If you go Who: Robert Earl Keen When: 8 p.m. Tuesday at The National Tickets: $20-$35 Info: http://www.ticketmaster.com or (800) 745-3000

While people all over the world are pausing to recognize the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Texas singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen’s rabid fan base is celebrating an event that also took place two decades ago.  In 1989, Keen penned “The Road Goes on Forever” for his “West Textures” release on Sugar Hill Records.

It can’t be easy being Alice Cooper, the originator of shock rock, in 2009.  With an audience inured to shock thanks to movies with sky’s-the-limit body counts, the realities of wartime and the anything-goes nature of the Internet, the man who was practically an outrage generator in the 1970s knows he has his work cut out for him.

ALICE COOPER WITH 5TH AVENUE VAMPIRES When: Tuesday at 8 p.m. Where: The National, 708 E. Broad Cost: $27.50 advance,  $32.50 day of show Details: (804) 612-1900 or http://www.thenationalva.com

The Thursday concert by controversial reggae performer Buju Banton has been canceled. Last week, the show was moved from The National to The Hat Factory amid protests from the gay community about some of Banton’s lyrics that call for violence against homosexuals. The Hat Factory has since canceled the show. Refunds are available at the point of purchase.—Melissa Ruggieri

MELISSA RUGGIERITimes-Dispatch columnist     An anti-gay reggae singer performing in Richmond the same day as the Gay Pride Festival.  Can you get more ironic?  And now the performance has been moved to a new venue that, in its previous incarnation, became the target of a thorny argument with the NAACP.

If you go Who: Margaret Cho with John Roberts When: Two shows Saturday at The National, 7 and 10 p.m.  Tickets: $25 Info: http://www.nattickets.com or (800) 745-3000

Controversial reggae singer Buju Banton’s performance at The National has been moved to The Hat Factory. Local promoter King Walker of Lionheart Productions will stage the show at the newly opened venue—formerly Toad’s Place—on the Canal Walk. The concert will still take place Sept. 26. Previously purchased tickets will be honored.

Those involved with the Gathering of the Four Winds liken it to Riverdance or Celtic Woman—except with American Indian music, dancing and storytelling subbing for the Irish origin of those shows.  “No one has ever done this before. It’s kind of like a native revue—we’re highlighting natives from different walks of life, put together in one high-impact show,“ said Red Hawk, one of the stars of tomorrow’s event at The National.

If you go What: Gathering of the Four Winds, featuring Jim Boyd and Red Hawk with American Indian performers honoring American Indian music, history and dance at The National When: 7:30 p.m. tomorrow Tickets: $25 (orchestra seating); $20 (balcony seating); $15 (general-admission standing)

One day last month, Michael Franti received a call from his record label that his summertime jam, “Say Hey (I Love You)“—his first hit in a 23-year career—was storming radio.  The next day, Franti, 43, was lying in an operating room as doctors worked swiftly to repair his ruptured appendix.

The boy wonder of slide guitar is a boy no longer. Derek Trucks turned 30 in June.  You may be familiar with the bullet points of Trucks’ biography. The nephew of Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks, Derek made his stage debut at age 9, formed the Derek Trucks Band when he was 15 and became a permanent member of the Allman Brothers Band in 1999, when he was 20.

It’s a rare and special metal band that has stayed relevant.  But Queensryche has been hailed as “thinking man’s metal” since its inception, which has helped it retain a fan base while other bands’ drawing powers faded.  With its dramatic and thoughtful style, sound effects punctuating melodically heavy songs, twin lead guitars, and especially lead singer Geoff Tate’s distinctive and operatic voice, Queensryche stood way ahead of the pack in the late’80s—before heavy metal slowly deteriorated into pop schmaltz and hip-hop took over popular music.

After playing more than 2,000 shows in its 21-year tenure, The Machine was ready for a tune-up.  The Pink Floyd tribute group is renowned among fans of the real band for its faithful interpretations of Floyd’s music and creative visual sideshow.  But as much as the quartet enjoys performing standards from the venerated prog rockers, The Machine is, as lead singer-guitarist Joe Pascarell puts it, “always trying to reinvent, to keep things fresh and challenging.“

The connection between songwriter and song is one that regularly draws comparisons to that linking parent to child. So typically, when a songwriting band member takes his creation to his musical cohorts, he trusts that they will handle it with care.  In the case of Sonic Youth, singer-guitarist Thurston Moore trusts his band mates to disregard all that.