Thurs. Oct. 30 

 "Is he alive or dead/Has he a thought within his head?" Ozzy Osbourne sang that for years as Black Sabbath's front-man; some fans wondered if Oz was singing about himself - or future self? - and others just saw it as a post-war (Vietnam, baby) reaction to the times. Just withdraw. Try and become comfortably numb - as Pink Floyd would put it with a bit more grandeur later. Ironic note for 2008: The opening bars of the song are what Mike Lowell - once Boston's Iron Man, for his seeming obliviousness to injury - has played over the PA as he takes the plate. Two ironies really: Lowell was hurt often, and shut down his season early. And the song's meaning - well, if you think it through, that's not really who you want standing at the plate. But we're being way too introspective. We're here to celebrate the early Black Sabbath, a band I remember having arguments about with my parish priest when I was in high school. (No, they're not satanists; they're railing against the evil in the world. They just play hard and heavy.) Early Sabbath was the best Sabbath - pre-Dio, pre other lineup changes and weak albums - and it is that Sabbath Bill Galatis, Chris Cleveland, Seager Tennis, and Jesse Magnuson salute Thursday Oct. 30 with a tribute band they're calling "An Evening With Black Sabbath." Fully costumed to the tune of the 1970's Sabbath era, they will be cranking out the hits and the obscurities with fake hair, fake accents, fake substance dependencies (for the most part, they quip), but with real hard rock power. That's the pitch. It's Halloween. A lot of rock 'n' roll dressup and fantasy acts out there. This might be a lot of fun, trying to channel the young inner Oz in you. They're at the Cask 'n Flagon opposite Fenway Park (should be pretty dormant) on Thursday at 10.  It's a 21+ show, with the cover price TBD. (In photo, the original band circa 1973; see how these guys match up.)

62 Brookline St., 617-536-4840 www.casknflagon.com

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