The Boston area can be deceiving. Like most first-time travelers here, you may think the only things these people care about is maintaining the Puritan ethic and polishing monuments of guys who killed Brits more than 200 years ago.

Sure, Boston and its environs can't compare to New York in terms of upbeat culture. This place is probably not even like Los Angeles if a bopping nightlife is what you seek. But don't let first sights hold your glance too long. Despite provincial images fostered by a thin layer of Brahmin aristocracy, Boston has not separated itself from other cultural hotspots.

You will have to travel beyond Harvard Square to find most live bands and dancing. But, fear not, you won't have to buy subway tokens to get to most movies because the Square offers some good theaters within walking distance. Check out The Phoenix each week for complete listings of evening entertainment. Buy tickets for big concerts and nightclub bands at Out of Town News, Strawberry Records, Ticketron or the box offices. If it's concert tickets you want, make sure you go early, because the high-school kids always seem to eat them up quickly and scalp them at a huge profit to saps who didn't wait in line for seats.

MUSIC AND DANCING IN CLUBS

Live bands in the square play consistently at Jonathan Swift's on John F. Kennedy Street. Mostly deadhead rockers and blues musicians here. Doors stay open until 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. Passim, in the alley between the two halves of the Harvard Coop, doubles as a restaurant by day and features folk artists and acoustic guitarists by night. If you don't mind a short hike up Cambridge Street to Inman Square, you can hear live jazz and blues at the 1369 Club.

Since you're here for the summer, you should venture beyond the world of Harvard's dimly lit cafes. There's lots of dancing to popular new wave music and techno-pop bands at the newly opened Man Ray (21A Brookline St.). It's connected to a gay night club next door so you'll find a mixture of men dancing with men, women with women, and men with women. If you want more emphasis on the band than the dancing, check out The Channel. Planes departing Logan Airport frequently roar overhead and you'll have to trek over a bridge from South Station to see some good rock and post-punk bands here. Those 18 and over can get into New Musik nights on Tuesday, but on other nights it's open to only those 21 and over. The Stompers play Friday June 28, The Drive on Saturday June 29 and Los Angeles punk nihilist band Black Flag plays to all ages Sunday June 30.

A last stand for strictly hardcore punk is Chet's (across the street from Boston Garden). It caters to mainly local bands. Turtles Under Fire and PG 13 will be there tonight. Good visiting New York and L.A. bands usually hit The Rat (528 Commonwealth Ave.) in Kenmore Square. Naked Raygun will play there tonight and playing Tuesday is macabre-punk-turned-psychedelic True Sounds of Liberty.

Less decadent sounds and more dancing mingle at three chain-owned clubs--including Spit (10 Lansdowne St.)--all out by Fenway. The Paradise (967 Commonwealth Ave.) features consistent rock bands with ex-member of defunct The Jam, Bruce Foxton on July 11. The Metro (15 Landsdowne St.) has dancing, but disregard rumors that The Stanglers will be there this Thursday.

Just about all of these clubs serve alcohol. The recent drinking age hike to 21 will keep those underage outside. But, because of the bill's attached grandfather clause, 20-year-olds can get in with a Massachusetts I.D. Some clubs either don't care or don't know about this state identification complexity, so try to get in even if you're not a real Bay Stater.

Another reminder: the subway trains do not run between Park St. and the Harvard station on weekdays after 9 p.m. You can catch a bus back home, but these (and the T on weekends) shut down at 12:30 each night.

LARGE CONCERTS

Tina Turner and Foreigner will hit the area's big concert arenas this summer. It used to be that Boston Garden and Sullivan Stadium hired nationally popular musicians. Now wrestling matches and carnivals have replaced music as the main attraction at these two auditoriums. The Worcester Centrum has taken over as the reigning local big concert hall. Turner will be there July 21 and 22 and Foreigner August 5 and 6. If you can't get tickets to the Centrum shows, head down to Rhode Island's Providence Civic Center. Tina Turner plays Providence on July 25 and Foreigner on July 27. Up north at New Hampshire's Kingston Fairgrounds, the southern California headbanger band Motley Crue will get vulgar, hiss, and even play some songs on August 3.

Closer to the homefront, Concerts on the Common has a big line-up of easy listening, reggae and jazz concerts scheduled. Permit complications have plagued the Boston Common program in previous years, but it's in full swing this summer with most shows starting at 6 p.m. Veteran rockers Santana will play on the scenic park this Friday, June 28. Popular jazzist Pat Metheny is featured Wednesday, July 10 and will be followed on July 19 with mainstream funkist Chaka Khan.

Across the street from the Common shows is the Orpheum Theater which has a fairly meager line-up this summer compared to previous seasons. Local rock bands will compete there this Friday June 28 and ex-Magazine leader, Howard Jones, will highlight the Saturday June 29 show.

MOVIES