Tues. April 10

Green may be the most popular color/symbol of the 21st century, what with Al Gore and a greater awareness of the environment on most everyone's part. Musicians have done their part, for sure, with Guster and Bonnie Raiit leading the cause. Last year, the Vans Warped punk-plus tour criss-crossed the country, emphasizing energy saving fuel and recycling. Singer-pianist Virgina Teng is taking that kind of iniative to clubland. She and her quartet are taking B20 biodiesel whenever available and all flights will be offset with donations to Native Energy, an alternative energy company. The band will bike around town when they're here. They'll use reusable food and drink containers. They'll also volunteer for Habitat for Humanity on their days off, and donate part of CD sales to the local affiliate."We want to make a contribution to the places we visit," says Teng, "not just play the show a for a few hundred people and take off. We're trying this in the hopes that other artists will start doing the same. You can't change the paradigm overnight, but every small step is worthwhile." Did we mention ... Teng and company play two shows (7:30 & 10) at Regattabar Tuesday April 10, playing tunes from last year's "Dreaming Through the Noise" CD and more. (The first show is already soldout.) Teng, a former computer science major at Stanford, plays chamber-folk music with bits of pop and jazz poking through. Should be an exquisite night in more ways than one.

One Bennett St. (Charles Hotel), Cambridge, 617-395-7757 regattabarjazz.com