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  • Tonight! English Beat at Brighton Music Hall Boston Rock/Talk Show right here with Dave Wakeling

    November 18, 2015 | Filed under: Music, Rock
  • The Zombies Odessey Comes to Boston: At the Wilbur Theatre Tonight, Oct. 6

    October 6, 2015 | Filed under: Music, Rock

    Say this about the Zombies: They were ahead of the curve. We live in a world where you can’t turn on the TV or go to a multiplex without running into a zombie. Back in 1961,  keyboardist-songwriter Rod Argent and singer Colin Blunstone and their mates proved a pretty prescient …

    zombies1
  • Dave Davies Returns to Boston: You Can’t Keep an Old Kink Down. At the Wilbur Thursday Oct. 8

    September 29, 2015 | Filed under: Music, Rock

      It was 1984 and I was talking with the Kinks singer and main songwriter Ray Davies about the oft-contentious relationship he had with his younger brother, lead guitarist Dave.     “I love him,” Ray said, softly. “But sometimes … he’s family …and I don’t really like family.” Nine …

    jimdavedavies
  • 30 Years On: The Jesus and Mary Chain Bring back “Pscyhocandy” at House of Blues Tuesday

    September 28, 2015 | Filed under: Music, Punk, Rock

    The Jesus and Mary Chain is back among us in … again. They played the Paradise in 2012 and are back one more time, playing (among other things) the entirety of “Psychocandy,” the brilliant album that brought them early notoriety, at the House of Blues Tuesday Sept. 29. I remember …

    jamc
  • Book of Mormon – Through Oct. 11 at the Colonial Theater

    September 19, 2015 | Filed under: Home, Plays, Theater

    It’s back in Boston for a another run. From Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the folks who gave you the world’s first animated talking poo in “South Park,” it’s “The Book of Mormon.” Two and a half hours of merriment and mirth and scatological humor and a celebratory sendup of …

    bookofmormon1
  • What Happens After Life? What Do We Think About It Now? Richard Tilkin’s “Aside From That” Explores the Big Issues … at the Boston Film Festival Sunday Sept. 20

    July 29, 2015 | Filed under: Film

    Boston-area film-maker Richard Tilkin decided he wanted to make a documentary about a subject everyone virtually avoids at all cost: The inevitability of leaving this mortal coil. How do we regard our life knowing that – but not dwelling upon it? How does what we think happens after death affect …

    stevenwrightaside
  • ABBA Reigns O’er All: Mamma Mia! is Back – at the Colonial Oct. 28-Nov. 2

    October 15, 2014 | Filed under: Music, Performance

    We saw “Mamma Mia!” twice, in 2001 and 2004. It show, it has legs, even though it received a few slings and arrows in the press. Well, it’s back once again. It will not die. “Mamma Mia!” is the kind of play that is a punching bag for certain types, both …

    abba
  • Stiff Little Fingers Brings the Fury to the Sinclair July 12

    September 22, 2014 | Filed under: Punk

    I’ve known Jake Burns, lead singer of the one-time Northern Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers, going back to 1980 and their first Boston gig at the Paradise. I’ve seen them a lot over the years and they return to the Sinclair Sunday July 12, (they sold it out last September), …

    stifflittlefingers
  • Damned! Damned! Damned! UK Punk-Goths Back at You, Sensibly of course, at Royale Oct. 25

    July 28, 2014 | Filed under: Music, Punk

    The Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Jam — they get punk rock respect more than three decades down the pike, but their contemporaries the Damned are oft seen as a footnote, a comic one at that. The band remains fronted by singer Dave Vanian, forever dressed as a dapper vampire, …

    damned
fingersmith

The Sly and Dizzying “Fingersmith” at the A.R.T.’s Loeb through Sunday Jan. 8

January 4, 2017 | Filed under: Plays, Theater

Misdirection, unreliable narrators and skewed perceptions are all the rage these days from the controversial Netflix sci-fi/thriller series, “The O.A.” to the A.R.T.’s “Fingersmith,” an engaging and byzantine play by Alexa Junge and directed by Bill Rauch (he did the terrific “All the Way” with Bryan Cranston) that’s up through …

jimpeterhook2014

Peter Hook Brings the New Order and Joy Division Light to the Sinclair Sat. Nov. 26

November 23, 2016 | Filed under: alternative, Music, Punk

Joy Division’s existence was brief – just 2 ½ years – but its impact was immense in the world of post-punk rock. Their lyrics were often disturbing, introspective and self-critical; their music had a lush, crystalline sheen with deep and resonant pop hooks. U2’s Bono put it this way: “It …

Notes from the Field: Anna Deveare Smith Takes on the School to Prison Pipeline at the A.R.T. through Sept. 17

In “Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education,” Tony nominee Anna Deveare Smith has bitten off a lot and given us …

Dictators NYC: Heart Punch to the Head at Somerville’s ONCE Ballroom Sept. 16

“We actually made such a good team. Being completely different, we equaled a whole in a math equation,” says Richard Manitoba, better …

Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: At Wilbur Theatre in Boston Oct. 9

Ask Judy Collins a question about legacy – what would she like hers to be? – and she answers with this: “Always …

Mondo-Ziggy

Boston Rock Opera Returns and Brings the Bowie: At ONCE Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 6 & 7

I’ve been a fan of Boston Rock Opera – long on hiatus – for many years. Ambitious beyond belief and a bit …

swans

Swan Song for Swans: Michael Gira and Co. Bring the Noise One Last Time to Royale July 7

I’ve never not had a pleasant chat with Michael Gira, leader of Swans, the New York band that emerged from the New York …

enslerbody

In the Body of the World: To Hell and Back with Eve Ensler at the A.R.T. through Sunday May 29

I was interviewing Eve Ensler late in 2014 about her then-upcoming dramedy “O.P.C.” (for Obsessive Political Correctness). She was in a pretty …

peterwolf

Peter Wolf: New Album, Tour. At Somerville Theatre May 12

The piece I did on Wolf for Where magazine, Boston, with bonus material. http://www.wheretraveler.com/boston/j-geils-bands-peter-wolf-still-knows-how-chill-boston You did a song with Shelby Lynne on …

andersonponty

A (Re)Union of Masters Jean-Luc Ponty and John Anderson come to Cabot May 20

In the same way that Stephane Grappelli brought the violin to Jazz, Jean-Luc Ponty pioneered the instrument in the world for Rock. …

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BIO

Jim Sullivan wrote about pop music and other arts for the Boston Globe for 25+ years, with more than 10,000 stories to his credit before leaving in 2005. Since, he has freelanced for the Boston Phoenix, Boston Herald, Where magazine, Boston Common, Yankee magazine online, Time Out Boston, US News & World Report, the Cape Cod Times . He did arts commentary and reporting for WBUR and continues doing guest radio spots on WBZ and WERS. He created jimsullivanink.com in 2006, its purpose being to serve the Boston area with an opinionated guide to arts and events.

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