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Your first peek at the results of our 2003 Best Music Poll comes this Wednesday night, June 18, when we’ll celebrate the local half of the BMP ballot with a Boston rock and hip-hop blowout at Avalon (617-423-NEXT). And though we’re not giving away the vote counts just yet, each of the four acts has had a winning year. Headliners Cave In followed through on the promise of their buzz-building indie discs with an RCA debut, Antenna, that wrangles their epic art metal into unbeatable alterna-pop anthems; this summer they’ll represent Mass metal at Lollapalooza. Mr. Lif once again rescued Boston hip-hop from the doldrums and took it worldwide with his long-awaited debut studio album, I, Phantom, on El-P’s Def Jux imprint. The Explosion will issue their Virgin debut later this year; in the meantime they’re keeping a foot in the underground with their Tarantulas label, home to buzz bands from LA’s the Bronx to Boston’s the Faux. Mutton-chopped singer-songwriter Bleu landed a song on the Spider-Man soundtrack and has just issued his Columbia/Aware debut, Redhead. And the Damn Personals, recently returned from opening Cave In’s European tour, remain Boston’s great garage-pop hope. The BMP parties then hit the road, with Lif joining modern-rockers SR-71 and Portland’s Rocktopus at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence next Thursday, June 19. SR-71 and Rocktopus continue on to the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom (603-929-4100) in New Hampshire next Friday, June 20. And the Portland BMP Party takes place next Saturday, June 21, at the Space Gallery (207-828-5600).

BMP winners of yesteryear are also on the move this week, including perennial faves the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, who hit Hampton Beach this Friday, the, uh, 13th. Powerman 5000, who won a few BMP categories before moving to LA, are out in support of their new Transform (DreamWorks); they headline the Webster Theatre (860-525-5553) in Hartford on Wednesday and Hampton Beach next Thursday, June 19. A guy who somehow slipped through the BMP cracks — but probably wouldn’t have if we’d done the Poll back in the late ’70s — is that eternally modern lover Jonathan Richman, who plays Friday at Higher Ground (802-654-8888) in Winooski, Vermont; Monday and Tuesday at the Met Café (401-861-2142) in Providence; next Thursday, June 19, at the Somerville Theatre (617-931-2000) in Somerville; and next Friday, June 20, at Pearl Street (413-584-7810) in Northampton.

A bit of civic pride is at stake this Friday in a head-to-head battle of classic-rock bands named after municipalities: FleetBoston Pavilion (617-931-2000) hosts Chicago while at the Tweeter Center (617-931-2000) in Mansfield, Tom Scholz’s Boston return to touring with a chick bass player and their first album in almost a decade, Corporate America (Artemis). You can also catch Chicago at the Oakdale Theatre (203-265-1501) in Wallingford, Connecticut, on Saturday and the Verizon Wireless Arena (603-644-5000) in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Sunday.

BY CARLY CARIOLI

Issue Date: June 13 - 19, 2003
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