bradley's almanac - a boston music blog

boston area shows of note:

friday, july 25th

comedian joel mchale

(from the soup)

@ the wilbur theatre

saturday, july 26th

bon iver

bowerbirds

@ the museum of fine arts

sunday, july 27th

the new collisions (debut)

red quiet

melt

@ tt the bears

sunday, july 27th

sunfold

antiques

@ the middle east upstairs

wednesday, july 30th

we are scientists

@ the middle east downstairs

wednesday, july 30th

earlimart

@ the middle east upstairs

wednesday, july 30th

spiritualized

the dirtbombs

@ the wilbur theatre

thursday, july 31st

the police

elvis costello & the impersonators

@ the tweeter center

friday & saturday

august 1st & 2nd

eddie vedder

liam finn

solo @ the opera house

saturday, august 2nd

wolf parade

@ the paradise

monday, august 4th

coldplay

@ the garden

tuesday, august 5th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 6th

neil halstead (slowdive/mojave 3)

rogue wave

jack johnson

@ the tweeter center

saturday, august 9th

margot & the nuclear so and so's

@ the middle east

saturday, august 9th

melvins

@ the paradise

sunday, august 10th

ho-ag

six finger satellite

the in-out

certainly, sir

@ great scott

tuesday, august 12th

thao nguyen with

the get down stay down

david schultz & the skyline

pepi ginsberg

@ tt the bears

tuesday, august 12th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 13th

radiohead

grizzly bear

@ the tweeter center

thursday, august 14th

grizzly bear

violens

outside in the courtyard

@ the museum of fine arts

friday, august 15th

the ex

getachew mekuria

debo band

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, august 16th

+/- (plus minus)

broken river prophet (cd release!)

animal hospital

ba-na-nas

free kickass cupcakes from 9-10pm!

@ the middle east upstairs

tuesday, august 19th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 20th

human league, belinda carlisle, abc,

flock of seagulls, naked eyes

@ the bank of america pavilion

thursday, august 21st

yndi halda

caspian

irepress

@ tt the bears

friday, august 22nd

obits (ex-hot snakes/rftc)

@ the middle east

saturday, august 23rd

amo joy!

franklin bruno

(from nothing painted blue)

one happy island (ep release!)

@ the lily pad

saturday, august 23rd

newbury comics / unnatural axe

30th anniversary bash

the meatmen, queers, nasties,

unnatural axe, sleazies

@ the middle east down

tuesday, august 26th

the final installment of...

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed august residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 27th

liz phair performing

'exile in guyville'

@ the paradise

wednesday, august 27th

xiu xiu

prurient

@ the paradise

monday, september 1st

the juan maclean

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, september 5th

silver jews

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, september 6th

my morning jacket

@ the bank of america pavilion

sunday, september 7th

ryan adams & the cardinals

@ the bank of america pavilion

tuesday, september 9th

paul weller

@ the berklee performance center

saturday, september 13th

wfnx disorientation 2008

the kooks, flogging molly,

alkaline trio, rogue wave,

and more to be announced

@ bank of america pavilion

monday, september 15th

james

@ the paradise

tuesday, september 16th

a place to bury strangers

@ the paradise

thursday, september 18th

the walkmen

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, september 19th

sigur ros

@ the bank of america pavilion

friday, september 19th to

sunday, september 21st

all tomorrow's parties

with my bloody valentine, low

built to spill, mogwai, shellac,

polvo, yo la tengo, lilys, autolux

dinosaur jr, mercury rev, & more

@ the catskills in nyc

monday, september 22nd

mogwai

fuck buttons

@ the wilbur theatre

tuesday, september 23rd

writer dennis lehane

(release day for 'the given day')

@ the coolidge corner theatre

wednesday, september 24th

low

@ the museum of fine arts boston

saturday, september 27th

built to spill

performing 'perfect from now on'

dinosaur jr.

meat puppets

@ the orpheum

sunday, september 28th

the bird and the bee

willoughby

@ great scott

thursday, september 30th

boston spaceships

(gbv's robert pollard)

big dipper

@ the paradise

sunday, october 5th

pinback

@ the paradise

monday, october 6th

the wedding present

@ the middle east downstairs

monday, october 6th

stereolab

monade

@ the paradise

wednesday, october 8th

wire

@ the middle east downstairs

sunday, october 12th

the residents

@ showcase live, foxboro

sunday, october 12th

the notwist

@ the roxy

tuesday, october 14th

cold war kids

@ the paradise

friday, october 17th

jonathan richman

with drummer tommy larkin

@ the somerville theatre

saturday, october 18th

ra ra riot

walter meego

the morning benders

@ the middle east

tuesday & wednesday

october 21st & 22nd

billy bragg

@ the somerville theatre

wednesday, october 22nd

lyle lovett & john hiatt

(acoustic, on stage together)

@ the orpheum

thursday, october 30th

of montreal

@ the orpheum

saturday, november 1st

henry rollins (spoken word)

@ the orpheum

monday, november 3rd

coldplay

@ the td banknorth garden

visit tourfilter for more shows

Friday, August 27, 2004

All Your Failures Are Training Grounds

Ok, um... August 27th!? Where did that come from? I'm looking in the rearview and summertime is fading fast. Back to school sales and student infestations abound. Not complaining (yet), this summer's been one of the good ones, but sheesh. Although autumn is my favorite season, I'm not so ready for September.

(I'm assuming I say the same thing every late August. Archive search not necessary.)

The office is kinda quiet today, so it's time to rattle off a couple weeks of gathered links and things that've grabbed me. I'm all over the map on this one... music, movies, politics, comics, alligators, and cheese... a bonafide schizo-post. Be warned.

Hey, new Pixies song! How 'bout that? Well, technically "Ain't That Pretty At All" is a cover from the upcoming Warren Zevon tribute disc Enjoy Every Sandwich, but it is only their second recording in over a decade. Sounds more Pixie-ish than the iTunes-only "Bam Thwock", and it's rockin' my headphones mightily. Kim n' Frank switching off on vocals? It's a happy day indeed. It'd be happier one if they'd confirm some Boston tour dates.

The vigilant mighta noticed that I put up a new Mp3 of the Week on Monday, but totally spaced mentioning it. So now I am. It's apropos of my Donnie Darko post last week, being that it's Pavement's cover of Echo & the Bunnymen's "The Killing Moon", the original having been unfortunately removed from the film's opening scene in the new director's cut. The cover comes from Pavement's Major Leagues EP.

How do I love thee, Largehearted Boy? The counting of the ways increased by one after he posted links to Brandon's full-set recordings from July's Merge Records' 15th anniversary celebration. Superchunk, Essex Green, tons more. Thanks for the hook-up, yet again.

Ted Leo fans take note: Gawker.com Interview. Shake the Sheets trumps Hearts of Oak in my book, and that is no easy task. Ted's in town (sans guitar) tomorrow night, doing some DJing at ZuZu. Sure to be some swell songs spun.

Hot off the presses, via the Middle East mailing list...

"After his wildly successful sold-out show at the Middle East Downstairs during the DNC, the Middle East is thrilled to welcome Ted Leo back to Cambridge for two nights this December. Tickets go on sale September 4.

The first night will be open to people of all ages. The second night will be 18+ and will feature the Boston debut of Ted's brother Chris's band, Vague Angels."

Aces. I'm so very there.

Speculation: Mr. Leo got inspiration for the title "Shake the Sheets" from the Seam song Tuff Luck? Doubtful, but discuss.

The video that's linked off Touch & Go's site, for The New Year's "Disease", is near-perfect in it's simplicity. I'm lovin' it (even more than I've heard some people love Micky D's).

Oh my. Mr. William Shatner, the wacked-out troubador, has returned. His full-lengther, "Has Been" isn't out until October, but this page has audio samples and interview clips. Spoken vocals over Ben-Folds-produced music, a song co-written with Nick Hornby, backup singers, and a cover of Pulp's "Common People"? I'm listening right now and stifling the laughter. Oh Captain Kirk, my Captain, you kill me.

So the next Jimmy Eat World disc also arrives (I will never, ever, no-never use the phrase 'drops' when it comes to release dates, promise.) in October, and their site forum is all aflutter with long-since tired download debates (the album has, of course, shown up on file-sharing servers). I treat it as a personal choice (since I still buy what I love, regardless of the burn), so I've got no qualms about the early action.

What I don't get, though, is the little freaks who jump on some band's own official messageboard and shout out download links and early opinions to the masses. Weak.

(For the record, I'm more Clarity than Static Prevails, and not so keen on Bleed American. The new one somehow ends up blending all three, so I'm game.)

Speaking of Static Prevails, some kind soul posted links to the demo recordings of that early record in this thread here.

Never thought I'd see a write-up on X at CNN.com. Their new 'best of' (Make the Music Go Bang) is the reason why. Might have to pick that up.

Alright, my time here at work is running out, and I'm certainly not going to stay late on a summer day just to finish a silly blog post... so the rest of this will have to wait until later. No alligators or cheese action for you.

I'll leave you with this, my new mini-obsession of the moment ...

The Kingdom of Loathing is a simple, sarcastically hilarious, online stick-figure RPG. Login, choose your name and class (I'm "Tomator", a Sauceror... as opposed to a Pastamancer), and start gathering meat. You'll start at Mount Noob, and if you're lucky, you'll get to check out Degrassi Knoll. I cannot wait to do battle in the Orcish Frat House. Come, join me, or do you not have enough Moxie?

posted by brad at 4:50 PM | direct link | rss (1 :2) | |

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