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
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Thursday, February 01, 2007
Boston: Mooninites Came, Conquered
 As both a Boston resident and a longtime fan of Cartoon Network's Aqua Teen Hunger Force, how could I not comment on the multi-faceted mess that gripped our uptight little metropolis yesterday? I watched with both amusement and bemusement as the whole situation unfolded on the major news networks and ever-refreshing rss feeds in front of me. During a rare day at home, I was practically glued to the tube once I realized the "packages" that drove our city officials and talking heads into a tizzy were lit-up likenesses of the bitter little Mooninites known as "Err" and "Ignignokt". On a day when the real ATF took on the fictional ATHF, it's hard to say who came out on top. But our city's already-buttoned-up image sure took a hit. Every single time WCVB-TV's Natalie Jacobson said the word "Mooninites", or incorrectly referred to CN's late-night block of animated shows as "Aqua Team" instead of "Adult Swim", I got a tiny thrill inside (she honestly said "... looks like a little Pac Man kinda deal."), but a few details started bugging me as the reports and news conferences piled up... This entire debacle is being constantly referred to, both yesterday by officials and still this morning by the press, as a "hoax". Which is defined as: "something intended to deceive or defraud". Anyone who's been paying attention, whether or not they're a fan of ATHF or aware of modern viral-marketing methods, can see that deception was not the intent of either the marketing company behind this or the guys they got to put the signs up.
The objects in question, which have been accurately referred to as battery-powered signs or lite-brite-based graffiti, were not "packages", as officials and media-types keep calling them. Objects, maybe, but they were not wrapped or covered in an attempt to enclose the contents. They were flat 1-2 foot perforated boards with batteries attached, and a quick investigation could have determined what they were. Semantics are important here, especially given that...
During the first late-afternoon news conference, our obviously annoyed Mayor Menino kept calling the things "bombs", three times in fact, before correcting himself. From his mouth..."Earlier this morning I received a call from Commisioner Davis of a suspicious bomb at Sullivan Square in Cambridge..."
and then...
"We have been working together investigating all calls we've received about suspicious bombs in Boston and in Somerville."
And while haphazardly calling these things "bombs", and amping up the fear, he made sure to say that...
"This is no time for anyone to panic, we believe we have the situation in hand...".
Until finally, it dawned on him...
"The inidividuals who have placed these bombs, uhh, packages I should say, should be warned that there's a heavy penalty: it's imprisonment, two to five years for each one of them. This is about keeping a city on edge, it's about public safety, and when it comes to public safety, we're throwing everything at it." No time to panic, huh? His lack of self-awareness during this fairly important public moment could only have heightened the situation for casual viewers.
I've been seeing these things around town, and online, for a couple weeks. If this is, in fact, what terrorist devices may resemble, then our town is well and truly in trouble.
Two distinct sides have formed in the unavoidable Boston Aqua-gate '07 blame game: Those who are pointing and laughing at our public officials (and the media machine they fuel) for what they consider an embarrassing overreaction VS. those who want Turner Broadcasting, Interference Inc. (the marketing company they hired), and both Peter Berdvosky & Sean Stevens (the two young guys who did the legwork) to pay dearly for a stunt that not only inconvenienced hundreds, but rung up a half-million dollar price-tag. And so far, the sides seem to be divided neatly between generations, or at least between those who keep a finger on modern media/technology vs. those who live in a paranoid pop-culture-free bubble.
It's not hard to guess where I'm leaning, but I do think a very small amount of fault lies on the unfortunate placement of our Mooninite masters. While many of the signs were placed on businesses or random buildings, it was the ones under bridges and interstate overpasses that got this whole mess started. The one on Central Kitchen? Cool. Under this bridge? Minor mistake. On New England Comics in Allston? Nice. Over the Massachusetts Turnpike? Yikes.
But one late fact has thrown the whole thing into a new light, and if anything it makes Peter and Sean the victims of some extremely unfortunate timing. It appears there were two unrelated fake pipe bombs found in Boston yesterday. That's what the originally-reported 1pm phone calls to the police were about, as opposed to the early morning report from an MBTA worker who spotted one of the lite-brite Mooninites near the Sullivan Square T station.
So an actual hoax and a harmless display of urban marketing art got rolled together into one big unwieldy mess, and two guerrilla artists (and their hair) are caught in the misdirected crosshairs of some angry authoritarians.
 Here are a whole lot of relevant links I've collected over the past slightly surreal 24 hours...Adult Swim's full apology, which appeared as pre-cartoon "bumps" when their block of programming aired last night, is now the front page of their website.
Peter Berdvosky's personal website (Zebbler.com, which hosted video of the marketing "mission" as he called it) is now down, either on purpose or due to total bandwidth overload. You can still check out video of the installation on YouTube. There were also lots of pictures from their cross-town art project, and all were dated no later than a week ago, of course.
It was just as amusing hearing Channel 5's Jorge Quiroga say "Mooninites" as it was seeing some networks spend time digitally removing their middle fingers.
Todd Vanderlin's flickr images, where the early evidence of the Mooninites appearance can be found. Images dates? January 15th. He also let the world know that it was Interference Inc. (whose page disappeared yesterday afternoon) handling the ATHF marketing duties.
And via Todd's images, even the excellent Make Magazine was pulled into the early news bites.
Yes, of course you can already buy t-shirts.
Naturally the Adult Swim messageboards have gone into a frenzy.
Was nice to see my neighborhood comic shop, Allston's New England Comics (and their 50% off sale), get some free publicity out of the deal, what with one of the Mooninites resting peacefully next to their storefront sign until it was confiscated...
Store employee Gwen (who also happens to be the daughter of comics/novel writer Peter David) and manager Ben even got a little tv face time...
Lots and lots of area coverage and commentary can be found in an infinite number of places, including Universal Hub, Bostonist, the Phoenix's OTD, and Livejournal's B0st0n community.
"Bow your heads or I'll bow em for ya!" - Err
posted by brad at 2:59 PM | direct link | rss (1:2) |
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the wooden birds
a few songs live at tt's
on saturday, april 18th, 2009

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