Roadtrips

DJ Q-Bert, the headiest member of the outlandish, visionary, and now-defunct Invisibl Skratch Piklz collective, made it to Sundance this year with Wave Twisters, an animated film synchronized to his album of the same name; described as a turntablist Fantasia, it introduces the notion of "visual scratching." Its only scheduled New England screening is Saturday at the State Theatre (207-775-3331) in Portland, Maine, with Q along to spin as well. Stankonia fever seems to be reaching a fever pitch -- in the Village Voice's recent critics' poll, it was the #1 album and accounted for two of the top three singles -- just as OutKast embark on another major tour. Along with fellow dirty-South warrior Ludacris ("What's Your Fantasy?", "Southern Hospitality") they'll be coming to the Palladium in Worcester on Monday and the Hippodrome in Springfield on Tuesday (call 800-477-6849 for tickets to both dates). The "Ground Control All Stars" tour, featuring Boston's own Ed O.G. and a crew including Masterminds and Aceyalone, makes a bunch of New England stops this week: Saturday at Wesleyan University (860-685-2000) in Middletown, Connecticut; Sunday at Pearl Street (413-584-0610) in Northampton; Monday at the Higher Ground (802-654-8888) in Winooski, Vermont; next Thursday at the Ocean Mist (401-782-3740) in Mantunuck, Rhode Island; and next Friday at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge.

At the more-art/less-metal end of the loud stuff, Tool's Maynard James Keenan brings his superb neo-Floydian A Perfect Circle to the Whittemore Center Arena (603-862-4000) in Durham, New Hampshire, on Tuesday; to the Central Maine Civic Center (207-783-2009) in Lewiston on Wednesday; and to Brandeis University (617-931-2000) in Waltham next Thursday. At the more-metal/less-art end, home-town heroes Godsmack and Staind hit the sold-out Worcester Centrum (617-931-2000) -- where they're reported to be filming footage for a home-video release -- on Friday and the Mullins Center (931-2000) at UMass-Amherst on Sunday.

For a band who haven't put out an album in five years -- and that last one flopped -- Weezer didn't have any problem selling out their Yahoo!-sponsored gig this Sunday at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium (617-931-2000), for which tickets were available only through the Internet. In other garage-pop goings-on, the Woggles play the Middle East on Monday and the Skinny (207-871-8983) in Portland on Tuesday. And in an interesting two-fer, the Figgs play the Paradise (617-423-NEXT) in Boston tonight (March 1), after which frontman Mike Gent joins his other group, the Gentlemen, on a bill with Orbit and Creature Comforts at T.T. the Bear's Place (617-492-BEAR) in Cambridge on Friday.

Emo kids the Stryder hit the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence tonight (March 1) and Hanover House (203-238-2749) in Meriden, Connecticut, next Friday (March 9). Boston's Cerberus Shoal celebrate the release of a very odd soundtrack-like single with gigs at the Middle East tonight (March 1) and at Flywheel (413-527-9800) in Easthampton on Friday; Panoply Academy Legionnaires open both dates.

At long last, we'll be retiring our references to the in-song feud between Darkbuster's bassist and the Amazing Crowns' singer -- (the latter screws the former's ex in Darkbuster's "Amazing Royal Shaft"), since the Crowns' "Providence Payback" gig this Friday night at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence finds both bands on the same bill. Also along: the Turbo AC's, Sinners and Saints, Lost City Angels, the Moneyshots, the Kings of Nuthin', and the Louisiana Hayride.
-- Carly Carioli