MON 4/7: Music, Sox Talk, and Happy B-day Oates!

Happy birthday, John Oates! It is my sincere belief that your magic moustache was the element that took all your hits to the next level of pop immortality.

So my friends Rob and Ryan were in town this weekend, and I got no 'cheap thrills' done. What was so close on Friday remained that way all weekend. Stay tuned for another update maybe tonight...

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MON 4/7

Wild Zero (9pm), Andrea Gillis (9:50pm), Daniel Bon + Future Ghosts (10:40pm), Cortez (11:30pm)
at Harpers Ferry, 158 Brighton Avenue, Allston
$10

Night 2 of 30th Annual WBCN Rock N' Roll Rumble. Congrats to Girls, Guns and Glory for winning last night!

Tonight's prelim will go from zero to Wild Zero in about 4.1 seconds. I have a feeling that they will bring it tonight; "it" being their revved-up punk-metal. Andrea Gillis is just such a powerhouse singer and her band provides the muscle to match her; I get the feeling that she's going to win tonight. Daniel Bon + Future Ghosts might be tough competition, because they really have a 'radio-ready sound'; they'd easily fit on 'BCN or any other rock radio. Cortez definitely bring the hammer down, so all of the bands could make it to the next round. My pick: Andrea Gillis (but I picked UNC, so...)

MON 4/7

9:30pm
Carter Tanton, Silje Nes, Animal Hospital, Chris Warren
at Middle East - Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$9 / 18+

Versus tonight's Rumble show that will douse you with rawk, you'll need to pay attention to this music. Silje Nes is working her back to Norway from SXSW. It might be the quietest music made with an electric guitar that sounds like it has the distortion pedal on. The subtlety is compelling. Animal Hospital is actually a solo project of a guy who might not be something I would seek out, but I'd definitely appreciate if I heard him. This guy is way quiet on an assortment of instrumentation he wields to minimally ambient results. Carter Tanton and Chris Warren are the leaders of Tulsa and Viva Viva respectively -- two excellent bands.

MON 4/7

7pm
Michael Holley, "Red Sox Rule: Terry Francona and Boston's Rise to Dominance"
at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Harvard Sq)
FREE

As with Bill Belichick and The Patriots, Michael Holley has likely written an insightful look into the Red Sox's success under Tito Francona. I frequently don't like his in-game strategies, but they have won twice... Maybe you can get Holley to bad talk him -- or maybe I'm the only person left who hasn't changed his mind...?

Also at BU Barnes & Noble next TUES 4/15 at 7pm.

MON 4/7

8pm
First Monday
at Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough St, Boston (New England Conservatory/Fenway)
FREE

The best free classical music series in town:

Tonight's program will showcase stars of the NEC strings and chamber music faculties: violinist James Buswell, violist Carol Rodland, cellist Carol Ou, and double bassist Donald Palma.

Pianist Max Levinson '95 A.D. joins this group for Vaughan Williams's Piano Quintet in C Minor.

Buswell, Rodland, and Ou are joined by violinist Yura Lee '05 A.D. and violist Sarah Darling '07 M.M. for Dvořák's "American" String Quintet, B.180 (Op. 97).

Palma presents the Boston premiere of Elliott Carter's Figment III (2007), which was written for him.

Sneak Peek: FRI 4/4 to SUN 4/6

I think Dr. King would generally approve of the message...

Btw, I'll probably post the weekly list late-late-Friday or Saturday.

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FRI 4/4

5:30pm to 9pm
Forty Years Of Inspiration: The Cultural Legacy Of Martin Luther King Jr.
at Metcalf Hall, George Sherman Union, 2nd Fl., 775 Comm Ave, Boston
FREE

On the 40th anniversary of his death, there will be a panel discussion on MLK's influence on the arts. Panelists/performers include: Chuck D, Talib Kweli, Anna Deavere Smith, some poets, and an opera singer.

FRI 4/4

7pm to 9:30pm
"They Must be Hysterical!" An Evening of Feminist Comedy
at Kirsch Auditorium, Stata Center, 32 Vassar St, Cambridge
FREE w/ Registration

There are other panels and such this weekend as part of Women's Studies Conference: "Who's Laughing? The Politics of Humor", but this is an entertaining segment even if you don't want to scholastically delve into gender politics.

The women (womyn?) of Queer Soup Theater will emcee. Performers include Erin Judge, Laughing Liberally, Vijai Nathan, and Janice Perry.

FRI 4/4

All Mod Cons (11:45pm), New Frustrations (10:45pm), The Illegals (9:45pm), Lehane, Long and O'Halloran (9pm)
at Abbey Lounge, 3 Beacon St, Somerville (Inman Sq)
$8

All Mod Cons = The Jam tribute band from England. Lehane, Long and O'Halloran are 3/4 of beloved Boston punks, The Dogmatics.

FRI 4/4

9pm
Rockabilly Bowl-a-rama: The Stumbleweeds, The Coachmen, Slick Fitty
at Milky Way Lounge, 403 Centre St, Jamaica Plain
$8

I think the title is self-explanatory.

FRI 4/4 and SAT 4/5

8pm to 10pm
"Reefer Madness", the Musical
at School of Law Auditorium, 765 Comm Ave, Boston (BU campus)
$7

A musical comedy inspired by the 1936 film on the evils of drug use... Presented by BU On Broadway.

FRI 4/4 and SAT 4/5

7pm
Contaminate 3
at Midway Studios, 15 Channel Center St Boston’s Fort Point
FREE

A two-day festival of performance, installation and video art.

FRI 4/4 to SUN 4/6

Various Times
Breaking Ground Festival of New Play Readings
at the Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for Arts, 527 Tremont St, Boston (South End)
FREE ($10 suggested donation)

This will be one of the last steps in the birthing process for these plays. Below are the first sentences of each description.

FRI 4/4

8pm
"Sense of an Ending"
An African-American journalist arrives in Rwanda to uncover dark truths about an act of genocide.

SAT 4/5

2pm
"Thomas Repair"
A family crisis ensues when a mysterious girl appears in Jacob Thomas' quirky repair shop.

SAT 4/5

8pm
"Broke-ology"
In this family serio-comedy, the sons of an African-American family are torn between familial obligations and the dreams they've established for themselves.

SUN 4/6

7pm
"Caroline in Jersey"
Things aren't looking so great for Caroline. Her husband has left her for a younger woman, she's about to be thrown out of her sublet in New Jersey, her landlady thinks she's crazy... and the spirit of Arthur Miller's accountant lives in her refrigerator.

Note:

Please call the Box Office at 617 266-0800 to reserve your seats or send your reservation request to tickets@huntingtontheatre.org. Please note that seating is limited and reservations are strongly recommended.

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SAT 4/5

10am to 2pm
Community Boating Open House
at Community Boating Boathouse, 21 David G. Mugar Way, Boston (Esplanade)
FREE

I've gone to this before, and it's a quick tour of the facilities and a nice little sail on the Charles. No need to actually join, but you'll probably want to afterwards.

SAT 4/5

11am to 1:30pm
Multilingual Transnational Fair
at Kennedy Elementary School, 5 Cherry St, Somerville (Porter Sq)
FREE

This might not make the Weekly List, but... If you're interested in learning other languages, they don't seem to be selling anything.

SAT 4/5

7pm
Dave Tree Art Show
w/ JT Habersaat, Duncan Wilder Johnson, Clay N. Ferno, Richie Stratton, Ruby Collins
at Herrell's Allston Cafe, 155 Brighton Ave, Allston
FREE

Art and intense, funny spoken-word.

SAT 4/5

7pm
"Champagne Spy"
at Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Ave, Boston (South Boston/Waterfront)
$10 / $8 students & seniors

Most of the films as part of JEWISHFILM.2008 are being shown at Brandeis. This one caught my eye because this documentary is a rather interesting spy story (but also mainly because it's at the ICA).

Harvard and Brandeis Fellow Ehud Eiran will be there for remarks and questions (I assume).

SAT 4/5

Corolla Deville (Midnight), Lyres (11pm), Coffin Lids (10pm), The Have Mercys (9pm), Empty Shapes (8pm)
at Church, 69 Kilmarnock St, Boston (Fenway)
$10 / 21+

It's a solid garage-rock line-up, especially The Lyres.

SAT 4/5

9pm
Yoni Gordon and the Goods, Antiques, The Needy Visions
at Oxfam Cafe, Mayer Campus Center, 44 Professors Row (Medford)
FREE / All Ages

Yoni Gordon rocks. Antiques is a indie/folk/pop duo. The Needy Visions includes one of the bodies of water arts and crafts masterminds. Hey -- it's free, and the all-ages crowd should be enthusiastic. A good opportunity to actually find the Oxfam Cafe.

SAT 4/5 and SUN 4/6

11am to 6pm
Boston Skillshare
at Stata Center, 32 Vassar St, Cambridge (MIT campus)
$3 to $10 sliding scale donation (whatever you can afford)

There are dozens of workshops from fun (Introduction To Juggling, Salsa, Merengue, Spanish & La Lucha) to functional (Time Management, You Are Not A Number: Applying To Grad School) -- and many points in between (The Truth About Identy Theft, Drag King 101, Home Brewing, Wild Carrot: Natural, Conscious Herbal Contraception, and more).

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SUN 4/6

1pm to 6pm
Brandeis Springfest
Feat: State Radio, Minus the Bear, Jedi Mind Tricks, The Pietasters
on The Great Lawn, 415 South Street, Waltham (Brandeis campus)
FREE

It's a little earlier in the year than usual, but I've heard there's free food and beer...

"The Great Lawn" is near the Shapiro Campus Center.

Rain location: Levin Ballroom

SUN 4/6

1pm
Greek Independence Day Parade
from Prudential Center, Boylston St to Boston Common
FREE

The map on the webpage points to the Charles St/Beacon St corner of the Common, but I'm guessing the party (food, music, dancing) will be on the Tremont St side – which should definitely be under way by 2pm.

Music by Orfeas Orchestra.

SUN 4/6

MeandJOANCOLLINS (9pm), Cherry S/T (9:50pm), Girls, Guns & Glory (10:40pm), Watts (11:30pm)
at Harpers Ferry, 158 Brighton Avenue, Allston
$10

First night of 30th Annual WBCN Rock N' Roll Rumble.

THUR 4/3: Mucho Music (& Chocolate on FRI 4/4)

THUR 4/3

9pm
Harris, Okay Thursday, Talk Modern, The Woodrow Wilsons
at O'Brien's, 3 Harvard St, Allston
$7 / 21+

The subtitle for this gig could be "Beginning, Middle, and End".

It's the first night of an April/Thursday residency for Harris, and it's the first-ever show for Talk Modern. They seem to have a languid, slightly glam sound like QoTSA but not as hard. On Talk Modern's MySpace, you can hear a cool cover of "Down The Line" by Jose Gonzalez. Sadly, this is the last Okay Thursday performance. I've always enjoyed their spunky, economical pop-rock -- there's no extraneous bits in the songs or the instrumentation. I wish there were more bands like Okay Thursday, not less.

As for the 'middle', I think Harris is in the middle of something good. The recordings highlight an clean yet eclectic sound, and they straight-up rocked when I saw them live. They claim to be doing a different set each week of the residency. The Woodrow Wilsons don't list the instruments, but I think I heard acoustic guitar, bass, drums, banjo, ukulele, accordion, and trombone in their neo-chamber-folk-rock thing. The disarming vocals goads you to pay closer attention to the songs as if these are ancient folks songs.

Listen to a podcast about tonight.

THUR 4/3

John Powhida Int'l Airport, The Ragamuffins Of Love (10pm); Dave Alpert (7pm)
at Toad, 1912 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Porter Sq)
FREE

John Powhida is also playing every Thursday at Toad (for free, of course). I especially like the name of openers, The Ragamuffins Of Love. Early show Dave Alpert isn't bad either.

THUR 4/3

8:15pm
"Remembering Max Roach"
at Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass Ave, Boston (Back Bay)
$10

If you love drumming, the Percussion Department Award Winners Concert in tribute to the great Max Roach will be an embarrassment of (Buddy?) riches...

THUR 4/3

5:30pm to 8:30pm
Grand Wine Tasting
at Blanchard's, 741 Centre St, Jamaica Plain
FREE

If you're in JP tonight, why not enjoy some free booze 'n snacks...?


More Thursday fun below.


NOTE: The "Awake: A Reader for the Sleepless" reading at The Middle East has been cancelled.

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FRI 4/4

7:30pm to 9pm
A Fair Trade Chocolate Tasting
at Stratton Student Center, 84 Mass Avenue, Cambridge (MIT campus)
$5 / FREE for MIT-people

I'm putting this out there for the chocolate-lovers. The Kallari Association wants to bring organic, fair trade to the lips of America. There will be a presentation about the production, types, etc. and a tasting of dark chocolates.

I think an RSVP is recommended, even if you don't have a MIT email account.

Make an "Green" Resolution by 4/7 to Win a Prize

If you make an Earth Day resolution by 4/7, you may win some laundry detergent.

Besides doing stuff for free, I love winning stuff for little or no effort.

I tried a sample of eco-friendly detergent called dropps. It worked great, and I liked the smell of my laundry. Eventually I might switch from my bargain detergent (which also leaves pleasant fragrance)... I'm on the mailing list now, and they're having a contest to win a 3-month supply.

All you have to do is post a resolution about treating Planet Earth nicely, and they will pick 3 winners randomly. You have until Monday 4/7 to enter.

Earth Day is 4/22, btw.

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Hey, I'm compiling the "Boston Blotter" daily crime wrap-up for Bostonist today. I filled in on Monday and am doing it again today. I hope to provide a lighter side of crime as much as possible...

tues 4/1 - fool's day

i've already told you the cheap options for today, so i won't offer anything else. and some of my colleagues have tied me down with duct tape for april fools day, so i'm hunting and pecking with my nose and tongue... help. call for help.

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TUES 4/1

6pm
Guitar Center Sessions: Joe Satriani
at Guitar Center, 321-C Speen St, Natick (Cloverleaf Marketplace)
FREE

I always liked Joe Satriani. When a million guitarists were playing super-fast metal back in the 80s, he was one of a handful that never forgot it was supposed to be music. Joe will talk about techniques, gear, and his life in rock. At some point, he'll play guitar better than anyone else in the room.

TUES 4/1

7pm to 10pm
"Beehive-Art-Scope 1"
at Beehive Restaurant, 541 Tremont St, Boston (South End)
FREE

A new art event series is busting out on April Fools Day -- but I think something is really going to happen tonight. The Beehive blends into the Boston Center for the Arts; the decor is especially Bohemian downstairs where much of the action will be taking place. About 20 artists will display their work including Rachel Perry Welty, Jeff Perrott, Owen Rundquist, Cyrille Conan, Kelly Sherman and Samantha Fields. I'm guessing one will see some visually/conceptually aggressive art in various media. Free-jazz trio The Sewer Rats (w/ pianist Leo Genovese) will perform, and performance artist Bryce Kaufmann is bound to do something weird like cover himself with shaving cream.

I read somewhere that "refreshments will be provided", but I don't think it will include drinks...

TUES 4/1

8pm
"COLE! A Celebration of the Life, Words, and Music of Cole Porter"
at Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough St, Boston (New England Conservatory/Fenway)
FREE

From the late 20's on, so many of the best songs were written by Cole Porter. "Night And Day", "Anything Goes", "I Get a Kick Out of You", "What Is This Thing Called Love?", "I've Got You Under My Skin", "Begin the Beguine", "It's De-Lovely", etc, etc. The music was melodically rich, and the lyrics were equally full of wordplay and passion. It's almost impossible for songwriters not to be influenced by Porter whether they are aware of it or not.

Students from NEC's Opera Studies program will sing many of the classics as well the "deep cuts" with help from a couple faculty members and a small 6-piece ensemble.

TUES 4/1

9pm
Tuesday Night Laugh Track
at The Point - Upstairs, 147 Hanover St, Boston (Haymarket)
$5

Sources say this show has been cancelled.

TUES 4/1

10pm
Preacher Jack
at Plough & Stars, 912 Mass. Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
FREE (but you can drop something in the basket)

With his long hair and white beard, Preacher Jack may look like a wild-eyed holy man descended from a lonely mountaintop. He's actually a living piece of boogie-woogie/rockabilly history who grew up and resides on the North Shore. Pounding the keys for fifty years, he may not keep a weekly residence at Frank's Steak House anymore, but Preacher Jack comes down to Cambridge & Boston every couple weeks to spread the good news.

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link of the day: the wu ming foundation is a movement of art & lit. jokers

there's a talk at mit tomorrow.