The xx at their in-store appearance at Newbury Comics, Newbury Street, Boston
The day started out innocently enough. Well, apart from only just having breakfast at noon, but that’s become standard operating procedure with my middle of the night paying job. I went into town to see my friend Mary who had come in from Washington, D.C. to see The xx at a Newbury Comics in-store, and to cover their show with Friendly Fires at the Paradise for There Goes the Fear and PopWreckoning.
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An Evening With Switchfoot
at the Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
Wednesday, December 9
buy tickets (doors at 7pm; all ages show)
In his interview with JesusFreakHideout.com back in 2000, Jon Foreman, lead singer/guitarist of Switchfoot explained the origin of their name: “Switchfoot is a surfing term. We all love to surf and have been surfing all our lives so to us, the name made sense. To switch your feet means to take a new stance facing the opposite direction. It’s about change and movement, a different way of approaching life and music.”
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Meghan Chiampa, Associate Editor of Deli Magazine New England
It was a lovely evening of New England bands, hand-picked by Deli Magazine New England‘s Associate Editor, Meghan Chiampa, and as diverse as the website’s eclectic musical focus. This was to celebrate The Deli officially making its welcome foray into the New England states. Now based in Boston, she started writing for them in Burlington Vermont. This excellent online magazine covers the indie music scenes in NYC, L.A., San Francisco, Chicago, Nashville, and elsewhere.
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This benefit concert presented by Boston Music Spotlight will take place on Thursday, December 3 at Hennessy’s Hooley House (25 Union St., Boston) and will feature Boston bands Cassavettes, Shadwell, Three Day Threshold and Taste. All proceeds will be donated to the national Marine Toys for Tots Foundation benefiting needy children in the Greater Boston area this holiday season. Tickets for the 21+ show are $10 or $5 with an unwrapped toy and can be purchased in advance online at TicketLeap.com. Live Nation and Straight Stitch Custom Embroidery & Silkscreen will co-sponsor the benefit concert.
Read the press release from Boston Music Spotlight.
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Bodega Girls, Mark Lind & The Unloved (photo by Nicole Tammaro), The Deli New England Launch Party, and the Pixies
A quick introduction. I’m going to start posting previews of selected shows in the Boston area for the following week which feature local bands. My hope is for this to be a new weekly feature on ‘musings’. We’ll see how it goes.
This week: some great Boston-area bands to see, from dance music at the Middlesex Lounge, to “best punk act of 2009” at T.T.’s (as part of their Thanksgiving Eve Fiasco), the Pixies @ The Wang Theatre, and a cool launch party for The Deli/New England at The Middle East Upstairs.
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Friendly Fires - Photo by Dominic Storer
The xx - Photo by Terryfy
Friendly Fires/Nylon Winter Music Tour featuring The xx
at the Paradise Rock Club, Boston, Friday, December 4
(doors at 8pm; 18+ show)
[Note: at this writing, the show is sold out, but I’ve been told that a limited number of additional tickets will likely be released, so keep an eye on the Paradise site and also Live Nation]
My first time seeing Friendly Fires was back in March, also at the Paradise. While I’ve never been a huge fan of or terribly knowledgeable about the British synth-pop dance scene, they were highly recommended to me as a band I should definitely check out. What impressed me then (and what I’m sure has been even more finely honed through a great deal of touring) was their explosive energy and enthusiasm, and the serious tribal groove and crazy frenzy they worked themselves and their delirious audience into.
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The Annual WZBC Pow Wow
hosted by Victor Robert Venckus
Thanksgiving Day – Thursday, November 26th, 12 noon – 12 midnight
WZBC 90.3FM or online at WZBC.org
On Thanksgiving Day (a.k.a. the Native Americans’ National Day Of Mourning), Victor Robert Venckus presents his Annual WZBC Pow Wow. He’s been doing this, well, forever… over 20 years now. From noon until midnight, he’ll be playing Native American and Native American-inspired music in all possible genres, including rock, folk, traditional, new age, and spoken word. He’ll also have live reports from the demonstrations in Plymouth and possibly interviews regarding Native American spirituality and politics. Tune in to WZBC 90.3 FM, or listen online, for the perfect soundtrack for your Thanksgiving dinner or whatever you happen to be doing that day.
To commemorate this event, I’ll do a brief profile on a local group called The Wolf Cry Singers, whom Victor will be playing that day.
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Today on Expanding Awareness, Victor spoke with James Murphy about the controversy surrounding vaccinations and about viruses. You can listen to the archived program, and James Murphy will be Victor’s guest again next Saturday morning at 10am.
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“I’ve got 3,000 MySpace friends
and sofas to crash on
from here to New York
and the adventures just continue..”
– Car Wash Donations
This current assessment by Malcolm Sosa a.k.a. Mike Mancillas of Rademacher would suggest that life is good, though looking back at this past year, I’m thinking it must have been a rough ride. In February, their new drummer Eden had just joined he and bassist Greer McGettrick in time for a 6-week West Coast tour that would include 12 shows with The Airborne Toxic Event and The Henry Clay People. For Rademacher (judging by their tour diary) things got off to a shaky start, and then four of the dates ended up being rescheduled. Initial plans to be at SXSW were scrapped, but then they rejoined Airborne’s shows for Las Vegas, Pomona, and Sacramento. More big changes followed, with Eden leaving and then Malcolm and Greer parting ways. A brand new line-up, from what I can tell, was first unveiled back on April 21 at The Echo, and I’m guessing it’s this same line-up that’s featured on their new EP, Bellyflop, released last month by JAXART Records. Mind you, I could be totally wrong about some or all of this; if anyone has better information, please let me know! I’m not exactly sure who’s in the band, except for drummer Eli Reyes, who also plays in Fresno-based The Fay Wrays.
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The Scissormen - Matt Snow, Larry Dersch, Ted Drozdowski
If you’re a guitar aficionado and lover of the mind-blowing riff, a connoisseur of brain-bending slide guitar sorcery, were anywhere in the vague vicinity of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and you weren’t at the Lizard Lounge to witness Peter Parcek and then Ted Drozdowski and his Scissormen, I feel really, really sorry for you. When I say it was an evening of guitar showmanship, I don’t mean that in a pretentious, self-satisfied rock-god poseur sort of way. I mean whiskey-soaked, venerable bluesmen blasting cobwebs out of dusty, unkempt corners of smokey Southern barrooms. Something timeless, and soul-satisfying.
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