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

tuesday, september 23rd

cut copy

the presets

@ the paradise

wednesday, september 24th

low

tulsa

@ 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

sunday, october 12th

jamie lidell

@ the paradise

tuesday, october 14th

cold war kids

@ the paradise

thursday, october 16th

ben kweller

whitley

@ 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

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Mp3s: James Kochalka in Cambridge, MA

September's been a banner month for the two sides of James Kochalka, both the cartoonist and the musical Superstar: His band's long-delayed Rykodisc album, "Spread Your Evil Wings and Fly", was finally released on September 12th, just a few days after he was honored with his first-ever comics industry Harvey Award. During the September 9th ceremony at the Baltimore Comic-Con, James was granted the 2006 "Best Online Comics Work" title for his daily diary strip, American Elf.

But as good as AE and his printed comics work is, this here post is about his music, which I've been all-too familiar with since his days in the casio/saxophone/JK combo Jazzin' Hell back in his (and my former) hometown of Burlington, Vermont. (trivia: Jazzin' Hell included Philistines Jr./Zambonis member and ace Interpol/The National recording engineer Peter Katis, as well as Thicker Magazine main-man Eric Bradford). After a few years fronting Jazzin' Hell, James eventually started releasing songs under the prescient name of James Kochalka Superstar, an umbrella under which James has invited a long list of friends to record and perform. (more trivia/disclaimer: I was fortunate enough to have been one of these random members, in a short-lived live lineup that included Colin Clary, Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz, and Pistol Stamen of the Pants. We were not, some would say, 'the tightest' incarnation of JKS, but we sure put on a show).

JKS' songs actually have a fair amount in common with his comics work: deceptively simple and insidiously catchy, childlike wonder combined with the subtle (and not-at-all subtle) hints of naughtiness. It's kids music for grown-up kids: kinda goofy at times, insightful at others, and occasionally all at once. There's no middle ground with James' stuff... you either dig it or you don't, much like other bands that get name dropped in his reviews (TMBG, King Missle, Ween, etc.).

After several albums on a variety of small labels (including the 1995 Dot Dot Dash debut, "The True Story of James Kochalka Superstar", 2000's "Carrot Boy the Beautiful" on Sudden Shame, and the self-released "Don't Trust Whitey" in 2001), James inked a deal with Rykodisc that started with the release of a best-of compilation, last year's "Our Most Beloved". While Ryko initially seemed reluctant to nail down a release date for a follow-up of all new material, that changed quickly once his song "Hockey Monkey" (co-written with the Zambonis) was chosen as the theme song for the Fox sitcom "The Loop". The amped up exposure not only put "Spread Your Evil Wings and Fly" on their fall release schedule, but resulted in the four-song iTunes-only "Hockey Monkey" EP.

To mark the unveiling of "Spread Your Evil Wings and Fly", James played a few stripped-down shows with his bandmate (and frequent American Elf cameo canine, and Icebox Records co-guy) Jason 'x-12' Cooley on guitar. They ended in New York after stopping in Philly, but the first show was here in Cambridge, MA on Friday night, August 25th with comedians Neil Hamburger & Morgan Murphy, and the World's Greatest Sinners. Despite the fact that JKS was on first, the placed was packed from the get-go. Here's their entire set...

James Kochalka Superstar

Live at The Middle East Upstairs
Cambridge, MA
Friday, August 25th, 2006

01. Ringo Starr
02. Magic Finger
03. Fascist Bikes
04. Even The Clouds Get High
05. Why Is The Sky Blue?
06. Wash Your Ass
07. Rainbow Love
08. Mummy Song
09. Bad Astronaut
10. Don't Confiscate the Beat
11. Britney's Silver Can
12. Cocaine
13. Hot Penis story
14. Hockey Monkey
15. Old North End
16. Monkey vs. Robot

Some Kochalka-quality links...

Buy "Spread Your Evil Wings and Fly" at Amazon or on iTunes, and make sure you visit his American Elf at least once a day.

He's got a Wikipedia entry, and a MySpace page, although it's not run by James himself.

He also has some very fine fan sites, including ADD's Kochalkaholic and a Sweden-based Supersite.

A couple videos for songs on "SYEWAF": A clip for "Wash Your Ass" (quicktime / youtube), and the lo-fi vid for the title track (youtube), which was shot by James on his Nintendo Game Boy Camera. There's an older one for "Hockey Monkey" as well (quicktime / asf).

James appears in the second episode of the hilarious Monsterface TeeVee. Glad I discovered MFTV through JKS, 'cuz now I'm officially a Monsterface fanboy. Go have a look.

Stereogum recently gave the JKS song "Britney's Silver Can" some love, and Whitney gave it a spin on her Pop Candy blog's podcast.

Facebooker Aleks Prince saw James and Jason's last stop on the mini-tour, a show at the Cake Shop in Manhattan. There is spiffy photographic evidence.

Head over to Dangerfive to download an entire JKS online-only EP of demos called "Hot Chocolate Superstar".

Grab a full-band live version of "Britney's Silver Can" courtesy of Web Comics Nation.

Download a bunch of mp3s from James' old band, Jazzin' Hell. According to their site, an enhanced cd will eventually be released containing "all tracks from our studio sessions with Peter Katis, radio sessions at WRUV, insane live tracks, and those little videos you can play on your computer." Cool deal.

the fine print... If anyone has an issue with this live set being made available, just say the word (email link on left). Recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps mp3s. Mp3s are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.

Labels: livemp3s