The Lights Out, a local rock band with power-pop influences, has a CD release party tonight at Church. Based on a quick listen to a few of the songs on the new disc “!Heist!,” it would seem that the band has spent some time listening to the Smithereens, which is never a bad thing. You can hear some of the new tracks at thelightsout.com. Joining the band tonight will be Johnny Nobody, Brian McGee & the Hollow Speed, and Aloud. 8 p.m. $8. Church
(more…)
Reprinted from late editions of yesterday’s Globe
Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band shows are like a dinner party. The amiable Beatles legend invites a few friends over and, with hope, the mood is lively, awkward lulls are avoided, and everyone goes home happy and hoping to do it again some time.
Wednesday night at the Bank of America Pavilion, all points on the checklist were dispatched with ebullience by Starr and the 10th edition of his All-Starrs.
In the 1960s, Brazil’s Sergio Mendes was on a mission to bring samba to American audiences - and he achieved his goal in the smartest way possible. By reimagining a series of pop chestnuts from the Beatles and Bacharach as breezy, easy-listening hits for Herb Alpert’s A&M label, he created an unofficial soundtrack for sexy fondue parties across the country with his band Brasil ‘66.
Lately, the 67-year-old Mendes has returned to contemporary pop
(more…)
Blues is getting hard to find on the Boston radio dial these days. WBOS-FM (92.9) ended Holly Harris’s long-running “Blues on Sunday” last winter, and WERS-FM (88.9) no longer airs its Saturday night blues program.
But despite all the shows that have been cut, for the past few years fans of roots music have known they can tune in to Brendan Hogan, host of “Blues on WGBH,” which airs Saturdays 9 p.m.-1 a.m. on WGBH-FM (89.7)
An unabashed fan,
(more…)
CAMBRIDGE - The wind in the local new-music scene often blows in decidedly uptown directions, but the 73d birthday of minimalist pioneer Terry Riley this week did not go completely unnoticed. The Boston-based art-rock band Birdsongs of the Mesozoic has been hosting a salon series at the postage-stamp-size Outpost 186. On Tuesday, by way of a Riley birthday tribute, Birdsongs invited some friends - Vessela Stoyanova and Valerie Thompson from Fluttr
(more…)
As a doctor, teacher, and musician, Rupa Marya understands the power of language.
The leader of the surging San Francisco-based world-music act Rupa and the April Fishes was compelled to compose the songs for the band’s acclaimed debut album, “Extraordinary Rendition” (Cumbancha), in the months following the Sept. 11 attacks.
The music on “Extraordinary Rendition,” which combines the group dynamics of jazz with the passionate intensity of tango
(more…)
Girl Talk’s iTunes playlist must be a thing of beauty. In 2006, the Pittsburgh DJ - government name Gregg Gillis - released “Night Ripper,” a compendious jumble of samples past and present that reawakened the slumbering mash-up technique.
“Feed the Animals,” Girl Talk’s fourth and latest full-length, out now digitally, is no less all-inclusive. It would take this entire review, plus another one just like it, to list all the artists sampled. Trainspotters,
(more…)
FACES ON FILM | “The Troubles”
Is it possible to contract and expand at the same time? The Boston band Faces on Film has achieved just such an unlikely transformation. Formed by a few college pals in 2004, the band has been scaled back to just one member - singer and songwriter Mike Fiore - who this week released online an emotionally sprawling second album called “The Troubles.”
Toggling between warm meditations and carefully managed chaos,
(more…)
Over the last few seasons, András Schiff has devoted considerable attention to Beethoven, and in particular to the 32 piano sonatas. He has played the complete cycle in several American and European cities, and is recording it for the ECM label.
In addition, Schiff has made a further contribution to Beethoven’s legacy. While playing the cycle at London’s Wigmore Hall between 2004 and 2006, the pianist gave a free lecture the day before each
(more…)
NEW ORLEANS—Rapper Lil Wayne is the latest addition to the lineup for this year’s Voodoo Experience in the rapper’s native New Orleans.
The musical celebration will feature dozens of acts on six stages in October. The lineup already includes R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, Stone Temple Pilots, Erykah Badu and Joss Stone.
Lil Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., scored the year’s best-selling album sales debut this month, with 1 million copies sold of his new CD, “Tha Carter III.”
VALLEJO, Calif.—The plastic surgeon who operated on Kanye West’s mother before she died last fall has been arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
Police said Dr. Jan Adams was seen using an off-ramp to get on a freeway early Thursday in the Northern California town of Vallejo, and was driving on a suspended license from a previous DUI.
The former host of TV’s “Plastic Surgery: Before and After” had operated on 58-year-old Donda West the day before she died of likely heart disease coupled with surgery complications.
PHILADELPHIA—Ira Tucker Sr., longtime lead singer of the gospel group the Dixie Hummingbirds, which influenced many other performers and backed up Paul Simon on “Loves Me Like a Rock,” has died. He was 83.
Tucker had severe heart problems and died Tuesday in Philadelphia, where the group was based for many years, according to his son, Ira Tucker Jr.
Among those influenced by the band were the Temptations, James Brown, Stevie Wonder and
(more…)
FRANKLIN, Tenn.—Mindy McCready has been arrested in Tennessee and charged with violating her probation. Authorities accuse the 32-year-old country singer of falsifying her community service records.
Williamson County Sheriff’s Department officer Charlotte Spencer says McCready turned herself in Monday, posted the $5,000 bond and was released two hours later.
She is on probation for a 2004 drug charge.
Her attorney, Lee Ofman, declined Thursday to comment on the new charge.
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—If Tim McGraw isn’t looking for trouble, it must’ve been looking for him. Fan video shot Tuesday in Auburn, Wash., shows the country singer help eject an unruly fan.
McGraw shouts “Get rid of this guy,” summons security and helps arriving crew members haul him onstage. When the heavyset fan moves toward McGraw, the singer threatens him with a cocked fist as he’s hauled away.
The band’s performance of “Indian Outlaw” never
(more…)
July 1 Doctor by day, Indian diva by night, San Fran songstress Rupa and her polyglot band (above) concoct a multicultural modern-day Moulin Rouge on “eXtraOrdinary rendition,” with nouvelle cabaret, Gypsy tango, and raga grooves. 9 p.m. $10. Johnny D’s, 17 Holland St., Davis Square, Somerville. 617-776-2004. johnnyds.com
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
June 27-28 Muck & the Mires (winners of Little Steven’s Underground Garage Band Battle), Dogmatics, Swinedells, and Prime Movers are among 10 bands that will rumble the venerable Beachcomber surf shack over two nights. 9 p.m. $10. Beachcomber, Cahoon Hollow Road, Wellfleet. 508-349-6055. thebeachcomber.com
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
MUSIC
Acton: FunkHouse plays it all! The Boston based jazz trio led by Berklee professor and pianist John Funkhouser, with bassist Greg Loughman and drummer Mike Connors, offers a mix of jazz, funk, blues, folk, Indian, and 20th-century progressive sounds. June 27, 9 p.m., at the Acton Jazz Cafe at 452 Great Road. Cover is $15. actonjazzcafe.com, 978-263-6161.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper
(more…)
Prior to the string of hits that began with 1994’s “Under the Table and Dreaming,” the Dave Matthews Band built up its fan base with jam-band strategies, such as the open trading of bootleg tapes of live performances. The group faced that facet of its personality head-on at the Comcast Center Tuesday (the first of a sold-out, two-night stand), favoring expansive groove-mongering over pop economy. Woe to the casual fan who came to hear the songs recognizable from the radio.
Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band shows are like a dinner party. The amiable Beatles legend invites a few friends over and, with hope, the mood is lively, awkward lulls are avoided, and everyone goes home happy and hoping to do it again some time.
Last night at the Bank of America Pavilion all points on the checklist were dispatched with ebullience by Starr and the 10th edition of his All-Starrs.
In addition to forming a pick-up band to back Starr’s
(more…)
DETROIT—Kid Rock wants fans to know it’s OK to illegally download his music.
And while they’re at it, they should steal cars, designer clothes and iPods, too.
Well, maybe not.
The 37-year-old Detroit musician posted a “special announcement” on YouTube last week urging fans to “steal everything.”
Kid Rock says in the video that he’s so rich, he can’t complain if fans steal a song or two off the Internet without paying him.
In fact,
(more…)
NEW YORK—Kanye West defended himself from criticism over his delayed performance at Bonnaroo, saying on his blog that the flak he’s taken has left him “the most offended I’ve ever been.”
West’s performance at the Tennessee festival was scheduled for 2:45 a.m. in the early morning of June 15. West didn’t take the stage until 4:25 a.m., angering much of the crowd who had stayed up late to see the rapper perform.
The delay was caused by
(more…)
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—A Nashville man has been charged with disorderly conduct and public intoxication after he repeatedly harassed Cher at the famed honky-tonk Tootsies Orchid Lounge.
Police say 36-year-old Calvin Hutton Houghland tried to make contact with Cher early Wednesday morning and was asked to leave the club. He complied, police said, but returned a short time later and grabbed Cher by the waist as the singer-actress sat in a roped-off area of the lounge.
LONDON—A British court on Wednesday acquitted a former pub manager of taking a bribe to drop assault charges against Amy Winehouse’s husband.
A jury deliberated for three hours before finding James King not guilty of trying to pervert the course of justice (the equivalent of obstruction of justice in the U.S.).
The singer-songwriter’s husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, has admitted beating up King in a barroom fight in 2006 and then offering him $400,000 to keep quiet about it.
LOS ANGELES—Coldplay’s new album is already living the life.
“Viva La Vida” will debut at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart with over 720,000 copies sold in its first week, the second-best opening week of 2008, according to the trade magazine’s Web site. Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III” was the top album debut of the year after it sold a spectacular 1 million copies earlier this month.
Two back-to-back blockbuster sales are a boost to the sluggish music industry, which has had little to celebrate with declining sales.
SEATTLE—Jazz vocalist Ernestine Anderson is facing foreclosure on her home in Seattle in yet another sign that the mortgage loan crisis is hitting traditional working-class neighborhoods hard.
Anderson, who once sang with the likes of Quincy Jones and Ray Charles, is more than $30,000 in arrears in payments and penalties, public records show.
Friends and family have started a last-ditch effort to save her Central District home by pleading
(more…)
Ringo has always been good at surrounding himself with talented musicians. The drummer’s band, Ringo Starr & His All Starrs features former Men at Work frontman Colin Hay; rocker Billy Squier; Hamish Stuart from the Average White Band; keyboardist, vocalist, and sax man Edgar Winter; “Dream Weaver” composer Gary Wright ; and drummer Gregg Bissonette, who recorded with Santana. Starr says his live shows are a “peace-and-love fest,” and tonight he
(more…)
MANSFIELD - Stevie Wonder is a man of many identities. Known foremost as a singer-songwriter, he is also a multi-instrumentalist, a civil rights activist, a joker, a proud father, and an unabashedly gleeful performer.
Sunday night at the Comcast Center he was all of those things and more during a show that lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours and hit many of the brightest spots in his deservedly vaunted catalog. As he proved last summer, with his first
(more…)
In life, there are simple choices (paper or plastic?) and complicated choices (rent or buy?), and choices for which there is no bad decision. Happily, the latter is the situation confronting you and your dining companion this evening, when the dilemma is: wine or beer?
If wine is the way you want to go, Sage Restaurant (below) in the South End is your spot. Tonight chef/owner Anthony Susi is serving a five-course dinner paired with selections
(more…)
Complete list of winners of the 2008 BET Awards:
Female R&B artist: Alicia Keys
Male R&B artist: Chris Brown
Group: UGK
Gospel artist: Marvin Sapp
Female hip-hop artist: Missy Elliott
Male hip-hop artist: Kanye West
New artist: The-Dream
Collaboration: Kanye West f/T-Pain, “Good Life”
Video director: Erykah Badu and Mr. Roboto
Video of the Year: UGK f/Outkast, “International Player’s Anthem (I Choose You)”
Actress: Halle Berry
LOS ANGELES—Coldplay’s new album is already living the life.
“Viva La Vida” will debut at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart with over 720,000 copies sold in its first week, the second-best opening week of 2008, according to the trade magazine’s Web site. Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III” was the top album debut of the year after it sold a spectacular 1 million copies earlier this month.
Two back-to-back blockbuster sales are a boost to the sluggish music industry, which has had little to celebrate with declining sales.