R.O.C.K. IN THE U.S.A.

If the Wallflowers, a platinum-selling band sporting the son of legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, is your opening act, then you have to be someone pretty special yourself.

John Mellencamp is.

Mellencamp, a veteran rocker who has sold zillions of albums and played to twice as many fans worldwide, is headlining a show with the Wallflowers at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Mass.

The show will kick off at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13.

Mellencamp, who is writing a musical with Bangor author Stephen King, has a catalog of hit songs the size of “The Stand.”

This is a good chance for

a last-hurrah rock show for

the summer. There will be enough guitar-driven rock and folk to rock on well into the evening.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by calling (617) 228-6000 or (617/508) 931-2000 or visiting www.ticketmaster.com.

JAZZ AS IT SHOULD BE

To the musical purist, mandolins are used in bluegrass music, the occasional Led Zeppelin song or nowhere else. And definitely not in jazz.

But there is a trio making a strong case to dispel that belief.

The Jazz Mandolin Project, comprising mandolin player Jamie Masefield, bassist Chris Dahlgren and drummer Ari Hoenig, has given new life to the instrument owing its success to the likes of bluegrass legends Bill Monroe, Sam Bush and David Grisman.

The Jazz Mandolin Project will play at the State Theatre in Portland on Saturday, Sept. 8. Tickets are $13.50 in advance and $15 at the door. The band has been in business since 1994 and takes pride in bringing jazz to a new generation.

“One of the things that makes us unique is that we’re one of the few jazz bands that can play a jazz festival and be considered a jazz group and the majority of our fans are young people,” Masefield told HotStar magazine. “It’s kind of rare to be throwing out fairly complex harmonic material and having young people really dig it.”

Rather than playing straight-time standards to get audiences in the mood, the Jazz Mandolin Project expands sonically on tradition, but keeps the best part of jazz: blazing, improvised solos. And that’s where a mandolin can come in very handy.

If you think you’ve heard fast players before, just think what a virtuoso mandolin player can do with an up-tempo jazz number. Beware.

For tickets and information, call 780-8265.

WHAT A RUSH

John Rush, who makes a living playing music at college and university campuses around the country, plays 200 dates a year. That means he’s playing for more days than the students are in school.

Now that’s dedication to a cause.

The folks at Husson College will be lucky enough Wednesday, Sept. 19, to have Rush and his repertoire of more than 500 cover songs playing at their Bangor campus.

Rush plays solo but has equipment that allows him to create a guitar loop on the fly to make it sound like there is more than one instrumentalist onstage. Rush plays cover songs from every generation, spanning more than 130 artists, and according to his Web site, “can draw from more than 50 hours of music upon request.”

It doesn’t sound like there’s much chance of stumping the talent.

Rush will start his show at 11:30 a.m. Sept. 19 at Husson College. For more information, log on to www.johnrush.com.

Check it out.

– By Matthew Paul