.)
   What follows is a version of that …
    King and first paired up to play concerts in 1903. So said Taylor, early in last night’s show at TD Garden. King later corrected him to say it was actually 1970, when the two first played the Troubadour in L.A.
    OK, it was a while ago. The two singer-songwriters have 130 years on the planet between them, and they don’t mind playing the nostalgia, simpatico folk-rock artists and longtime friends cards. They hit the big time during the soft-rock surge of the early ‘70s, King with “Tapestry” and Taylor with “Sweet Baby James.”
   At the soldout Garden, their baby boomer audience – those still sentient and with a few bucks to spare – went nuts, as memories were made fresh by two singers who remain outstanding in voice and form. There were a few tears in the house when the two faced each other at the end of the regular set to sing “You’ve Got a Friend.”

Thurs. June 17

Not too much doubt about where you're going to be around 9 tonight is there? In front of some hi-def, hi-res screen - maybe at home, maybe in a sports bar - watching (with confidence or nervousness) our Green team go up against the dreaded purple and gold. Will the Celtics from Game 5 or Game 6 show up? The Red Sox have bumped their game against the No Illegal Mexicans Allowed Diamondbacks to 6, making it more likely you can get yourself planted somewhere for the opening tip-off. Now, if you're in the Fenway area, you've got three good choices; Game on!, the Caskn 'n Flagon and Jerry Remy’s Sports Bar & Grill, which has been getting great reviews for food and TV. And so, we are happy to report you can go to Remy's and pay money like you might for a real game in the stands ($127) and get an open bar/buffet and take it all it with like-minded C-fans. The private party format is similar to many restaurant & bars New Year’s Eve parties. No riff-raff, y'know. The guest list - wait, is it a guest list if you're paying? - will be capped at 300. Tickets must be purchased in advance by calling the number below. Doors open an hour before the game (8) and the open bar remains open a half-hour past the game so you can celebrate or drown your sorrows as the case may be. Does JSInk truly have an inkling how this will go down?

Tues. June 15

 The legend has it that Conan O'Brien was walking down the streets of Manhattan before "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" launched and ran into Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg. Conan says he needs somebody like Max to anchors his house band. Max says, "Why not me?" And, so ... Max played Conan's foil on TV and his band played for 17 years. Seemed to work out well for both parties. Weinberg didn't have to give up the Springsteen gig and got the name-check boost a network chat show brings.(Ask the Roots how valuable that is.) Cut to today. Weinberg led Max Weinberg and the Tonight Show Band for a spell. You know what happened next. And you have formed your opinion whether you're for against Team Coco and know that he'll be back in November on TBS after having taken a nice walkaway check from NBC and embarking on a summer tour that stops at the City Wang Center June 4 and 4. But Weinberg will not be there - on tour, or on TV this fall. Seems like the rest of the band will be along for the tour, at least, and maybe the show,led by guitarist Jimmy Vivino and trumpeter LaBamba. So, really, no one knows what the source of the friction/blowup was. Money? That might be a good educated guess.
But we do know the Max Weinberg Big Band - expanded by eight - will play two shows at the Regattabar Tuesday June 15 at 7:30 and 10. We're told by the Regattabar peeps that Max has "a bold, swinging fifteen piece aggregation that continues the traditions established by Max’s musical heroes—among whom, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Doc Severinsen, and Maynard Ferguson. Tickets are, not surprisingly, a little steep at $30 and $35, but 15 is a lot of hungry mouths to feed and hotel rooms to house.

One Bennett Street, Cambridge, 617-395-7757 www.regattabarjazz.com