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recommended boston area events

thursday, july 2nd

the church

adam franklin (swervedriver)

@ showcase live, foxborough


sunday, july 5th

city breathing

deep sea diver

adam rich

steve pardo & lindley cameron

@ the middle east upstairs


saturday, july 11th

the luxury

the click five

midatlantic

aloud

@ the paradise


sunday, july 12th

the dead weather

screaming females

@ the house of blues


saturday, july 18th

butterflies

travels

@ pa's lounge


sunday, july 19th

grand duchy (w/frank black)

the bunnies

van elk (w/valerie mistle thrush)

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, july 19th

lymbyc systym

coralcola

the cush

the pandas

@ the middle east upstairs


monday, july 20th

you can be a wesley (cd release!)

casper & the cookies

everything, now!

magic magic

@ the middle east upstairs


monday, july 20th

green day

the bravery

@ the garden


tuesday, july 21st

mark eitzel & marc capelle

performing american music club songs

@ the lizard lounge


friday, july 24th

varsity drag (cd release!)

the grownup noise

winterpills

brendan boogie & the best intentions

@ the middle east upstairs


sunday, july 26th

pete yorn

@ the house of blues


tuesday, july 28th

cass mccombs

jennifer o'connor & band

mike bones

@ tt the bears


wednesday, july 29th

foreign born

the veils

faces on film

@ tt the bears


thursday, july 30th

justin ripley & his band

@ pa's lounge


friday, july 31st

destroyer (dan bejar)

iran

wooden wand

@ the paradise


friday, july 31st

depeche mode

peter bjorn & john

@ great woods


saturday, august 1st

alasdair roberts

@ lorem ipsum books, inman square


saturday, august 1st

wheat (cd release show!)

the xyz affair

@ great scott


sunday, august 2nd

soft power (featuring mary timony)

gramercy arms (featuring dave derby)

@ tt the bears


monday, august 3rd

billy bragg

@ the berklee performance center


monday, august 3rd

tinted windows

(james iha, adam schlesinger,

taylor hanson, & bun e. carlos)

@ the paradise


monday, august 3rd

coldplay

elbow

kitty daisy & lewis

@ the comcast center


wednesday, august 5th

the rural alberta advantage

joshua english (ex-six going on seven)

with lisa molinaro

baby teeth

@ the middle east upstairs


wednesday, august 5th

arctic monkeys

modey lemon

@ the paradise


wednesday, august 5th

joe pernice (solo show & book tour)

@ the brattle theatre (2 shows)


wednesday and thursday

august 5th and 6th

paul mccartney

@ fenway park


friday, august 7th

the electric prunes

love

sky saxon (of the seeds)

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, august 8th

blondie

pat benatar

@ the b.o.a. pavilion


wednesday, august 12th

the warlocks

@ great scott


wednesday, august 12th

the pretenders

cat power

juliette lewis

@ the bank of american pavilion


thursday, august 13th

bat for lashes

@ the paradise


friday, august 14th

six finger satellite

@ tt the bears


sunday, august 16th

the decemberists

heartless bastards

@ mountain park, holyoke


sunday, august 16th

trashcan sinatras

@ tt the bears


monday, august 17th

the breeders

@ the paradise


friday, august 21st

choo choo la rouge (cd release!)

the big disappointments

impossible hair

the operators

@ pa's lounge


saturday & sunday

august 22nd & 23rd

bruce springsteen & the e street band

@ the comcast center / great woods


saturday, august 29th

caspain

actors & actresses

irepress

arms & sleepers

@ tt the bears


sunday, august 30th

the flaming lips

explosions in the sky

stardeath and white dwarfs

@ the boa pavilion


thursday, september 3rd

kay hanley (letters to cleo)

antisocialites

ingenue

@ tt the bears


saturday, september 5th

the pains of being pure at heart

cymbals eat guitars

depreciation guild

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, september 5th

pet shop boys

@ the house of blues


thursday, september 10th

autolux

sleepy sun

@ the paradise


thursday, september 10th

dirty three

@ the i.c.a. boston


friday, september 11th

kings of leon

glasvegas

@ the comcast center / great woods


saturday, september 12th

the cult

performing 'love' in its entirety

@ the house of blues


sunday, september 13th

down

melvins

@ the house of blues


tuesday, september 15th

the horrors

@ the paradise


saturday & sunday

september 19th & 20th

boston lebowski fest

with movie screening & bowling

@ the house of blues & kings


sunday, september 20th

u2

snow patrol

@ gillette stadium


tuesday, september 22nd

son volt

@ the paradise


friday, september 25th

township

the lights out (cd release!)

reverse

gravehaven

@ tt the bears


friday, september 25th

charlatans uk

hatcham social

@ the paradise


saturday, september 26th

kmfdm

@ the house of blues


sunday, september 20th

maximo park

@ the paradise


monday, september 28th

sunny day real estate

@ the house of blues


wednesday, september 30th

mono

maserati

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, october 4th

the "loud & rich" tour

richard thompson &

loudon wainwright iii

performing solo & together

@ the sanders theatre, harvard


wednesday, october 7th

bob mould

@ the paradise


saturday, october 10th

the psychedelic furs

happy monday

@ the house of blues


wednesday, october 14th

loney dear

asobi seksu

@ great scott


wednesday, october 21st

mum

@ the somerville theatre


saturday, october 31st

pinback

@ the paradise


friday, november 13th

janeane garofalo

rob riggle

two shows @ the wilbur theatre


visit tourfilter for more shows



Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Mp3s: James Kochalka Superstar live

I believe it's safe to say that there's no creative career out there quite like the one that James Kochalka has fashioned for himself. I can't think of another artist/writer who jumps back and forth so easily between vulgarity and innocence, between the mundane and magical. For isntance, his 2007 brought us not only the charming children's story "Squirrelly Gray" from Random House, but the 4th issue of the curse-laden, oversexed Top Shelf comic "Super F*ckers". Even within his daily drawn diary, online at American Elf, (which also gets collected every couple years by Top Shelf), he jumps between strips that make you go "hmmm" to ones that make you go "wow". And the occasional one that makes you go "ouch." But for James, it's just his life, all part of what makes up his Burlington, Vermont-based world.

And even if you did find another creator who expresses both the grand and the gross so easily, you'd have to ask yourself: "Do they rock?" Because, every once in awhile, James Kochalka does. When not in front of his drawing board, or being a husband and dad, you'll find him fronting his band James Kochalka Superstar, which he's been doing for well over a decade. And for years before that, he lead the University of VT-spawned casio/sax combo Jazzin' Hell. The guy was probably doing leg-kicks before Robert Pollard was, and at any James show, there's always a chance you'll get some full frontal. Like it or not. While he's singing about rainbows, out-of-control ballerinas, or pee.

So in honor of the fresh redesign of his American Elf diary site, which now freely offers every single daily strip he's done since 2002, I've decided to finally share up a rockin' set that he played with his band here in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2006. This particular version of James Kochalka Superstar was a little different, as regular members Jason Cooley and Creston Lea were joined by the ace fill-in rhythm section of drummer Neil Cleary (of, um, Neil Cleary) and bassist Herb van der Poll (from the Jazz Guys), and for a couple songs, totally unprepared guests. So feel free to blame any looseness on them.

Here's the set, with some info on James' future musical and artistic plans below...


Record label Rykodisc wasn't up to the challenge of making money off of James' music, despite "Hockey Monkey" becoming the theme of Fox TV show "The Loop", and the song "Britney's Silver Can" being one of Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of 2006, so they ended up dropping JKS after releasing the "Our Most Beloved" compilation in '05 and the "Spread Your Evil Wings and Fly" full-lengther in '06.

Ryko's marketing of JKS was likely made more difficult given the fact the band isn't able to tour all that much, but James will still be making much more music in 2008. He says...
"I'm hoping to record two new albums. One rock, and the other gameboy style. It's just a dream at this point though, and they will probably be self-released."
Until that dream becomes reality, subscribers to the American Elf site can listen to in-progress and unreleased songs that James shares up, and those subscribers also get bonus strips and other random goodness. Well worth a measly couple bucks a month.

Speaking measly dollars, Top Shelf is having a ridiculous sale on some of James' finest work: Those big collected editions of American Elf strips. The price of Book 1 (which gathers 5 full years of strips) has been cut in half, and so has Book 2 (2 more years worth). Me, I sprung for the deluxe hardcover of Book 1 awhile back (and there are still some of that swanky limited edition available), and used this sale to put Book 2 alongside it on my shelves. Book 3 will appear on shelves this year, and can be pre-ordered here.

Also ahead for James in 2008 is the release of the first two books of his new Johnny Boo series of all ages graphic novels, which can both be pre-ordered as well. Volume 1 ships in June from Top Shelf, with Volume 2 later in the year. Head here for a preview.

Some Kochalka-quality links...
  • American Elf, his Wikipedia entry, his Top Shelf Comix page, the American Elf forum, the JKS band page, Rykodisc page, and the Kochalkaholic fan site.

  • Additional Audio: Apart from subscribing to American Elf and getting some Mp3s, you can still order JKS discs from Ryko here. Stream "Hockey Monkey" here, where you can also find iTunes links, or at a fan-created MySpace page.

    And here's a little somethin' extra that would've been more timely if I'd actually gotten this post finished in December like I planned, but what the hell, you can save it for next Christmas. It's a holiday classic from James' old band, Jazzin' Hell...
    Mp3: Jazzin' Hell - "Sleigh Ride To Heck"
    I'd offer you even more pointers to some Jazzin' Hell songs, but someone needs to fix a few broken links (considering this a little poke).

  • Video: A Kochlka YouTube search turns up plenty of James videos, live footage, and interviews. I shared up a very old clip of the JKS experience performing live in 1994 during my short time behind the kit, and hopefully will share more songs from that tape eventually.

  • Photos: Check out the full Kochalka Flickr tag search, which will turn up lots of James' artwork along with some live shots.

  • In honor of the American Elf strip archives being made freely available for all last month as part of the site redesign, Wizard Magazine interviewed James about it, and they also talked about his unreleased "Dragon Puncher" book, which lacks a publisher. I need to see that sucker just based on the title alone.

  • Listen to any and all 'Nac-hosted Mp3s at the Hype Machine.

  • the fine print... If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the 'nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.

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