Also this issue: Blast Off Rocket from the Tombs relaunches. -Sam Adams Cash Back Rosanne Cash writes the Rules and rediscovers her voice. -Nicole Pensiero Blistered in the Sun Unwrapping the Summer Package Tour -Jesse Delaney There are heroes in the seaweed -Patrick Rapa Kim Richey -Sam Adams Creekside Jamboree -Sean O’Neal Ssion -A.D. Amorosi Tim Berne's Big Satan -Kyle Parker

June 5-11, 2003

musicpicks

Amy Rigby

You're never too old to stop growing up, and though calling music "mature" is the equivalent of begging people not to listen to it (Norah Jones fans don't count), there's a wisdom and humor in Amy Rigby's Til The Wheels Fall Off (Signature Sounds) that only comes once you've circled the block a few times. Where Rigby's Diary of a Mod Housewife found her dragging herself kicking and screaming into adulthood, Wheels is more wryly resigned. Rigby's still a romantic at heart, but her pragmatic side seems to be winning the war. Though "Shopping Around" bemoans her inability to be satisfied with any single fella, "Don't Ever Change" finds bliss in a long-term lover's imperfections -- even if "Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again?" warns him he'd still better keep up his end of the bargain. Rigby's songwriting seemed to have taken on a generic cast after her move to Nashville from Hoboken, but Wheels reestablishes her as an observational songwriter of the first order. Headliner Robbie Fulks, who's dropped his smart-ass persona in favor of bland sincerity, could stand to take a few pointers from her.

Thu., June 5, 8:30 p.m., $12, with Robbie Fulks, Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 215-928-0978.

—Sam Adams