navigate the 'nac
almanac mp3 archives almanac shared mp3 archive
live show photo archive boston-area live shots on flickr
'my life or some dream'
original mp3 compilation

free mp3 compilation on club fub
bands i've been in bands i've played drums in
the 'nac faq & contact info
contact info and more

the 'nac on the 'net

the almanac rss feed
subscribe to my rss feed
follow me on twitter the almanac twitter account
become a fan on facebook the 'nac on facebook
hype machine 'nac page the almanac hype machine page
the 'nac songkick gig page the almanac songkick gig page
almanac events on sponty the almanac sponty events page
the almanac last.fm page the almanac last.fm page

the almanac archives


search the 'nac


recommended boston area events

thursday, september 2nd

lou barlow + the missingmen

wye oak

the unfamiliars

@ the middle east upstairs


saturday, september 4th

mg lederman (ex-victory at sea)

cd release show with

the wrong reasons

the beat awfuls

brant deatley

@ the plough & stars


sunday, september 5th

sweet apple

(w/j mascis on drums)

black helicopter

zombie radio

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, september 5th

the milling gowns

what time is it, mr. fox?

faux ox

jaggery

@ harper's ferry


monday, september 6th

wallcreeper

@ charlie's kitchen


monday, september 6th

shellac

helen money

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, september 7th

tortoise

greg davis

ben vidas

@ the paradise


tuesday, september 7th

someone still loves you boris yeltsin

telekinesis

golden bloom

@ tt the bears


tuesday, september 7th

kele (from bloc party)

does it offend you, yeah?

@ the royale boston


wednesday, september 8th

hot hot heat

22-20s

hey rosetta!

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, september 8th

airborne toxic event (acoustic)

with the calder string quartet

@ the somerville theatre


thursday, september 9th

apple betty

this blue heaven

the backup factor

apollo run

@ tt the bears


friday, september 10th

i, pistol

black fortress of opium

the crushing low

@ precinct


friday, september 10th

the charlatans uk

sherlock's daughter

@ the royale boston


saturday, september 11th

school of seven bells

active child

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, september 11th

neutral uke hotel (nmh covers on ukelele)

the michael j. epstein memorial library

@ cafe 939, berklee


saturday, september 11th

28 degrees taurus

magic shoppe (record release!)

@ the rosebud


saturday, september 11th

jamie lidell

@ the royale boston


friday + saturday

september 11th + 12th

the life is good festival

lots of bands, raising money for kids

over 2 days in canton, ma


sunday, september 12th

jarrod gorbel

(of the honorary title)

air traffic controller

@ great scott


sunday, september 12th

blondie

@ the house of blues


sunday, september 12th

vampire weekend

beach house

dum dum girls

@ the boa pavilion


monday, september 13th

dirty projectors

owen pallett (final fantasy)

@ the wilbur theatre


monday, september 13th

isobel campbell

mark lanegan

willy mason

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, september 14th

rush

@ the td garden


wednesday, september 15th

laura veirs + the hall of flames

the watson twins

led to sea

@ tt the bears


thursday, september 16th

of montreal

janelle monae

@ the house of blues boston


friday, september 17th

one happy island

kevin dunn

cotton candy

7:30pm @ the lily pad, cambridge


friday, september 17th

broken social scene

@ the house of blues


friday & saturday

september 17th & 18th

the 5th annual

viva la vinal festival!

with live performances from

audrey ryan, kingsley flood,

this blue heaven, bridget + the squares,

the international string trio, & justin shorey

6-10pm on friday + 12-9 on saturday

@ somerville community growing center

on vinal ave. in somerville's union square


saturday, september 18th

pavement

jenny (lewis) + johnny (rice)

@ agganis arena


saturday, september 18th

wavves

@ brandeis university, waltham


sunday, september 19th

thee oh sees

the human tail

thick shakes

@ the magic room gallery, brighton


sunday, september 19th

caribou

holy fuck

emeralds

@ the paradise


monday, september 20th

girlfriends

carnivores

weekend dads

@ o'brien's


tuesday, september 21st

superchunk

versus

@ royale boston


tuesday, september 21st

basia bulat

the acorn

john shade

@ tt the bears


tuesday, september 21st

sea wolf (alex acoustic)

sera cahoone

patrick park

@ the middle east upstairs


wednesday, september 22nd

phantogram

railbird

@ the paradise


wednesday, september 22nd

david bazan

the mynabirds

@ tt the bears


wednesday, september 22nd

field music

@ great scott


thursday, september 23rd

aloud (album release party!)

st. claire

old jack

with special emcee

poet/author james caroline

@ church of boston


thursday, september 23rd

stars

wild nothing

@ the house of blues


thursday, september 23rd

!!! (chk chk chk)

fol chen

@ the royale boston


thursday, september 23rd

bettie serveert

meandjoancollins

the painted lights

@ tt the bears


friday, september 24th

eels

@ the royale boston


saturday, september 25th

teenage fanclub

@ the royale boston


saturday, september 25th

james

ed harcourt

@ the paradise


sunday, september 26th

come (reunited!)

wussy

@ tt the bears


sunday, september 26th

mr. sister (debut album release!)

coyote kolb

tallahassee

@ great scott


sunday, september 26th

mates of state

@ the paradise


monday, september 27th

rogue wave

midlake

peter wolf crier

@ royale boston


tuesday, september 28th

lcd soundsystem

sleigh bells

@ the orpheum


tuesday, september 28th

best coast

male bonding

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, september 29th

quilt

paper castles

toothache

@ the lilypad


wednesday, september 29th

foals

esben + the witch

@ the paradise


thursday, september 30th

mc frontalot

@ tt the bears


thursday, september 30th

menomena

suckers

@ the royale boston


thursday + friday

sept 30th + oct 1st

built to spill

revolt revolt

pretty & nice

@ the paradise


friday, october 1st

the tallest man on earth

s. carey (of bon iver's band)

@ the somerville theatre


friday, october 1st

ra ra riot

chikita violenta

we barbarians

@ the royale boston


saturday, october 2nd

gayngs

(with bon iver's justin vernon)

glasser

@ the paradise


saturday, october 2nd

film school

the depreciation guild

static of the gods

night fruit

@ tt the bears


sunday, october 3rd

the xx

@ the orpheum


sunday, october 3rd

tom tom club

caravan of thieves

tony castles

@ the paradise


sunday, october 3rd

lost in the trees

@ tt the bears


tuesday, october 5th

the vaselines

jeffrey lewis

@ the paradise


tuesday, october 5th

chapterhouse

ulrich schnauss

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, october 5th

ratatat

dom

@ the house of blues boston


wednesday, october 6th

gorillaz

@ agganis arena


wednesday, october 6th

the hold steady

wintersleep

@ the royale boston


thursday, october 7th

the walkmen

a.a. bondy

blood feathers

@ the royale boston


friday, october 8th

death

@ the middle east downstairs


friday, october 8th

fountains of wayne

marshall crenshaw (solo)

@ the paradise


friday, october 8th

bell x1 (acoustic)

@ the brattle theatre


saturday, october 9th

paul f. tompkins

@ the brattle theatre


sunday, october 10th

deerhoof

xiu xiu

father murphy

first show @ the paramount!


sunday, october 10th

miike snow

@ the house of blues


sunday, october 10th

primus

mucca pazza

@ the orpheum


tuesday, october 12th

ingrid michaelson

@ the house of blues


wednesday, october 13th

dead kennedys

@ the paradise


thursday, october 14th

the thermals

cymbals eat guitars

@ the paradise


thursday, october 14th

the morning after girls

the lovetones

the december sound

ghost box orchestra

@ tt the bears


friday, october 15th

nick lowe + his band

graham parker (solo acoustic)

@ the somerville theatre


friday, october 15th

jimmy eat world

@ the house of blues


friday, october 15th

bowerbirds

death vessel

@ tt the bears


friday, october 15th

belle + sebastian

@ the wang theatre / citi center


saturday, october 16th

deerhunter

real estate

casino vs. japan

@ royale boston


sunday, october 17th

the henry clay people

the dig

@ tt the bears


monday, october 18th

greg dulli

(afghan whigs/twilight singers)

first-ever solo tour

with opener craig wedren

(of shudder to think)

@ the brattle theatre


monday, october 18th

bad religion

the bouncing souls

@ the house of blues


monday, october 18th

the drums

the hairs

@ the paradise


monday, october 18th

phoenix

two door cinema club

wavves

@ agganis arena


tuesday, october 19th

massive attack

thievery corporation

@ the orpheum


wednesday, october 20th

the pains of being pure at heart

yuck

eternal summers

@ the paradise


wednesday, october 20th

helmet

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, october 22nd

gary numan

rasputina

playing 'the pleasure principle'

@ the paradise


saturday, october 23rd

local natives

the ruby suns

union line

@ the house of blues


sunday, october 24th

woven bones

frankie rose & the outs

@ tt the bears


monday, october 25th

the corin tucker band

hungry ghost

darren hanlon

@ the paradise


wednesday, october 27th

a sunny day in glasgow

candy claws

@ great scott


wednesday, october 27th

black prairie

(members of the decemberists)

sarah jarosz

@ the middle east upstairs


thursday, october 28th

the tt's halloween bash

with members of mean creek + campaign

for real time (as talking heads)

john powhida (as todd rundgren)

preacher roe (as guided by voices)

@ tt the bears


friday, october 29th

frightened rabbit

plants and animals

the phantom band

@ the paradise


saturday, october 30th

hallelujah the hills

magic magic

boy without god

@ great scott


sunday, october 31st

florence and the machine

the smith westerns

@ the house of blues


monday, november 1st

blonde redhead

pantha du prince

@ the paradise


monday, november 1st

social distortion

lucero

frank turner

@ the house of blues boston


tuesday, november 2nd

junip (jose gonzales)

sharon van etten

@ the royale boston


tuesday, november 2nd

black mountain

the black angels

@ the paradise


wednesday, november 3rd

the dandy warhols

blue giant

@ tt the bears


wednesday, november 3rd

land of talk

suuns

little scream

@ tt the bears


thursday, november 4th

through sunday, november 7th

the international pop overthrow

4 nights @ pa's lounge


thursday, november 4th

matt + kim

javelin

@ the house of blues


thursday, november 4th

blitzen trapper

@ the paradise


friday, november 5th

guided by voices

blitzen trapper

@ the paradise


sunday, november 7th

drivin 'n cryin

@ tt the bears


monday, november 8th

clinic

the fresh & onlys

@ the paradise


tuesday, november 9th

the morning benders

@ the paradise


thursday + friday

november 11th + 12th

sufjan stevens

@ the orpheum


thursday, november 11th

shearwater

horse feathers

damien jurado

anais mitchell

@ the house of blues


thursday, november 11th

deer tick

@ the royale boston


thursday, november 11th

mumford & sons

cadillac sky

king charles

@ the house of blues


friday, november 12th

bottomless pit

black helicopter

chris brokaw

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, november 13th

roky erickson

@ the royale boston


saturday, november 13th

grinderman

(nick cave, warren ellis, + more)

@ the house of blues


sunday, november 14th

elizabeth mitchell (of ida)

and friends

(a children's show!)

4:30pm @ club passim


sunday, november 14th

man or astro-man?

@ the middle east downstairs


monday, november 15th

la roux

@ the house of blues


tuesday, november 16th

a night of springsteen covers

with chris keene (mean creek),

corin ashley, dave aaronoff,

brendan little, hilken mancini,

the dirty truckers, drew o'doherty,

and more to be announced

marking the release of the new

6-disk 'darkness on the edge of town'

box set @ tt the bears


tuesday, november 16th

the posies

brendan benson

aqueduct

@ the royale boston


wednesday, november 17th

cornershop

@ the middle east downstairs


thursday, november 18th

kate nash

@ the paradise


thursday, november 18th

bear in heaven

@ the middle east downstairs


friday, november 19th

township

the lights out

the organ beats

@ tt the bears


saturday, november 20th

delorean

lemonade

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, november 24th

idlewild

happy hollows

@ the middle east downstairs


thursday, december 2nd

director/actor kevin smith

@ the house of blues


saturday, december 4th

peter hook + the light

play joy division's "unknown pleasures"

@ the royale boston


saturday, december 4th

killing joke

@ the paradise


visit tourfilter for more shows






Tuesday, August 23, 2005

The Residue of Intention
I'm slowly regaining my strength after a four-day battle with some nasty summer cold-flu-type-thing. Started with a swollen throat on Thursday, hit me with a fever on Friday, then came the aches, pains, and finally, the crazy congestion. I'll stop there, and hopefully, so will this thing. Dragged myself into work yesterday morning after a weekend in bed, during which I watched a bunch of tv (Six Feet Under finale: loved it, more later.), a few Netflixed dvds, and an occasional level of Republic Commando. I did make a feeble attempt to go out on Saturday night to catch a pop show at the Specific Heat's house, but I only lasted long enough to have a slice o' pizza and welcome the Smittens to town at the end of their tour. Hopefully I didn't infect 'em while they were here. I tried to withhold the hugs and handshakes.

Gonna make this brief (do I always say that?), I've got far too much work to get done, and I'm firing on a single sickly cylinder...


517's last new Teenbeat MP3 of the Week is a doozy. Bringing the total offerings to 100, he gives us a compiled live version of Unrest's wonderful 'Perfect Teeth' record. It's only up for a few more days, so get going. Past mp3s will be rotated in from now on, unless he gets occasionally inspired. Wise ones will keep checkin' back. Or hell, just join the Teenbeat Mailing List to stay informed.


Online radio show action that's been occupying my ears lately: The first edition of the new All Over the Place podcast, which happens to give a shout out to the 'Nac. It's put together by NYC-area blogger Rob Galgano, and although I've never met him, he apparantly makes music in the Fond Farewells with my friend Ad, who was in Jumprope, and maintains the massive Indie Pop Links List. Whew. Go listen to some Fond Farewells songs, why don'tcha?

Also in my ears: The (relatively) long-running No Love For Ned. It arrives weekly in the form of realaudio streams, and often features in-studio performances. For instance? Doug Gillard, Darren Hanlon, TigerSaw, and many more.


Check out a few songs from Catherine Wheel singer/guitarist Rob Dickinson's upcoming solo debut, 'Fresh Wine For The Horses' (out 9/13) at his MySpace page. North American tour dates are leaking out, nothing in Boston yet, though.

NYC people: He's at Joe's Pub this Thursday.

Rob's recent acoustic appearance at M-Theory Music in San Diego is available for download if you're a bittorrent type. You can also get the co-headliner sets from Swervedriver's Adam Franklin and Ride's Mark Gardener. Very nice.

Fact: One of the best live shows I've ever seen, easily in my top five, was Catherine Wheel and Slowdive at Boston's Axis back in 1993. At least, I think it was '93. I had to buy Slowdive's 'Souvlaki' as an import since it wasn't even out in the states yet. Anyway, best sounding mix I've ever heard, a wall of sound in which you could hear every single instrument, both Slowdive and Catherine Wheel at their near-peaks, so damn powerful. I will never forget that night.


Speaking of Slowdive, Penny Black Music has an interview with former Slowdive guitarist Christian Saville and bass player Nick Chaplin, in which they talk candidly about the breakup of the band a decade ago. Wow, it's been 10 years? Yikes.


Word from some around the web is that 'Plans', the new Death Cab For Cutie disc that arrives on shelves next week, is quote-unquote 'boring'. Well, I've heard the thing, and yeah, it leans towards the downbeat side... but I'm in love with it. To my ears, 'What Sarah Said' is easily the most touching song they've ever written. Just a beautifully done piece of music that gets me every listen. Can't wait to own the disc, if just for that.

The invaluable Stereogum points us to a stream of the entire album, and also directs us to a live recording of Death Cab & the Decemberists covering Fleetwood Mac. When did it become cool to cover the Mac again? Oh, wait, it didn't.


Throwing Music, the online home of Kristin Hersh, her current band 50 Foot Wave, and her old band, Throwing Muses, has undergone a complete blog-based redesign. Kristin herself is maintaining her own blog, which is a very cool new addition, and this marks the first time in many, many years that the place has been without a messageboard.

Up until a few years ago, I spent a lot of time on their old forum, really enjoyed the community that was built there, and it's indirectly responsible for Amie and I meeting, believe it or not. The spirit of the place seemingly got a bit diluted over time, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of board the place eventually settles on, if they set up a new one at all.

Either way, go poke around. There's a bunch of free music to be had. More content should be showing up randomly.


A Kristin-flavored segue: She covered Cat Stevens' 'Trouble' on 2001's 'Sunny Border Blue', and it appears the much-missed Elliott Smith did the same before he quit life. It'll be featured on the soundtrack for the upcoming Mike Mills-directed film Thumbsucker. More details here (and thanks for the heads up, Unfinished.)

I'm totally going to get Thumbsucker and Chumscrubber confused. Let's hope there's never a film called 'Chumsucker'. Mmmm.... chum! Actually, if they're referring to 'a good friend' instead of 'shark bait', that could actually be a good time at the cinema. Or not. Moving on...


Another very notable Joe's Pub show, which will again only come in handy for NYC readers: American Analog Set will be playing there next Tuesday, you lucky bastards. It's a pre-tour warm-up type thing, well before their stellar new record comes out in late September, and tickets are now available. I'll be on vacation in Newport, RI next week, and part of me wants to drive south for that sucker. Hmmmm...

But wait! Looks like AmAnSet is playing TTs in Cambridge on Wednesday, November 16th. Can I hold out that long for a local show? A complete list of dates is at the Arts & Crafts site, who are graciously releasing the upcoming record.


Also in NYC next week, and completely free, is a set from Ted Leo & his Pharmacists as part of the Seaport Music Festival. It's at NYC's South Street Seaport on Friday night, August 30th, and they're playing with Tigers and Monkeys. Gotta love any show that's described as "outdoors, in front of the pirate boats".


Also free, and actually here in Boston: Tomorrow afternoon, Michael Penn performs a complimentary acoustic set in the South Garden of the Prudential Center Mall. That's right across the street from where I work, so I'll probably be checking that out at lunchtime.

Now, I must plead ignorance when it comes to all but the 'No Myth phase' of Mr. Penn's work, but even I can't forego free music so close. And besides, he's on SpinART records, and I'm willing to give anything that they put out a try.


Anyone catch the excellent Dulli-sung song that closed out the latest episode of 'Rescue Me'? I sure as hell did... made my ears perk right up. My first thought: I must have this, what is it?! Ends up that it's unreleased, but not for long... it'll be found on the soon-available (pre-order here) Twilight Singers disc, 'Amber Headlights'. The track is called 'Pussywillow', and damn if it isn't another great Greg Dulli number. You can hear not one, not two, but four songs from the disc on their MySpace page: 'So Tight', 'Domani', 'Early Today', and 'Golden Boy'.


The new Nada Surf video for 'Always Love', from the upcoming Barsuk album, can be seen at the City Slang site. By the way: Initial pressings of the disc will include a bonus cd, so keep an eye out for that.


While I usually agree with him on things music-related, it seems I am of the exact opposite mind from Mr. Unfinished on two recent viewing experiences: As I said, I dug the hell out of the Six Feet Under finale (despite the flawed Six-Flags aging makeup), and thought that the Jim Jarmusch/Bill Murray team-up of Broken Flowers was seriously overrated. Ah well. Can't love 'em all.

For Six Feet fans, HBO has posted obituaries for the main characters on their 6FU site. Fills in some of the unfamiliar faces we saw during the future-flash-forwards of the finale. Stereogum also offers up that song heard over the epilogue. And finally, today's edition of NPR's Fresh Air program with Terry Gross featured a post-mortem with 6FU creator/writer/director Alan Ball. Well worth a listen.


Tickets for Chris Elliott's October 12th appearance at Brookline's Coolidge Corner Theatre are now on sale. He'll be promoting his upcoming book, "The Shroud of the Thwacker", and introducing a screening of Cabin Boy. That's worth waaaay more than a measly 5 bucks.


A sure sign that former Buffy/Angel writer Doug Petrie is behind the dialogue you just heard on an episode of the 4400? One character says to another: "Hey, you wanna go see The Arcade Fire on Friday night?".


Synop, the company behind my favorite RSS reader, Saucereader, has bitten the dust. Anyone got any other recommendations for a stand-alone, non-web-based reader?


I don't like a ton of reality TV (despite Amie's best efforts to get me sucked into some real crrrrap), but I'm totally up for a new season of The Amazing Race. It's season number eight, starting Sept. 27th, and it's family time. Here's the cast. I have no idea if this many-member experiment is gonna work, but I'm game.


How cool is this?!: I've been drafted back into The Broken River Prophet for a show on Friday, September 23rd down in Pawtucket, RI. I'm lucky enough to join Adam's crew as part of the closing night of the Mirror Image Film Festival, which itself is part of the annual Pawtucket Arts Festival. Full schedule here. You get short films, then a live band, then a full movie each night of the fest, which runs from the 11th to the 23rd. Very cool to see Chris Brokaw performing there on Friday, September 16th, too. Talk about fine company.


So if I knew which one of you caused my site counter to hit the 300,000 mark, I'd award you some kind of prize. It was probably because of BoingBoing, though, and I'd rather reward 'Nac loyalty than lucky linkage.

Y'know, I actually think that counter has rolled over a few times, and I'm not sure it even works right anymore. Hell, I just checked my stats and it appears I've been averaging something like 10,000 hits a day?! That cannot be right. I blame all the google-bots.


I'll end with two quotes stuck in my head recently...
"Luck is the residue of intention." - Robert B. Parker in 'Double Play', now out in paperback

"Every plan is a tiny prayer to Father Time." - DCFC in 'What Sarah Said'
I'll get some mp3s up soon, I hope. Give a sick blogger some slack.











featured mp3 download
arcade fire
live at the boa pavilion
in boston, mass.
on sunday, august 1st, 2010

latest live band pics



recent posts on the 'nac...


latest comments...


on the mp3 player

on the screen

on the nightstand


other boston-area music blogs


boston music media


boston live show / event info


music blogroll


music audiocasts


surf-worthy


other frequent haunts


boston-centric


some cele-bloggers



Locations of visitors to this page




Weblog Commenting by HaloScan.com

This page is powered by Blogger Pro.

Blog Directory - Blogged