E-Mail This Article to a Friend You don't have to Bragg about it Billy Bragg lends his skills to the Boston Social Forum, plus the Flying Karamazov Brothers and more

Un-conventional rock

Billy Bragg may be a Brit, but he has plenty of connections on this side of the pond — he was for a time a co-owner of Cambridge’s legendary Fort Apache studio, and his politically charged folk rock owed a debt to Dylan and Woody long before he teamed up with Wilco for the pair of Mermaid Avenue discs that gave new musical life to Guthrie’s unpublished lyrics. In the run-up to the Democratic National Convention, Bragg is headlining a massive rock show in Central Square that’s affiliated with the Boston Social Forum, a wide-ranging three-day ideological hootenanny being organized by progressives as a kind of radical/liberal counterweight to the DNC. The BSF, which runs July 23 through 25 at UMass-Boston, is expected to address everything from affordable housing and health care to imperialist foreign policy and globalization. Smack dab in the middle of the event, on July 24, "Another Day Is Possible" unites Bragg with an assortment of hip-hop, jazz, funk, and reggae groups — most of whom are still being confirmed; Nora York, David Rovics, and the Reagan Babies are definites — for a three-stage bill at the Middle East upstairs and downstairs rooms (472 and 480 Massachusetts Avenue) as well as T.T. the Bear’s Place (10 Brookline Street). Tickets, at $30, are available now to BSF registrants, but a limited number will go on sale to the public on July 1; call the Middle East at (617) 864-EAST, or visit www.bostonsocialforum.org

Juggling the issues

Billy Bragg isn’t the only one who’ll be putting in his two cents during DNC week. Having become adept at keeping almost anything and everything in the air, internationally acclaimed juggling musical comedians the Flying Karamazov Brothers are stopping in at the American Repertory Theatre July 21 through August 8 with Life: A Guide to the Perplexed (Convention Edition). Framed as "a series of parables designed to help us survive the modern world," their new production will be tailored to reflect the shenanigans across the river — perhaps they’ll give the Presumptive Nominee some tips on how to juggle his views about gay marriage. Look for other highlights to include a new device called the Jugglotron — a six-octave instrument operated by the Brothers in the midst of a singing-and-juggling routine — and a Bollywood-style retelling of the Mahabharata with life-size Indian warrior puppets. Performances are at the Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street in Harvard Square, and tickets are $45; call (617) 547-8300.

"Vineyard Vibes"

If all that talk of convention hustle reinforces your desire to get the hell out of town the week the Democrats move in, there’s a welcome respite waiting for you. For the fourth year in a row, Berklee College of Music has assembled an A-list line-up for its annual "Vineyard Vibes" festival, which takes place July 22 through 25 at four different venues on Martha’s Vineyard. And with a certain saxophone-playing ex-president determined to keep his profile in Boston low that week, you never know who you might run into. The bill includes Berklee alum Bruce Cockburn at the Hot Tin Roof in Edgartown on July 22; Grammy-winning vibist Garry Burton and long-time foil Makoto Ozone at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center in Oak Bluffs on July 23; trombonist and Berklee prof Phil Wilson leading a quintet on July 24 at the Offshore Ale House in Oak Bluffs; and Berklee’s acclaimed Reverence Gospel Ensemble on July 25 at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown. Tickets range from $20 to $30, and a festival pass is available for $80; call (508) 693-0305, or visit www.vineyardvibes.com

Mountain soul

If you missed the recent "Great High Mountain Tour" extravaganza celebrating the music of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Cold Mountain, well, so did Emmylou Harris and Gilian Welch. That’s because they’ve put together their own traveling festival, one devoted somewhat less dogmatically to the soft-spoken, angelic country folk that both singers (along with "Great High" headliner Alison Krauss) brought to songs like O Brother’s "Didn’t Leave Nobody But the Baby." Emmylou may not have invented that style, but she’s embodied it better and longer than anybody else, and for the "Sweet Harmony Traveling Revue" tour, she’s bringing along Welch, David Rawlings (Welch’s husband and collaborator), guitarist/songwriter Buddy Miller, and singer-songwriter Patty Griffin for an evening that’ll find all of the above rotating in and out of one another’s sets. And, we’re sure, doing plenty of multi-part close-harmonizing. The tour hits FleetBoston Pavilion, on Northern Avenue near the World Trade Center, August 20 at 7:30 p.m., and tickets are $35 to $45.50; call (617) 931-2000.