In its heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Fishbone was among the best bands of all-time. The group will play a free concert near Brattleboro on March 25 at 3 p.m. The concert will be outdoors at Mount Snow. Details are at:

www.mountsnow.com/events/calendar/bud-light-reggaefest

Fishbone's more recent recordings aren't as good as their albums “Truth and Soul” and “The Reality of My Surroundings.” The members of Fishbone live in Los Angeles.

You can hear an excellent Fishbone reggae song at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ZUIcYT7zs

Simba will perform a public concert in Brattleboro, on December 21 at 7 p.m. At a recent Simba concert, at least 100 people danced for hours. The band plays reggae and funk, among other kinds of music.

Mark Hummel and his band will play blues at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton on November 22 at 7 p.m. Jerry Portnoy was a member of blues legend Muddy Waters' band for eight years. Portnoy said of Hummel, “Mark's terrific.” The San Francisco Chronicle daily newspaper praised Hummel's singing and harmonica playing.

Hummel and his band played last month in Seattle, Washington and San Jose, California. The Iron Horse is the Valley's best live music venue. Tickets for the Northampton concert are about $20, depending on how you get them. Details are at www.iheg.com.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band will play at Gateway City Arts in Holyoke on Saturday, September 10 at 7 p.m. The venue has a dance floor. You can hear the band's music at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSUAk126cUc&list=PL0jJSYejQWTPvz5vz_emGy...

In the next few months, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band will perform in New York City, Chicago, and Hawaii.

Tickets for the Holyoke concert are $25 in advance. They are available at www.signaturesoundspresents.com.

photo by www.vancouverwinejazz.com

The Sierra Leone All-Stars performed an excellent concert near Greenfield on June 25. It was at the Shea Theater in Turner's Falls, Massachusetts. The dance floor was full. The band has recorded several excellent albums. Most of the songs on the albums are Afro-Pop or “high life” style. Some are reggae.

Lead singer Ruben Koroma asked, "Our country, Sierra Leone, is rich in minerals. Why are our people in poverty?"

The Indigo Girls performed an excellent concert in Northampton on May 27. The Academy of Music was sold out. The audience sang along to many of the songs, sometimes so loudly that the band's Amy Ray and Emily Saliers stopped singing and listened, smiling.

Tickets for the May 27 Indigo Girls concert in Northampton are sold out but tickets are still available for the band's concerts on May 24 in Burlington, Vermont and May 29 in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Tickets are also available for Indigo Girls concerts in June in Lowell, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; and New York City. The New York concert is free.

Habib Koite and Vusi Mahlasela and their band performed an excellent concert at the Academy of Music in Northampton April 10. Koite lives in the west African nation of Mali, where he is from. Mahlasela lives in South Africa, where he is from. The venue appeared to be almost sold out. The applause was loud and long after every song. Many people danced in the aisles.

Habib Koite and Vusi Mahlasela will perform a concert in Northampton on April 10 at 7:30 p.m. The concert will be at the Academy of Music. Koite (pronounced KWA-tee) lives in the west African nation of Mali. Mahlasela lives in South Africa. They will perform at prestigious concert halls in New York City and Los Angeles in the coming weeks.

Derrik Jordan will perform a concert with other musicians in Putney, Vermont, near Brattleboro on April 22 at 8 p.m. Jordan is the lead singer and guitar player in Simba, probably the most popular band in the Brattleboro area. Simba plays reggae and highlife, among other kinds of music. Their concerts usually attract about 100 people, almost all of whom dance for almost the whole concert.