Sneak Peek -- SAT 4/18

It may sound unbelievable, but I will write more. (I believe myself...)

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SAT 4/18

All Day
Record Store Day
Across the country
(Nearby at Newbury Comics and Weirdo Records, Cambridge)
FREE

See below.

SAT 4/18

9:30pm
Harris, The Men, Scamper, Jericho Trumpet
at Middle East - Downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$10 advance / $12 day of show / 18+

It's Harris's final show. Scamper is reuniting just commemorate the occasion.

SAT 4/18

1:30pm
Confront, Morgan Knockers, The Murder, The Few And The Far, Squallie Greenthumb
at Middle East - Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$10 / All Ages

Unlike those wimps in Harris, Confront is celebrating 10 years as a band. Punk Rock!

SAT 4/18

7pm
Bob Dylan Listening Party / Open Mic
at Cafe 939, 939 Boylston St, Boston (Back Bay)
FREE

Listen to Bob's new album from 7pm to 8pm, which is also the sign-up time for the open-mic: you must play one Dylan cover and one Dylan inspired original. Acoustic performances only. A piano and DI's will be provided.

SAT 4/18

9pm
"A Night of Word + Snap Music" w/ Rick Berlin and Friends
at Lizard Lounge/Cambridge Common, 1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge (between Harvard Sq & Porter Sq)
$10 / 21+

Folks doing some of Rick's written and musical oeuvre

[advance tix]

SAT 4/18 & SUN 4/19

10am to 7pm
Boston Skillshare
at Stata Center, 32 Vassar St, Cambridge (MIT campus)
$3 to $10 sliding scale donation (whatever you can afford)

People showing other people how to do stuff in 90-minute workshops that start at 10:45am, 2:05pm, 3:45pm, and 5:25 pm. There's free vegan breakfast at 10am and free vegan lunch at 12:25pm and 2:05pm too...

FRI 4/17: Folk, Rave, Rock, Jazz

Lotsa stuff happening today. Just don't forget to go outside and feel the warmth of the Sun!

I guess one could easily go to the Indigo Girls in-store and the Silent Rave tonight, but I doubt many will do both...

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FRI 4/17

6pm
The Indigo Girls: Performance & Autograph Signing
at Newbury Comics, North Market Bldg, 4 Faneuil Hall Market Pl, Boston (Faneuil Hall)
FREE

What can I say? If you're a fan, you'll want to go for a few songs. I doubt they're going to do "Closer to Fine" at a free show...

FRI 4/17

7:30pm to 8:30pm
Spring Silent Rave
at Faneuil Hall Market Place, Boston
FREE

Put an hour (or so) of your favorite dance music on the iPod, and do your thang. It's the quitest fun this side of BPL. I did something similar for 15 minutes, and it was pretty fun...

It should be in front of Faneuil Hall. Look for the loitering hipsters...

FRI 4/17

Gravehaven (12:30am), The Dirty Truckers (11:30pm), The Luxury (10:30pm), Destruct-a-thon (9:30pm)
at Middle East - Downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$10 / 18+

Rock n' Roll Rumble Semifinals Night #2. Congrats to... Gene Dante & the Future Starlets who won last night.

If the Rumble were the MLB, this show like the AL East. Lots of strong competition that could go all the way if they can prevail over the immediate obstacles. My personal favorite is straight-ahead rock with killer songs and a twang, and The Dirty Truckers fit the bill although I hope their hygiene doesn't suffer much. [Update: I just reread this -- oof! What a lousy sentence.]

Destruct-a-thon is like a wrecking ball of potent metal. Gravehaven is loud and rocking, but add a little musical sophistication into the blend. I still can't get into The Luxury, but most people can. Heck, they won a opening spot for Coldplay's Boston gig. I'm going to guess... Destruct-a-thon goes on to the Finals.

FRI 4/17

The Woggles (Midnight), Muck & The Mires (11pm), The Konks (10pm), Watts (9pm)
at TT the Bear's Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$10

This is a mighty punch of garage-rock. Muck & The Mires are awesome; just super-tight, high-octane rock 'n roll. Atlanta's Woggles are famous for utting on an amazing live show. I've seen video clips, and they might explode in such a small room. It seems like The Konks don't play out as much since Abbey Lounge closed (Hmm...) That primal stomp knocked me out from the first time I saw the drums held up by milk crates -- and I still love it.

FRI 4/17

9:30pm
Yoni Gordon & The Goods, Diamond Mines, Pow Wow, Nightdriving
at PA's Lounge, 345 Somerville Ave, Somerville (Union Sq)
$8 -- 21+ / $11 -- 18+

If you don't want to rock out in Central Sq, PA's is the place. The Diamond Mines are one of my favorite bands. It's that soul/punk rock that's balanced perfectly to get you bouncing off the walls, and I really dig the tunes. Yoni Gordon is also pretty damn good. He's so intense, punky singer-songwriter who believes in what he's singing about 120%. The special prize in this crackerjack box is Pow Wow. Holy crap, these guys are friggin' indie-pop geniuses! Yeah, they're from Brooklyn and maybe there's dozens of similar bands, but I think these guys are the real thing.

FRI 4/17

10pm
Bob Mover Quartet
at The Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge (Inman Sq)
$10

Bob Mover is one of the great underrated jazz saxophonists. Dude! He played in bands with Charles Mingus and Chet Baker and countless others. These are nights that make The Lily Pad a treasure in Inman Sq. This is top-shelf jazz for $10, and the incredible Esperanza Spalding will be on bass. (I didn't see how to turn the audio off Bob's home page, but you won't want to.)

4/18: Cheap -- for Wine-Lovers

1pm to 5pm / 6pm to 10pm
Wine Riot
at Cyclorama, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St, Boston (South End)
$45

I asked the Wine Riot folks for my personal information; they were cool about it; so I'm trying to be cool back. You've probably read other items (Bostonist, The Second Glass, etc), so I'll give you my take:

There's going to be more wines than you can drink in 4 hours, but you can try a good variety to find new favorites and still have a nice buzz. Think about how much money you'd spend at a bar in that same amount of time -- especially if you were drinking wine...

There's a variety of 30-minute sessions if you want to get a little wine knowledge or take a little break.

Wine doesn't feel you up like beer. The Beer Summit is at the Castle, only $5 cheaper, and it's actually sold out.

I'm confident it's going to be less packed than the Wine Expo, and I'm guessing that it'll be as crowded as a Beer Summit (maybe a little more crowded).

The maximum capacity for each session is about 85% of maximum room capacity, and who knows if it'll be full. This is the first year, so who knows... (If you're claustrophobic, half as many people are going to be allowed on Friday night for $65.)

Tickets are available online or at these stores -- it wouldn't hurt to call before you go to buy tix: Bin Ends (Braintree), Cru (South End), Downtown Wine & Spirits (Somerville), The Wine Bottega (North End), The Wine Emporium (South End), Wine Gallery (Brookline). If available, tix will be for sale at the door.

Am I going? Maybe.

4/18: Record Store Day

All Day
Record Store Day
Across the country
(Nearby at Newbury Comics and Weirdo Records, Cambridge)
FREE

Sure, iTunes has its benefits... But you can talk to cool people who love music and get turned onto something new. It's a special experience, and we shouldn't let it disappear. Most places will thank you with some free stuff, prize drawings, live performances, or some combination of that kind of stuff.

When I went to the Newbury Comics (at Govt Center & Harvard Sq) last year, they had a table of free stuff to take whatever you wanted. I think I took a pint glass and 7" single with a cool cover. Most stores have performances like The Low Anthem (2pm) & Sarah Borges (4pm) at Newbury St and State Radio (2pm) at Faneuil Hall.

Note: "You will need a wristband to attend State Radio. We will start issuing wristbands at 10am on 4/18 at the Fanueil Hall store only."

If you haven't been to Weirdo Records yet, this would be a perfect day to go. The proprietress was selling records out of her apartment until a few months ago! Somebody will make music at some point in the evening. They'll be open extra long on Saturday (10am to 11pm).

I'm not Cheap Thrills - MA, but there are other stores include: Listen Up Music (Natick), and Music DNA (Methuen).

Support your local independent record stores on Saturday -- and all year round!

Support all independent businesses!

THUR 4/16: Talks & Rock

I'm kind of in a funk thinking about the "Tea Parties" from yesterday. I got incomplete info and missed the speakers at Christopher Columbus Park. I probably wasn't going to agree with them, but I wanted to hear what exactly is this purpose of these events.

I was also hoping I'd get material for a stinging criticism, but it basically seems to be a co-opting of a historical event by libertarians who've been co-opted by republicans to express their unhappiness.

From my observation, the bottom line is that few people actually want big government, but they'll stay quiet if their guy is in the White House...

On the bright side, I saw that ArtsBoston has become a rather good site to see what's going on around town.

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THUR 4/16

6:30pm to 8pm
Juan Enriquez, "Financial Crises, Technology, and Why Boston Might Just be the Center of the Universe (at least for now)": Lecture
at Rabb Lecture Hall, Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston St, Boston (Copley Sq)
FREE

Venture capitalist Juan Enriquez thinks Boston is ready to thrive. I've met a bunch of VC guys, and they're very bright people. (It's irritating...) His specialty is life sciences, so that will probably be the focus of his presentation.

THUR 4/16

7:30pm
Patrick Slane, "Because the World is Round": Lecture & Observatory Night
at Phillips Auditorium, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St, Cambridge (between Porter Sq and Fresh Pond)
FREE

Is it geeky to be intrigued by a lecture titled after the first line of awesome psychedelic choral piece from The Beatles? "Because" from "Abbey Road" has always been one of my faves, but I didn't realize it was based on "Moonlight Sonata" played backwards. (I did know that John, Paul, and George tripling their vocal parts for a total of nine. Listen to the song and remember they had no software to correct the pitch!)

So the lecture is blending music into science and using the lyrics as inspiration to explain why the Earth is round, the wind is high, and why the sky is blue. I wonder if Prof. Slane will blow my mind? I think he could...

"Observing through telescopes follows the presentation, weather permitting."

THUR 4/16

Gene Dante & the Future Starlets (12:30pm), The Lights Out (11:30pm), Sarah RabDAU & the Self-Employed Assassins (10:30pm), Have Nots (9:30pm)
at Middle East - Downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$10 / 18+

Rock 'n Roll Rumble Semi-finals Night #1

Okay, folks this is where everything gets kicked up a notch. Take 3 preliminary-round winners and a "wild card" band (high score from the judges, but didn't win), and one will climb a bit further up the rock ladder to meet tomorrow night's winner in the finals. (Umm, and one band from from this round will be a "wild card in the finals...)

The word on the street (discussion boards) is that Gene Dante & the Future Starlets have been really impressive and could be Rumble champs. I wouldn't count out any of the four bands; I like all of them, and they all have a different sound. The only way this show would be better is if I didn't have to work tomorrow.

THUR 4/16

10:30pm
Movers & Shakers, Tommy Allen, Coyote Kolb
at Plough & Stars, 912 Mass. Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
FREE

You could go to the Rumble, or you could walk a few blocks down Mass Ave, and check the free Movers & Shakers residency. When I throw the "roots-rock" term around, I think there's more "roots" than "rock". That's not the case with this band; M&S make a tasty rock stew, and they throw in a lot rootsy ingredients. Tommy Allen from Drug Rug is also performing. They're a kick-ass band that should be huge. (I'm enjoy it more when Sarah sings, but Tommy isn't bad...)