December already. How'd that happen? I suppose this means I should start thinking about those pesky year-end lists. While I consider that task, here are some mostly Boston-centric things for your eyes and ears...


Buffalo Tom singer/guitarist Bill Janovitz has come up with a way to help him, and us, pass the cold winter months: By sharing a new home-recorded cover song every week. And his first selection has set the bar pretty damn high...


Not only do we get an ace 'Mats cover right out of the gate, but a version of Tom Waits' "Johnsburg, Illinois" recorded on a $10 guitar, which you can read about here and grab over here. Keep 'em comin', Bill.


Bostonian and viola player extraordinaire David Michael Curry earned my extreme envy by being fortunate enough to see Come's one-off reunion show last month in, of all places, Spain. Come founders Chris Brokaw and Thalia Zedek were both invited to do solo sets at the Tanned Tin Festival in Castellon, and the organizer somehow convinced them to reunite Come for a set with drummer Daniel Coughlin and bassist Winston Braman (both former Come members and currently in Thalia's band, along with David). DMC shared up a video clip of the reunited band performing the powerful "Saints Around My Neck", and it just leaves me wanting more.


As much as I enjoyed my Thanksgiving getaway down to NYC/NJ (well, all except for the drive down, which stretched from 4 to 6 1/2 hours thanks to pre-turkey-day traffic), I truly regretted not being in town for the final show at the Abbey Lounge in Somerville. The dive holds a special place in my heart, not just because of the fine bands I've seen there, or the times I've sat behind my drum kit on that small stage, but because it's within those very walls that Amie and I first met back in 2000. I took it for granted that we'd always be able to go there if we were feeling particularly nostalgic, and we did try to make a last visit before it closed, but couldn't pull it together.

The Globe and the Phoenix wrote a bit about that last show, which I attended in spirit, if not in person. Sorry to see you go, dear ol' Abbey.


Providence-based quartet Six Finger Satellite are back with some new/old recordings in the form of "Half Control", an album of songs put down to tape just after the turn of the millennium and finally released through Load Records. The songs are only available as a download at the moment (via Last.fm, Boomkat, and Fina), but should be in physical form at the Load site at some point. Frontman J. Ryan spoke to the Providence Daily Dose about the release back in April...

"It was recorded in 2001 maybe? The lineup is Rick (Pelletier) on drums, Shawn Greenlee (from Landed and Pleasure Horse) on bass, Joel Kyack (of Landed and Megafuckers) on guitar and me on synth and vox."

The album's arrival, along with the availability of a ton of older and obscure tracks via MySpace, will help pass the time while we await the next album of all-new material, now in progress.


My thanks to writer Michael Prager, who deemed the 'Nac worthy of inclusion in his Boston Globe Sunday Magazine article "Find. Join. Learn. Go. The World Wide Hub" (subtitled "Sixty-four websites on Boston life that you should know"). A nice surprise to end the long holiday weekend. While it was flattering to be alongside "Under 21 In Boston" and "Soho The Dog" in the "music" section of the write-up (two sites already long in my RSS reader), it's too bad that the wealth of area music sites that have sprung up in the past few years were pared down to just a trio. Yeah, it's easy to nitpick a list that narrows so many possibilities down to just 64, but music deserves more than just three. For more, check out the lengthy list of sites in my right-hand column. And I'm obligated to point out the criminal lack of Surviving Grady in the sports section. A daily must.


Lastly, a reminder (and I'll probably mention it again before the week's out): The Boston edition of the Bazaar Bizarre is this coming Sunday, December 7th from 12-7pm at a brand new location -- downtown at the Castle on Arlington & Columbus. Many dozens of vendors selling super-cool, mostly handmade gifty stuff, along with various notable people (and, um, me) providing the soundtrack. Yes, I'm honored to once again be among the invited DJs, selecting an hours worth of songs starting around 1pm. Like last year, I'm putting together a playlist of my favorite tracks released in 2008, and it's proving tough to narrow it down to a mere 60 minutes. Other DJs include writer/musician Michael Brodeur, Tourfilter's Chris Marstall, music maven and DJ overseer Stacie Slotnick, and WMBR DJ Generoso Fierro, all linked together by Jon Bernhardt and his magical theremin. For a full list of vendors, check here, and keep an eye on the Bazaar Bizarre Boston Blog for updates.

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