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

Monday, October 02, 2006

Mp3s: Eric Bachmann in Cambridge, MA

Mr. Eric Bachmann returned to town for the first time since a triumphant full-band April, 2005 set with his Crooked Fingers at Central Square's Middle East. Both the setting and the setup were drastically different this time around, with Eric touring on his fine "To The Races" solo album, bringing along two sidewomen to assist rather than the full-Fingers. The trio squeezed onto the tiny stage of the generally folk-centric Club Passim, just one stop down the Red Line from Central in Harvard Square. An entirely dissimilar atmosphere, but no less magical.

It was our first time at Passim, and we were surprised to discover that our reserved 'dinner seats' put us right up against the stage, nearly in opener Richard Buckner's lap. Blame my ticket-purchasing punctuality for the prime spot, I suppose, but as someone who likes to snap a few photos, it was almost uncomfortably close... at times I felt like I was intruding. We were also only slightly bothered that the reservation had us eating with a couple of (fortunately friendly) strangers at the table. Not sure if this is standard for the club (every other table in the sold-out space had team-ups), or if the demand for tickets necessitated it (the small room required the scheduling of a second Bachmann/Buckner show later that night). Coupled with the crammed-in crowd, some early-fall humidity made the place super-stuffy, but Bachmann's set was beautiful enough to make me oblivious as he played. Here's his performance, featuring Kate O'Brien on cello & violin, and Miranda Brown on keyboards, guitar, and a bit of percussion. Both also contribute some gorgeous backing vocals throughout...

Eric Bachmann

Live at Club Passim
Cambridge, MA
Tuesday, September 19th, 2006

01. Islero
02. Genie Genie
03. Man O' War
04. Lonesome Warrior
05. To the Races
06. Sleep All Summer
07. Don't Say A Word
08. Andalucia
09. Carrboro Woman
10. You Can Never Leave
11. Little Bird
12. Genevieve
13. Black Black Ocean
14. New Drink For The Old Drunk
15. So Long Savannah
16. You Must Build A Fire

For those keeping score, that's eight songs from "To The Races", four from the latest Crooked Fingers disc, 2005's "Dignity and Shame", two from the previous one, 2003's "Red Devil Dawn", and a couple from the 2000 self-titled CF debut.

Some Bachmann-related links...

Purchase his solo album "To The Races" at Saddle Creek Records, or from his offical store. I believe he had the vinyl version with him on the road, so hopefully it'll show up there.

His MySpace page, and his official site.

If you're not already familiar, study up on your requisite Bachmann history at the Archers of Loaf wikipedia page.

Chromewaves wrote up the Bachmann/Buckner one-two punch after he caught them up in Toronto a couple weeks back. An excellent post (and a few accompanying mp3 links) from Frank as usual.

Is it just me, or is there a melody in "Sleep All Summer" that is straight outta Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind"? Can't believe I never noticed that before. Oboy, do I ever digress.

This probably deserves a post all its own, but as long as I mentioned Crooked Fingers, it's worth noting that longtime CF guitarist Barton Carroll will release his second solo album, "Love & War", on October 17th, courtesy of Skybucket Records. Visit Barton's MySpace page, look here later on to order the album, and in the meantime, check out some mp3s...

Mp3: Barton Carroll - "Scorched Earth"
Mp3: Barton Carroll - "Cat On A Beach"
Mp3: Barton Carroll - "Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still"

Bachmann's tourmate, Richard Buckner, is keeping an interesting tour diary on the Merge Blog. Naturally, he got lost driving in and out of Boston, and according to that entry, he believes our fair city "overturns cars whether or not their team wins or loses". Actually, no... I think it's only when they win. And it ain't just overturned cars... young lives are lost. And as for his "scraps of LL Bean khakis and blue button-ups" comment... it was Harvard Square. What did you expect?

On a side note, hard to believe that 2005 Crooked Fingers show was the very first one I captured with my minidisc recorder after I ditched my old Archos... seems like far longer than 18 months ago. Glad I quickly got the hang of the thing after that initial semi-successful attempt...

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