bradley's almanac - a boston-based music blog

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tuesday, march 16th

bacchus king

croquet

cathy cathodic

the ugly fucklings

@ the middle east upstairs

wednesday, march 17th

joanna newsom

@ the sanders theatre, harvard

wednesday, march 17th

henry rollins (spoken word)

@ the somerville theatre

thursday, march 18th

TOURFILTER DJ NIGHT!

when tourfilter's chris +

the almanac's brad (aka, me)

spin songs by bands coming to

the boston area sometime soon

9pm sharp @ river gods

thursday, march 18th

apollo sunshine

drug rug

@ the paradise

friday, march 19th

i, pistol

mascara

planetoid

forgetful jones

@ tt the bears

saturday, march 20th

the whitehaus family blastfest

needy visions, manners,

morgan shaker, avi jacob,

and many more

@ cambridge ymca theatre

saturday, march 20th

air

@ berklee performance center

sunday, march 21st

the clientele

field music

@ great scott

wednesday, march 24th

extraneous noise presents...

golden spurs

spirit kid

some say fire

the novel ideas

@ the middle east upstairs

thursday, march 25th

"thursday night alright!" with

the beatings

aloud

action camp

hello ninja

@ great scott

thursday, march 25th

the donnas

@ the paradise

friday, march 26th

eldridge rodriguez (the beatings)

ryan lee crosby

ted billings (age rings/hot protestants)

@ the somerville armory

friday, march 26th

basia bulat

marissa nadler

lady lamb the beekeeper

@ tt the bears

saturday, march 27th

your say party! we say die!

the new collisions

static of the gods (cd release)

@ tt the bears

saturday, march 27th

the big pink

a place to bury strangers

magic magic

@ the paradise

saturday, march 27th

spoon

deerhunter

@ the house of blues

sunday, march 28th

beach house

bachelorette

@ the paradise

monday, march 29th

the soft pack

nodzzz

beaters

@ great scott

tuesday, march 30th

shearwater

wye oak

hospital ships

@ tt the bears

tuesday, march 30th

manchester orchestra

the features

biffy clyro

o'brother

@ the paradise

wednesday, march 31st

japandroids

love is all

girlfriends

@ the middle east downstairs

wednesday, march 31st

miike snow

delorean

@ the paradise

wednesday, march 31st

a sunny day in glasgow

pants yell!

bearstronaut

@ great scott

thursday, april 1st

girls

dum dum girls

@ the paradise

friday, april 2nd

the xx

jj (late show only)

two shows @ the paradise

friday, april 2nd

drive-by truckers

lucero

langhorne slim

@ the house of blues

saturday, april 3rd

cassavettes

the grownup noise

kingsley flood (cd release)

spouse

@ the middle east upstairs

saturday, april 3rd

black rebel motorcycle club

alberta cross

@ the house of blues

saturday, april 3rd

nada surf

dawn landes & the hounds

@ the paradise

sunday, april 4th

serena maneesh

depreciation guild

black fortress of opium

@ tt the bears

tuesday, april 6th

wilco

@ the orpheum

tuesday, april 6th

ben fold & a piano

kate miller-heidke

@ the house of blues

wednesday, april 7th

florence & the machine

@ the paradise

wednesday, april 7th

rocky votolato

brooke waggoner

@ great scott

thursday, april 8th

faces on film

hands & knees

st. claire (cd release!)

mr. sister

@ tt the bears

thursday, april 8th

thom yorke + atoms for peace

flying lotus

@ the citi/wang theatre

friday, april 9th

midlake

@ the paradise

saturday, april 10th

xiu xiu

tune-yards

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, april 10th

ted leo & the pharmacists

obits

screaming females

@ the paradise

saturday, april 10th

pissed jeans

confines

sqrm

@ great scott

sunday, april 11th

fanfarlo

lawrence arabia

robert francis

@ the paradise

monday, april 12th

the wedding present

play their 1989 lp 'bizarro'

with openers girl in a coma

@ the middle east downstairs

monday, april 12th

titus andronicus

the babies

@ great scott

thursday, april 15th

jakob dylan with guests

neko case + kelly hogan

@ the wilbur theatre

thursday, april 15th

red sparowes

doomriders

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, april 16th

guillermo sexo

freddie t and the people

(ex-june of 44 / hoover)

travels

ghost box orchestra

@ pa's lounge

friday, april 16th

have nots (vinyl release!)

the appreciation post

razors in the night

wicked whiskey

the swaggerin growlers

@ tt the bears

saturday, april 17th

kaki king

an horse

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, april 17th

the morning benders

miniature tigers

@ tt the bears

sunday, april 18th

heavy trash (w/jon spencer)

the konks

the cobra-matics

@ tt the bears

sunday, april 18th

the thermals

past lives

@ the middle east downstairs

monday, april 19th

trans am

@ the middle east downstairs

tuesday, april 20th

owen pallett (aka final fantasy)

@ the ica boston

tuesday, april 20th

elvis costello & the sugarcanes

@ the orpheum

tuesday, april 20th

the low anthem

timber timbre

@ the paradise

tuesday, april 20th

quasi

let's wrestle

@ the middle east downstairs

wednesday, april 21st

the church

special 30th anniversary

acoustic career retrospective

@ the somerville armory

wednesday, april 21st through

wednesday, april 28th

the 8th annual independent

film festival of boston

@ various boston area theatres

including the somerville + brattle

thursday, april 22nd

the mary onettes

@ great scott

saturday, april 24th

graham parker with

the figgs

@ johnny d's, somerville

saturday, april 24th

los campesinos!

here we go magic

@ the paradise

sunday, april 25th

harlem

@ the great scott

monday, april 26th

echo + the bunneymen

hatcham social

@ the paradise

wednesday, april 28th

gogol bordello

devotchka

jesse malin

st. mark's social

@ the house of blues

thursday, april 29th

frightened rabbit

@ the paradise

friday, april 30th

the everyday visuals

the lights out

the flying machines

aloud

@ tt the bears

friday, april 30th

corinne bailey ray

@ the house of blues

friday, april 30th

the album leaf

sea wolf

@ the paradise

wednesday, april 28th

little boots

dragonette

fan death

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, may 1st

white rabbits

here we go magic

@ the paradise

monday, may 3rd

yeasayer

sleigh bells

@ the paradise

tuesday, may 4th

gregory & the hawk

lady lamb the beekeeper

@ tt the bears

tuesday & wednesday

may 4th & 5th

public image ltd.

@ the royale (formerly the roxy)

wednesday & thursday

may 5th & 6th

jonsi (from sigur ros)

@ the house of blues

thursday, may 6th

shout out louds

@ the paradise

friday, may 7th

ok go

earl greyhound

robert francis

@ the paradise

saturday, may 8th

local natives

@ great scott

tuesday & wednesday

may 11th & 12th

dr. dog

deer tick

@ the paradise

thursday, may 13th

small brown bike

bridge and tunnel

your skull my closet

wallcreeper

@ great scott

saturday, may 22nd

killing joke

@ the paradise

tuesday, may 18th

spectrum (featuring sonic boom

from spacemen 3 + e.a.r.)

with the broken river prophet

@ the middle east upstairs

tuesday, may 25th

the smittens

allo darlin'

one happy island

hearts!attack

a smile and a ribbon

horowitz

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, may 26th

reverend horton heat

cracker

miss derringer

@ the house of blues

friday, may 28th

mono

the twilight sad

@ the middle east downstairs

wednesday, june 2nd

kings of convenience

franklin for short

@ the paradise

wednesday, june 2nd

ryan bingham & the dead horses

@ tt the bears

wednesday & thursday

june 2nd & 3rd

the national

@ the house of blues

friday, june 4th

brian jonestown massacre

@ the paradise

friday, june 18th

reigning sound

movers & shakers

triplethick

@ tt the bears

saturday, june 19th

james taylor

carole king

@ the garden

sunday + monday

june 20th + 21st

isis

melvins

totimoshi

@ the paradise

thursday + saturday

august 19th + 21st

tom petty + the heartbreakers

my morning jacket

@ the comcast center

visit tourfilter for more shows

Bless me fatha, for I have not blogged. It's been one week since my last post.

Yeah, I'm still here, don't go frettin'. Feelin' run down after my DC Teenbeat trip, started playin' drums with some new friends, cramming for a March 13th show at TTs. Work's been a little nutty, the Nac's gotten a bit dusty, but I've been working on two more Teenbeat-related posts (and lotsa live mp3s) that should be up in the next couple days. Blog willin'.

Until then, a few semi-quick things...

Hey, Boston-types: David Rees (he of the brilliant Get Your War On and M.N.F.T.I.U.) will be speaking and signing at Harvard's Boylston Hall tomorrow afternoon, Friday the 4th, at ~~4pm~~ 7pm. ~~I'm gonna have to skip outta work a little early for it (that ok, boss?)~~. Check out Rees' hardcore art-skillz on this poster for the event. Impressive, as always. (thanks for the heads up, sushiesque)

Further evidence that my friend Jo rules the school: Check out her newly-christened Friday Night Project, where she'll be trying to convert and post one random live/rare cassette in digital form each week. The first one is a doozy: Some old-style House of Love, recorded live in 1987 when they were still a five piece, with Andrea Heukamp on guitar and vocals. Very, very nice. Thanks, Jo.

Speaking of which, thanks to Chromewaves for directing me to cd-wow.com, where I just ordered up the new (import-only) House of Love disc for a mere 10 british pounds, shipping included. Cheapest I've seen it. Pretty satisfying to be able to write "new House of Love disc", and I hope it's worth the wait. Now, how about some North American tour dates?

So I caught a preview screening of Hostage, the supposed 'return-to-form' action vehicle for Mr. Bruce Willis. Since Die Hard is easily among my favorite straight-up-action films, I had a sliver of hope that this movie could be a solid diversion, if not necessarily an original one.

The swooping, animated cityscape of the opening title sequence had me thinking they'd swapped out the screening for a sneak of Sin City (don't I wish)... all blacks and whites, and blood red skies. It kinda looked liked a cutscene sequence from a Hostage video game, which would no doubt be more enjoyable than the film itself. Hell, I'd play it. (Ah ha... a little clicking reveals that the director of Hostage, Florent Emilio Siri, actually helmed two Splinter Cell games. There ya go.)

Based on a Robert Crais novel, Willis plays Jeff Talley, an L.A. hostage negotiator who takes a small-town police chief position after a negotiations falls apart. You know the drill, even if you haven't seen the trailer... the slo-mo tragedy of this opening is a simple set up for an eventual shot at redemption. It cruises through this obiligatory intro, straight into the "why did we have to move here?" family squabble (using his real-life daughter, Rumor, who has a small, whiny part, and the unfortunate combination of Bruce's huge oval head and Demi's small-ish facial features), and then the "we're in a small town and things are so simple" police station scene, but without any real emotion... there's no connection made to any of the supporting cast, which would have ratcheted up the drama later on. It all seems so painfully paint-by-numbers.

The score was so over-the-top, the sound mix so bombastic, and the story so overwrought, it would have been comical if it wasn't so damn deadly dull. It lacked the energy and pace of a Die Hard film, was entirely devoid of humor, relying far too much on Bruce's furrowed brow, and on Ben Foster's sulking, gothy character for menace. Six Feet Under fans know Foster well... here he pretty much plays a murderous riff on broody art-student Russell, but there's no real motivation revealed, just an offhand line about losing his parents or something. There's one unintentionally hilarious slow-motion shot of him framed by flames, and I swear he looks like the star of the next direct-to-video Crow film. The filmmakers also constantly and creepily milk the threat of underage sexual assault, with lots of shots of freaky Foster leering at his tied-up teenage hostage and her peek-a-boo thong.

And the violence... so much of it was unnecessary, all blood-spurting headshots, live burning bodies, and a particularly brutal knife to the mouth. I know, that just guaranteed some of you will go check this out. Hey, I'm game for a little gore, but this movie uses it so sloppily, and all too gratuitously. It even pulls the cheapest trick in the book (the villians are so evil they kill puppies!). With a better supporting cast, a tighter script, and sharper direction, these moments of shock could easily have come from situations instead of upside-your-head violence. The movie's premise actually provides a solid enough framework, but the screenwriter and director fail to fill it in. There's no rhythm, no build-up, and so no real pay-off.

I've heard good things about Robert Crais' novels, and I'm really curious to hear from fans of this book after they see the film... did Hollywood screw this up? Was it all down to the editing and directing choices, or was the source material this ham-fisted?

If you're in the mood for some big-screen action, skip this sucker and check out Ong-Bak. And if you're hankering for some classic Bruce, turn on your television. Somewhere, on some random cable channel, Die Hard is probably on.

My longtime appreciation for Vermont Senator Pat Leahy climbs yet another notch, as he sponsors a new Anti-Phishing-Scam bill. If you user the internet, and I'm, uh, guessing you do, this will impact you. Go, Senator, Go.

Athiests, agnostics, and others will find this both amusing and fairly frightening: My Little Golden Book About Zogg.

The second part of the exclusive fan-conducted interview with The Arcade Fire is up over at fan-forum Neighborhood #1. If you missed the first part, it's right here.

Now that I'm spending more time behind the drum kit again, I need some real earplugs. I've never really used any, and I'm gonna end up paying for it if I don't start soon, so I ordered up a pair of these. Relatively cheap, and promise to do the job. Hope their product is better than their unnecessarily flash-heavy website. I need to find something that saves my hearing but still allows me to feel what we're all playing. If that didn't sound too cheezy.

From earplugs to Headphones. Not the wearable kind, but the listenable kind... namely the new non-guitar trio of Pedro the Lion's David Bazan, Tim Walsh, and Frank Lenz. Electronics, vocals, and live drums, and you can stream their entire album over at Pure Volume. Doesn't come out until May, so that's quite an early preview.

My friend Rob sent me a link to his new Black & Blue Productions site, where you can check out a video for My First Days on Junk's 'From A Parked Car'. Head over, click on 'Reel', have a listen-and-look-see.

Just a few more weeks until that swell double/triple disc Yo La Tengo collection gets released. Billboard speaks with Ira Kaplan about it.

Nostalgic gamers delight: Liberated Games has dozens of free, legal downloads of old-school PC games. We're talkin' Hexen, Descent, Doom, Heretic, Rise of the Triad, lots more. I seriously need more free time.

The first Red Sox spring training game of the '05 season is on the tube tonight, and it's gonna be nice to kick back and soak that in, pretend it's not wintertime for an evening. Yesterday I shook the magic hand of former Sox pitcher Bill 'The Spaceman' Lee, and told him how much fun I had watching NESN's recent rebroadcasting of the '76 Red Sox vs. Reds World Series. He did, too, remarking that "It'd been years since I've seen myself pitch!". He's got a new book out, if you're a fan of the man.

By Monday, some live Teenbeat mp3 action. This I do solemnly swear. And if you've emailed me in the past couple weeks, hang in there... I'm hoping to clear out my inbox over the weekend, too...

posted by brad at 3:22 PM | direct link | rss (1 :2) |