ongoing

We live in a short attention span age. Shorter by the minute. I've been saying this for a while now, and with the Twitter generation twittering madly about nothing (mostly), the trend has only accelerated. Bad news I suppose for websites like this for where we occasionally - ok, always - go past 140 characters, but, what are you gonna do? The Coolidge Corner Theatre and The Sundance Art House Project is taking films for the short-attention span era - ten of the 91 short films screened at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival - and bringing them to Coolidge Corner Theatre. (There'a about a dozen other art house theaters around the country also participating.) What's on tap? We especially want to see "Love You More," a 15 minute film by Sam Wood about two teenageers drawn together in the summer of '78 by the Buzzcocks (in photo) song of the same name. We love (still love the Buzzcocks) and have the melody in our head as we're writing this. And the thought, well, those teens could have been me except I was into my 20s already. Other films?

Wed. Feb. 10

The Residents are the longest-lasting, strangest cult band in existence – that is, if you want to call them a band. The group – known for the iconic giant eyeball heads they’ve worn (but no longer wear) – has remained anonymous for nearly 40 years and created some of the darkest, driest “rock” you can image. “The Commercial Album,” composed of 40 one-minute songs; “Third Reich ‘n’ Roll,” a pastiche of ‘60s rock with – ahem – a Nazi them (rock stars as Nazis? Something Pink Floyd later picked up on with “The Wall”). They’re video pioneers, video game pioneers, musical adventurers. Avant-jazz, synth music, tape loops, an album of spooky Elvis songs. Penn Jillette’s a big fan. He narrated their show for one tour – the show designed to fall apart as it progressed. Penn feigned anger with the crowd, the music grew chaotic, he ended up handcuffed to a wheelchair to deliver his last monologue. You won’t get that at the Middle East Downstairs when they play Wed. Feb. 10. What will you get?

We talked to Hardy W. Fox (yep, that’s what he calls himself), a spokesman for the Residents who’s been in the fold since the early days. He’s part of their team, The Cryptic Corporation. But does not play music on stage. He says.

JSInk: There were two CDs released late in 2009. “The Ughs,”  “Ten Little Piggies.” Will we be hearing much from that?
Fox; This is not a promotional tour, this is an art tour. Performance rather than selling an album. I think what you’re going to find is a situation where the Residents are thinking about their own again and immortality. It’s a multi-media thing, not elaborately so, and it’s by far about music. Music is definitely oriented to story-esque aspects.
The Residents are noted for dark tales and cynical stuff. I expect this show will include those elements. …
Well, I think there are multiple angles you can approach that stuff with. Certainly the dark side is far more interesting than the light side. The Residents aren’t really that big on unicorns and rainbows. But at the same time, life ends with death, it’s the grand finale, and it’s a shared experience. Everybody does it. There’s plenty of reasons to reflect about that part of your life. Possibly it’s one of the most important things that happens to you. And the biggest question mark that you have. And it’s fascinating. It’s hard not to be interested in death. It doesn’t have to be morbid. It can be quite humorous and dark as well. And some people die while they’re still alive. So, I think the Residents really enjoy playing around with the darker aspects, probably because it’s more interesting and probably because it’s just so ripe for picking.
Are the Residents cynical or just realistic? Are the glimmers of hope?
Oh, I think the band is cynical to some degree, but realistically cynical.

Thurs. Feb. 11 

We've always loved soundscapes, music that builds upon layers and layers of sound, some gentle, some not, that allows you to create movie in your own head. Mountains - Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp- are that. The Brooklyn-based duo crafts startling ambient electronic soundscapes that seamlessly integrate field recordings and acoustic instrumentation into the mix, creating complex but often relaxing songs. Each one builds in momentum, layering on organic and electronic sounds. That's what they did ontheir latest and third CD, "Choral." On Thurs. Feb. 11 Mountains plays live at the Cambridge YMCA Theatre. The guys have been friends since their middle school days. They both ended up at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It was during this time that they began exchanging musical ideas and compositions which led to them founding the Apestaartje label in 1999. Their most recent record, "Etching,"  is a live recording on Thrill Jockey. Writes Dusted: "A pitch-perfect combination of earthiness and abstract bliss." They'll remind electronic/art music fans of Cluster, Eno, Popol Vuh and they'll weave a tapestry that will both soothe and stimulate. Opening up: David Daniell and Tim Hecker.  Tickets: $12. Starts at 8.

820 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-661-9622 or 617-876-4275 www.WorldMusic.org or  www.cambridgeymca.org/theatre.html

ongoing - Feb. 21

My experience in Harry Potter land is, I must confess, limited. I saw the first movie, I've read no books. Figured it was for kids a long time ago. Wrong. It became a cross-generational mega-success. Not having taken the dive I can pretend no deep knowledge. But curiosity ... yes. And with the "Harry Potter" exhibit up at the Museum of Science through Feb. 21, I wanted to go and see if there was magic there. Well, it was rather delightful, after you get over the crowds, and there sure are a lot of Potter artifacts - many replicas on sale on the gift shop. (Yes, I wondered how Harry Potter - being about magic and all - tied in with science, but that's a topic for another day.) At any rate, I wanted to go with someone who was a Potter fanatic, and Dana Tambeau, 28, fit that bill. She'd read every book, saw every movie (to date), and helped me negogiate the tricky terrain of this house and that house and who was good and who was bad. All of the stuff. And she filed this report ...

I stumbled onto Harry Potter by accident. I hadn’t paid any attention to the whole Harry Potter craze at first thinking it was just some stupid fad for kids to enjoy and parents to loathe. Then one year for Christmas my father bought the first four books for my younger brother. I was home for Christmas break and had nothing to do so I picked up book one and that was it for me. It was such a fun and cute tale I couldn’t help picking up the next one and then the next one. Within a week I had read the first four books of the series. I couldn’t wait for the fifth one to come out. Sadly for me I had to wait for about a year. Since then I eagerly awaited each new book of the series and actually felt a small sense of loss when I read the final one. Happily I still have two more movies to see, so my Harry Potter experience isn’t quite over yet. If you haven’t read the books or seen the movies give it a shot. Sure there is plenty of teenage angst and sometimes silly magic experiences but it’s more than that. It’s a story of bravery, loyalty and above all love. What could be better than that?

Thurs. Feb. 11

You would not necessarily expect a bill featuring Your Mother's Crotch, Beast Over Boston (an Iron Maiden tribute band) and Electric Mummy to be playing benefit concert at Church for the New England Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. But that's just the knee-jerk reaction to hard rock and metal bands, that becasue they make lotsa nasty noise they have no heart and soul.

Who's Electric Mummy? Well, in a nod to the Cramps, Ramones, Sex Pistols or anybody else who's embraced made-up names, the Boston-based quintet consists of Dead Ringer, Dead Man Rockin', Deady Sexy, Dead Serious and Dead Beat. Daniel DeLay - who is one of the Dead boys, not sure which, helped put this triple bill together Thurs. Feb. 11, in which 100% of the proceeds go to charity (unlike that dodgy "a portion of the proceeds" you so often hear about). Electric Mummy lists Ramones, Dead Ringer and David Bowie as influences and, yes, you can kind of hear that: some riffage, some metal-y hooks, a touch of glam.

Saturdays

First, there is the smell.Familiar. Intoxicating. Some say ED-preventing.Then, just when you can barely take anymore, a smiling head pops through the door - “Anybody want some chocolate?”
 
Welcome to two-and-a-half hours of educational heaven, aka the Taste of Chocolate Workshop.
 
Run by the folks who have been bringing the legendary Mystery Café to Boston and beyond for years and hosted in the Elephant and Castle Pub in Downtown Boston (the same site as one of the most popular Mystery Café dinners), the Workshop tells you perhaps more than you ever wanted to know about chocolate (pretty much right down to the molecular level) and then lets you get into it up to your wrists (at least) through a hands-on truffle-making party.

Sun. Feb. 14 (Valentine's Day) 

Hmmm, women reading stuff naked. Where have we heard about that? Oh yes, it's something Lisa Lewis does in New Zealand TV, and it's done in South Korea and Russia and, well, Google it yourself: There's 18,000 hits. Now, take that and apply it a live reading ... Ol'. Scratch, impressario of the Boston Babydolls burlesque troupe in conjunction with a couple of Chicagoans, have put something together for Valentine's Day, Sun. Feb. 14 at a SECRET VENUE called "Naked Girls Reading: In the Seraglio". Ol' Scratch e-mails us: "The concept is simple: Girls. Reading out loud. Naked ... Following the enthusiastic reception of the Naked Girls Reading debut in January, the Boston Chapter is creating a more intimate experience."

Last month, the Boston Babydolls presented Boston-area  debut the nude literary salon at Oberon. This was co-created by Michelle L'Amour (America's Got Talent, Burlesque Hall of Fame's Miss Exotic World 2005, she intends do a Boston reading this summer) and producer Franky Vivid.

"Oberon was lovely," says Miss Mina, the host of the VD eventing and lead Naked Girl, also in the Babydolls. She will be joined in her nude literary adventure by Ivy Bowers, Betty Blaize, Jackie Raboin and Joceyln Cherry. "But we wanted to do something more luxurious and more exclusive." That is, there are three shows Sunday - at 4, 6:30 and 9 - and only 32 tickets are sold per show

ongoing - March 28, 2010

It would arrogant of us to say we understood anything of what being in a real war is like. What we've learned, we've learned from books, music and movies. Particularly wrenching are the spate of books written from soldiers' perspectives during the first two World Wars. Music? "Death, blood and horror," Eric Bogle sang about Gallipoli in "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda." He accomplished something just as powerful in "The Green Fields of France" about WWII. (The Pogues did killer versions of both.) There's "Saving Private Ryan," the opening scene. There's "Platoon." And there's work set in museums, like "The Veterans Project," new large-scale video installation by Krzysztof Wodiczko (in photo) up at The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston Nov. 4 and running through March 28. It focuses on the experience of war in Iraq. Based on the artist's conversations with soldiers who have returned from Iraq as well as Iraqi civilians, the new work builds on their memories of the chaos and confusion of war. Since 1980, Wodiczko has created more than 80 projections of politically-charged images on civic buildings and monuments worldwide.

Thurs. Feb. 25

Johnny Cash once sang "I shot a man in Reno/Just to see him die," but to the best of our knowledge Johnny Cash - tough man though he sometimes was - never did that. Singer-guitarist T-Model Ford did kill a man with a switch blade in Tennessee. "I had to kill the man because he was gonna kill me," Ford has said. "He cut me first and I didn't back down." A lawyer helped reduce the ten-year sentence, and Ford spent the next two years on a chain gang.

That was before he was a musician. He first picked up the guitar at age 58 and is now 90. You know how a band comes to town and you think, "I like 'em, but I'm busy, maybe I'll catch 'em next time." Probably shouldn't do that with T-Model Ford, who's making a rare Massachusetts appearance Thurs. Feb. 25 at P.A.'s Lounge. And the
Old North Mississippi Hill country blues Legend is about to kick  off his 2010 United States tour. He's with drummer Marty Reinsel of the Seattle-based band Gravel Road. The show was put together with Jim Chilson of the opening band, Ten Foot Polecats, who opens the show.

Fri. Feb. 26

Dave Wakeling formed the Beat in Birmingham England in the late 1970s. It was one of the leading bands of the ska-punk, two-tone movement – two-tone meaning blacks and whites playing in the same band. The Beat, called the English Beat in America for legal reasons, has broken up, re-formed, and taken different shapes over time. Several members went off to form Fine Young Cannibals.  Wakeling has long been based in California and it’s a US band he brings to the Showcase Live in Foxboro Friday Feb. 26. It's a tour with Fishbone and Outlaw Nation. We’ve known Wakeling going back to when the Beat first hit Boston, around 1979; we saw them play a great show last year; and we caught up with him again for a chat about then and now. The English Beat play What struck us - 2007 in a club, then at Earth Fest -  was how fresh, how pertinent old material like “Save It for Later,” “Twist and Crawl,” “Mirror in the Bathroom” and others seemed now, and we asked him about it.

 Does the music change its meaning over time?

ongoing

We ran into Scullers Jazz Club Entertainment Director Fred Taylor a while back at the Keith Jarrett concert at Symphony Hall. There was some nostalgia. We talked of his old clubs, Paul's Mall and the Jazz Workshop - and how Jarrett used to helm the house band way back in the day when he was at Berklee. And Freddie said it was almost startling, the realization that his Scullers Jazz Club was approaching two decades in business. Seemed less than half of that, we both agreed. Time sure passes fast. We didn't have time to talk about the recession or the effect it was taking in the arts world - hey Jarrett was about to play and grunt and he does like it when people pay attention - but then we just got this from Scullers General Manaager Dayla Arabella Santurri. There's some discouraging news up front, but stay with it, there's some good news for you in there, too. Do the words "free tickets" mean anything to you? Read on ...