Bradley’s Almanac

[Nutshells] Boston-Area Shows, Mint Mile, Eric’s Trip, Mineral, John Vanderslice, and Strange Passage

Posted on January 8, 2019 at 3:49 pm | No Comments

Oh, hi. Remember me? Let’s see, now where was I?

How about a quick ‘nutshells’ post – in which I share a handful of short, sharp shots of info (and songs? tour dates? random thoughts?) that have hit me recently. The frequency? Probably random, though I’m hopeful for weekly at a minimum. New year, new energy, new ambition, etc. Also, I need to prepare for the day that someone (hopefully) burns farcebook to the ground. Scorch those servers, begin anew. End pre-ramble. Commence content.

New and/or notable shows from the right-column Boston-area list: Guided By Voices are back! Their show at the Sinclair last October was glorious, and they’ll return to their regular stomping ground (kicking stage?) at the Paradise on Friday night, May 17th. No link to tickets yet, but they’re on sale this Friday, so set yourself a reminder (yes, the new album totally rules).

Newly added: The weekend before GBV, Graham Parker hits City Winery Boston. Tickets for his May 11th stop go on sale to the general public next week. Japanese Breakfast returns to the area for a show at the Royale on April 6th (tix on sale this Friday, sold out shortly after). Oh, and you got your tickets to see the Beths with Bad Bad Hats at Brighton Music Hall in February, right? I am so into that Beths record, can’t wait.

This coming weekend has a couple stand-out, artist-packed benefit shows that couldn’t be more different, yet both deserve sold-out status: Friday night’s “NOT ANOTHER WASTED NIGHT: A benefit for Chris Doherty of Gang Green” at the Paradise and Saturday’s “ONE NIGHT BAND” benefit for Zumix.

One Night Band brings together 40 area artists on Saturday morning, divvies them up into eight new 5-member pop-up combos for a day of rehearsal, and throws them on stage for their debut that night. It’s a frenetic, joy-filled blast (and a hell of a lot of work behind the scenes) and all for an exceptional cause: Fostering a love of music-making in kids. Read more about it at the Herald, and grab tix here.

Friday’s “Not Another Wasted Night” unites a ridiculous lineup of area punk rock luminaries to help Gang Green’s Chris Doherty with expenses related to a stroke he suffered recently. We’re talkin’ Slapshot, Tree, the FUs, the Outlets, Lemonheads’ Evan Dando, Dogmatics, Springa, Unnatural Axe, White Dynamite, & Worm. Get your earplugs ready and snag tickets here.

Christmas came and went, and with its passing came a brand new track from Tim Midyett’s (ex-Silkworm/Bottomless Pit) solo project Mint Mile titled, uh, “Christmas Comes and Goes“. MM released one of my favorite EPs of last year (full post of that stuff in the draft folder), and this new song previews a record that will likely end up on this year’s list: A double LP (!) called “Ambertron“. Stay tuned for release and pre-order info at some point from the Comedy Minus One label. For now, put this in your ears…

A super-sweet surprise from Eric’s Trip showed up on member Rick White’s Bandcamp over the holidays — a never-shared digital version of a never-released 1992 full-length cassette titled “Listen“. Seems the band wasn’t totally happy with the audio quality at the time, and some re-recorded versions ended up on 1993’s “Peter” EP (though accidentally at a shifted pitch). This archival release gives us the songs as they were originally intended, and it’s a real treat, some 27 (!) years later. Here’s one of my faves from the album…

Mineral‘s recorded return comes in the form of two new tracks, the second of which was unveiled a few days back. “Your Body Is The World” follows the previously-shared “Aurora“, both of which can be found on “One Day When We Are Young: Mineral at 25″ , a commemorative release that includes the two-song 10-inch along with a hardcover book of “never before seen photos, an in depth band history, and contributions from members of members of Jimmy Eat World, Get Up Kids, and more.” It officially came out on Friday, so grab your copy (or just the digital tracks) through Bandcamp.

The band heads out on a month-long 25th anniversary tour this week, and will hit Allston’s Brighton Music Hall with Tancred on Sunday, January 20th. Tickets here.

John Vanderslice, who has been easing back into playing live again with intimate living room shows around the country (including, uh, my own) will very shortly announce his recorded return (a new shared song momentarily, an LP in the Spring, and a rarities collection later), but in the meantime he’s put together his own playlist of “JV Essentials”. It serves as an excellent primer for the uninitiated, so if that’s you, stream the Spotify embed below, or hit this Apple Music link. And keep an eye on his FB page for that new track this week

I don’t know a whole lot about Somerville’s Strange Passage beyond the fact that they put out an EP a couple years back and, well, they’re from Somerville. But I do know that I’m totally into the first song they just shared from their upcoming full-length. “Shouldn’t Be Too Long” is the title track off the LP that arrives January 25th via Syncro Systems, and they’ll be playing a record release show at the Greek American Social Construction Club in the ‘Ville on February 1st with Longings, Mini Dresses, & Laika’s Orbit. I am officially compelled to attend. Hear why…

I did it! I wrote an actual Almanac post. That’s no small feat, and if you’re an living, breathing human being sitting there reading this, well, that’s even more of a personal shock. I honestly am intending to make this more of a regular thing – self-discipline has been hard to come by lately, and having to learn the new wordpress interface sure hasn’t helped any.

While 2018 was an unusually quiet year on the actual ‘Nac, my FB page and Twitter feed kept chugging along, and the shows list on the right was kept current(ish), so it’s not like I completely abandoned the ship. Just put her in dry dock for awhile. But she’s back in the water, and the wind is picking up.

Now back to working on the ‘faves of 2018’ post. If my goal is to get it up sooner than last year’s, well, I think I’ll be just fine.

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  • BOSTON-AREA LIVE SHOW ACTION
    Tuesday, December 5th
    Pussy Riot
    Thick
    @ the Paradise

    Tuesday, December 5th
    Eric Andre
    @ the House of Blues

    Tuesday, December 5th
    Bar Italia
    Gobby
    DJ Carbo
    @ Brighton Music Hall

    Thursday, December 7th
    Wesley Stace
    @ the Charles River Museum

    Saturday, December 9th
    Hilken & Winston (of Fuzzy)
    Chris Colbourn (of Buffalo Tom)
    Kayde Hazel
    @ Streetcar in JP

    Saturday, December 9th
    Will Dailey & his band
    Hayley Reardon
    @ the Crystal Ballroom

    Saturday, December 9th
    Scream
    Soulside
    Urian Hackney
    @ Deep Cuts

    Tuesday, December 12th
    Dogstar
    (Keanu Reeves' band)
    @ the Paradise

    Wednesday, December 13th
    A 40th Anniversary Tribute
    to the music from "Valley Girl"
    with Josie Cotton,
    the Plimsouls &
    Kurt Baker of the Leftovers
    @ the Middle East Downstairs

    Thursday, December 14th
    Piebald
    Weakened Friends
    Radio Compass
    @ the Middle East Downstairs

    Friday, December 15th
    Hallelujah the Hills
    Eldridge Rodriguez
    Aaron & the Lord
    @ the Sinclair

    Saturday, December 16th
    Bird Streets
    @ the Village Social Club

    Saturday, December 16th
    Fiddlehead
    Downtalker
    @ Gallery X, New Bedford

    Saturday, December 16th
    Rosecomb
    Evelyn Pope
    @ the Haven in JP

    Saturday, December 16th
    A John Waters Christmas
    @ Berklee Performance Center

    Thursday, December 21st
    NOISE FOR TOYS, presented by
    The Ash Gray Proclamation
    bring a toy, hear some noise
    with Dyr Faser, Andy Cohen,
    and Strange Pains
    @ O'Brien's

    Thursday, December 28th
    The Felice Brothers
    @ the Sinclair

    Saturday, December 30th
    Spirit Ghost
    Black Beach
    Regal Seagull
    @ O'Brien's

    Thursday, January 11th
    Rick Maguire (from Pile)
    @ the Rockwell

    Saturday, January 13th
    Dark Spring Boston presents...
    The Veldt
    Dead Leaf Echo
    Iceblynk
    The Spearmint Sea
    @ O'Brien's

    Sunday, January 14th
    Lupo Citta
    Hidden Fountain
    Killer Motorcycle
    Pledge Pins
    @ O'Brien's

    Friday, January 19th
    O Positive (O+)
    "With A Little Help
    From My Friends" Benefit show
    @ the Paradise

    Monday, January 22nd
    The Salt Collective
    featuring Stéphane Schück &
    Fred Quentin (of Salt), with
    Matthew Caws (Nada Surf), Mitch
    Easter (Let's Active), Chris
    Stamey & Gene Holder (the dB's)
    Lynn Blakey (Tres Chicas), and
    Rob Ladd (The Connells)
    with openers Sneakers (!)
    featuring Chris & Mitch
    @ City Winery Boston

    Saturday, January 27th
    Torres
    @ the Sinclair

    Monday, January 29th
    Juliana Hatfield
    @ City Winery

    Tuesday, February 13th
    Michael Shannon, Jason Narducy,
    Jon Wurster & friends perform
    R.E.M.'s "Murmur" and more
    @ the Sinclair

    Thursday & Friday
    February 15th & 16th
    Mitski
    Tamino
    @ MGM Music Hall

    Friday, February 16th
    Militarie Gun
    Pool Kids
    Spiritual Cramp
    Spaced
    @ the Sinclair

    Saturday, February 17th
    Cat Power sings Dylan
    @ the Chevalier Theatre

    Wednesday, February 21st
    Thursday
    Rival Schools
    Many Eyes
    @ the Paradise

    Thursday, February 22nd
    Portugal. The Man.
    @ Roadrunner

    Friday, February 23rd
    Matt Pond PA
    Alexa Rose
    @ Club Passim

    Friday, February 23rd
    The Kills
    @ the Royale

    Tuesday, February 27th
    Two Door Cinema Club
    Joywave
    @ Roadrunner

    Wednesday, February 28th
    Mike Viola
    @ Club Passim

    Saturday, March 2nd
    Mary Timony
    Birthday Girl DC
    @ Crystal Ballroom

    Tuesday, March 5th
    Porno For Pyros
    @ MGM Music Hall

    Friday, March 8th
    Mclusky
    @ the Sinclair

    Friday, March 8th
    The Beaches
    @ Roadrunner

    Tuesday, March 12th
    KMFDM
    Morlocks
    @ the Royale

    Wednesday, March 13th
    Cherry Glazerr
    @ the Sinclair

    Friday, March 15th
    Chelsea Wolfe
    Divide and Dissolve
    @ Roadrunner

    Sunday, March 17th
    Sleater-Kinney
    @ the Paradise

    Sunday, March 17th
    Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
    Singer Mali
    Rong
    @ the Sinclair

    Monday, March 18th
    Ministry
    Gary Numan
    Front Line Assembly
    @ Roadrunner

    Thursday, March 21st
    Laetitia Sadier
    (of Stereolab)
    @ the Somerville Armory

    Friday, March 22nd
    Fog Lake
    @ the Somerville Armory

    Monday, March 25th
    Unwound (!)
    Cherubs
    @ the Paradise

    Monday, March 25th
    Andy Shauf (solo)
    @ First Church Cambridge

    Thursday, March 28th
    Arlo Parks
    Chloe George
    @ the Royale

    Friday, March 29th
    Grouplove
    Bully
    @ Roadrunner

    Friday, March 29th
    The Rolling Stones
    @ Gillette

    Saturday, April 6th
    Destroyer (solo)
    Lightning Dust
    @ Brighton Music Hall

    Saturday, April 6th
    Colin Hay (Men at Work)
    @ the Wilbur

    Saturday, April 13th
    DARK SPRING BOSTON FEST
    with Korine, House of Harm,
    Widow Rings, Allie Frost,
    Hemlock for Socrates,
    Midnight Psychic, the
    Spearmint Sea, and more
    @ the Middle East

    Wednesday, April 17th
    Real Estate
    Marina Allen
    @ the Royale

    Friday, April 19th
    Drop Nineteens
    Greg Mendez
    @ the Paradise

    Friday & Saturday
    April 26th & 27th
    The Town & the City Festival
    @ various venues in Lowell, MA

    Saturday, April 27th
    Belle and Sebastian
    The Weather Station
    @ the Orpheum

    Wednesday, May 1st
    Ty Segall
    @ the Royale

    Wednesday, May 8th
    Chastity Belt
    @ the Sinclair

    Friday, May 10th
    Quicksand
    @ the Royale

    Monday & Tuesday
    May 13th & May 14th
    Mannequin Pussy
    Soul Glo
    @ the Sinclair

    Thursday, Friday, & Saturday
    May 16th, 17th, & 18th
    Jukebox the Ghost
    @ the Sinclair

    Friday, May 17th
    Buck Meek (of Big Thief)
    @ Crystal Ballroom

    Monday, May 20th
    Echo & the Bunnymen
    @ the House of Blues

    Tuesday, June 4th
    Joe Jackson
    @ the Wilbur

    Monday, June 10th
    Bleachers
    Samia
    @ MGM Music Hall

    Sunday, July 16th
    Los Campesinos!
    @ the Paradise

    Tuesday, July 9th
    Alanis Morissette
    Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
    Morgan Wade
    @ the Xfinity Center

    Sunday, July 21st
    Foo Fighters
    The Hives
    Amyl and the Sniffers
    @ Fenway Park

    Friday, August 2nd
    Foreigner
    Styx
    John Waite
    @ Xfinity Center

    Wednesday, August 7th
    Green Day
    Smashing Pumpkins
    Rancid
    The Linda Lindas
    @ Fenway Park

    Monday, August 19th
    King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
    @ the Stage at Suffolk Downs

    Tuesday, September 3rd
    Peter Hook & the Light
    doing both the Joy Division
    & New Order "Substance" LPs
    @ the Paradise

    Friday, September 13th
    Hoodoo Gurus
    @ the Royale

    Tuesday, September 24th
    Idles
    @ Roadrunner

    Wednesday, October 23rd
    OSEES
    @ the Royale