Also this issue: The Big Con Why Philadelphia bands play the CMJ festival. -Patrick Rapa Tropical Impressions Caetono Veloso tells the truth. -A.D. Amorosi suitespot -Peter Burwasser on Classical Back to Basics Which in The Divine Comedy's case means less rock, more baroque. -Sam Adams Flute Awakening -Peter Burwasser Right On Time -Sam Adams Catherine Irwin -Sam Adams Kim Richey -Sam Adams

November 7-13, 2002

musicpicks

Jack Johnson

Coming on like a cool, intoxicating island breeze, Jack Johnson can take you miles away. His velvet voice works a downbeat vibe, carving out moments of gentle beauty amidst the lazily insistent, breaking grooves. A fiendishly charming beach bum, Johnson was a top pro surfer before a dangerous rendezvous with a reef drove him from the tasty pipes of his Hawaiian home. An impromptu jam session with G. Love produced the modest Special Sauce hit "Rodeo Clowns," and attracted the attention of Ben Harper's management, who signed Johnson up and sent him to the studio. The resulting album, Brushfire Fairytales (Universal), features Johnson's Harper-esque croon across a baker's dozen of largely acoustic numbers that mesh folk and blues with a laconic, unperturbed simplicity that seems to echo the easy-going amity traditionally credited to surfers.

Sun., Nov. 10., 8 p.m., $20-$22, with Alana Davis, Electric Factory, 421 N. Seventh St., 215-336-2000.

—Chris Parker