Also this issue: Rebirth of Butterfly Ishmael Butler and Cherrywine have a whole new digable plan. -Ainé Ardron-Doley Where House? DJ X-Dream rants on raves. -Sean O’Neal Hurricane Mozart The Orchestra unleashes a season-ending windstorm. -Peter Burwasser One night the rain began to fall and it would not stop. -Patrick Rapa Jonathan Richman -Sam Adams Glass Candy -M.J. Fine Gold Chains -A.D. Amorosi Dynamo Productions -Sean O’Neal

June 26-July 2, 2003

musicpicks

The Downbeat 5

There are a million ways to rock in the big city. You've got to qualify it: acid rock, garage rock, prog rock. But Boston's Downbeat 5 isn't that complicated. They just rock: guitar, drums, bass and a hard-charging singer -- yeah, there's only four of them, wanna make something of it? Guitarist Jen Rassler has Courtney Love's snarl without the hippie upbringing, and she has three subjects: bad girlfriends, bad boyfriends and bad relationships. Her husband, JJ, is the veteran of the group, having paid his dues in Massachusetts bands (DMZ, The Odds) since the late 1970s. His guitar does most of the talking. On The Downbeat 5 (Sympathy for the Record Industry), they hit bull's-eye with "I'm Not Waiting" and "Don't Come Cryin' to Me." Come to think of it, they're never too far off the mark. They never do anything unexpected; every note is where it should be. There should be more to rock than getting it right every time, but maybe that's what qualifications are for.

Fri., June 27, 9:30 p.m., $7, with Thee Minks and Kilroy, Doc Watson’s, 216 S. 11th St., www.plainparade.org.

—M.J. Fine