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recommended boston area events

closing night tonight!

ending wednesday, april 28th

the 8th annual independent

film festival of boston

@ the coolidge corner theatre


wednesday, april 28th

little boots

dragonette

fan death

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, april 28th

gogol bordello

devotchka

jesse malin

st. mark's social

@ the house of blues


wednesday, april 28th

naked on rollerskates

liberation day

croquet

highly personal trash

@ tt the bears


wednesday, april 28th

kate nash

supercute

@ great scott


thursday, april 29th

frightened rabbit

maps & atlases

bad veins

@ the paradise


friday, april 30th

the big east, banana phonetic,

strange tribe, sun cut flat,

and tin soldier

@ church of boston


friday, april 30th

reading/signing with author

(+ boing boinger) cory doctorow

7pm @ the harvard coop


friday, april 30th +

saturday, may 1st

roflcon II!

internet madness @ mit, cambridge


friday, april 30th

union square roundtable

with jonny cohen,

david bryant's somerville speakout,

and much more

@ pa's lounge


friday, april 30th

the everyday visuals

the lights out

the flying machines

aloud

@ tt the bears


friday, april 30th

corinne bailey ray

@ the house of blues


friday, april 30th

the album leaf

sea wolf

@ the paradise


saturday, may 1st

white rabbits

here we go magic

@ the paradise


sunday, may 2nd

taylor hawkins & the coattail riders

township

@ great scott


monday, may 3rd

yeasayer

sleigh bells

@ the paradise


tuesdays in may!

may 4th, may 11th, + may 18th

john shade + the neave quartet

3-week residency with guests

nina violet (on the 4th),

vikesh kapoor (on the 11th),

+ the low anthem's jocie adams (on the 18th),

@ the lizard lounge


tuesday, may 4th

cartoonist dan clowes

6pm @ the brattle theatre


tuesday, may 4th

john doe + exene

(from x, of course)

dennis brennan

@ the paradise


tuesday, may 4th

gregory & the hawk

lady lamb the beekeeper

@ tt the bears


tuesday & wednesday

may 4th & 5th

public image ltd.

@ the royale (formerly the roxy)


wednesday, may 5th

dom, magic magic,

and the royalty,

with passion pit dj set

featuring ayad + jeff

@ great scott, allston


wednesday, may 5th

minus the bear

@ the wilbur theatre


wednesday & thursday

may 5th & 6th

jonsi (from sigur ros)

death vessel

@ the house of blues


thursday, may 6th

the joy formidable

the dig

@ harpers ferry


thursday, may 6th

shout out louds

freelance whales

@ the paradise


friday, may 7th

ok go

earl greyhound

robert francis

@ the paradise


saturday, may 8th

local natives

@ great scott


tuesday & wednesday

may 11th & 12th

dr. dog

deer tick

@ the paradise


wednesday, may 12th

mass art invades the armory

with humanwine, kelsey jarboe, erica russo,

rick berlin, ryan greene, dave tree,

josh stedman, amy toxic, amy mills,

duncan wilder johnson, jessica lynch,

alvan long, kevin clancy, ian deleon,

and tim bailey

all ages, 7pm @ the somerville armory


thursday, may 13th

massive attack

neon indian

martina topley-bird

@ house of blues


thursday, may 13th

small brown bike

bridge and tunnel

your skull my closet

wallcreeper

@ great scott


friday, may 14th

david bazan (solo)

living room show in beverly, ma


saturday, may 15th

the lindsey buckingham

appreciation society

performs fleetwood mac's 'tusk'

@ the lizard lounge


saturday, may 15th

two door cinema club

bad veins

millionyoung

@ great scott


monday, may 17th

cotton candy (mark robinson

and evelyn hurley)

veronica falls, + reports

@ charlie's kitchen

monday, may 17th

hooray for earth

twin shadow

@ the middlesex lounge


tuesday, may 18th

"music 2.0: tools + tech for

musicians, marketers, + managers"

free with rsvp at above link

6pm @ microsoft's n.e.r.d.


monday, may 17th

buzzcocks

the jollyrots

@ the paradise


monday, may 17th

pearl jam

band of horses

@ the garden


tuesday, may 18th

spectrum (featuring sonic boom

from spacemen 3 + e.a.r.)

with the broken river prophet

@ the middle east upstairs


thursday, may 20th

magic man

magic magic

arpline

some say fire

@ tt the bears


friday, may 21st

hurricane bells

the fatal flaws

reverse

thick as thieves

@ tt the bears


saturday, may 22nd

the needy visions (lp release!)

tulsa, mmoss,

life partners,

+ maine coons

@ the temple in j.p.


saturday, may 22nd

holly miranda

@ tt the bears


sunday, may 23rd

they might be giants

two children's shows @ 12 + 3pm

@ the regent theatre, arlington


saturday, may 22nd

killing joke

@ the paradise


tuesday, may 25th

the smittens

allo darlin'

one happy island (cd release party!)

hearts!attack

a smile and a ribbon

horowitz

@ the lizard lounge


wednesday, may 26th

imogen heap

@ the orpheum


wednesday, may 26th

reverend horton heat

cracker

miss derringer

@ the house of blues


friday, may 28th

mono

the twilight sad

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, may 30th

boston-area blog bbq shindig!

details to come

@ bridge sound & stage, cambridge


sunday, may 30th

the besnard lakes

land of talk

the drew o'doherty trio

@ tt the bears


tuesday, june 1st

stars

@ the paradise


wednesday, june 2nd

kings of convenience

franklin for short

@ the paradise


wednesday, june 2nd

ryan bingham & the dead horses

@ tt the bears


wednesday & thursday

june 2nd & 3rd

the national

@ the house of blues


friday, june 4th

broken bells

the morning benders

@ the royale


friday, june 4th

brian jonestown massacre

young sinclairs

@ the paradise


friday + saturday, june 4th + 5th

the conan o'brien 'prohibited' tour

with reggie watts

@ the wang theatre/citi center


saturday, june 5th

matt pond pa

wintersleep

@ great scott


saturday, june 5th

the psychedelic furs

she wants revenge

@ house of blues


tuesday, june 8th

junip (jose gonzalez' band)

forest fires

@ great scott


tuesday, june 8th

concrete blonde

@ the royale


thursday, june 10th

the trashcan sinatras

the candles

@ tt the bears


friday, june 11th

buffalo tom

@ the paradise


wednesday, june 16th

damien jurado

kay kay + his weather underground

marc pinansky

@ tt the bears


friday, june 18th

the new pornographers

the dodos

the duchess + the duke

@ house of blues


friday, june 18th

reigning sound

movers & shakers

triplethick

@ tt the bears


saturday, june 19th

evelyn evelyn

(amanda palmer + jason webley)

@ the house of blues


saturday, june 19th

james taylor

carole king

@ the garden


sunday + monday

june 20th + 21st

isis

melvins

totimoshi

@ the paradise


wednesday, june 23rd

hole

@ the house of blues


friday, june 25th

modest mouse

morning teleportation

@ the house of blues


sunday, june 27th

mary chapin carpenter

madeleine peyroux

@ boston's symphony hall


thursday, july 1st

she & him

@ the house of blues


sunday, july 11th

jeremy jay

@ tt the bears


monday, july 12th

wolf parade

the moools

@ the house of blues


wednesday, july 14th

squeeze

cheap trick

@ the boa pavilion


saturday, july 17th

crowded house

@ the house of blues


monday, august 2nd

the gaslight anthem

tim barry

@ the house of blues


friday, august 13th

deerhunter

@ the royale


monday, august 16th

tears for fears

@ the house of blues


thursday + saturday

august 19th + 21st

tom petty + the heartbreakers

my morning jacket

@ the comcast center


saturday, august 21st

boston band crush presents...

ONE NIGHT BAND!

@ the middle east downstairs


tuesday, september 7th

tortoise

@ the paradise


sunday, september 12th

blondie

@ the house of blues


tuesday, september 14th

rush

@ the td garden


saturday, december 4th

killing joke

@ the paradise


visit tourfilter for more shows


Monday, June 09, 2008

Interview + Giveaway: Mission of Burma

The men from Mission of Burma are halfway through a hectic couple of weeks, as they've just returned from a short European tour with Shellac to treat Boston and New York fans to some very special performances. Over two nights in each city, the seminal Boston band will perform the entirety of their 1981 debut EP, "Signals, Calls, and Marches", along with their 1982 full-lengther, "vs.". Each set will be fleshed out with some rarities, and guitarist Roger Miller provides more details on that in the interview responses below, which he and bassist Clint Conley were kind enough to provide during a long drive through Spain a few days back.

Thanks to Fenway Recordings, I've got a pair of tickets for each Boston show (Thursday and Friday at the Paradise) to give away. Details after the interview...
Q: So how did the idea of running through each album over two nights come about? Obviously the recent Matador reissues played a part, but were you all into the idea initially, or was anyone resistant?

Clint Conley: The idea first arose when we were asked to do "vs" at the Pitchfork Fest. That seemed quite an honor, and an idea totally worth stealing and repeating. Seemed to me we were of like-mind on the matter.

Roger Miller: I can't recall exactly, but I think (MoB manager and Fenway Recordings head honcho) Mark Kates suggested it. It's that "Don't Look Back" idea that the ATP festival started, where bands perform their classic albums. It just kind of made sense given the reissues. We certainly would not have done this except that the reissues are coming out. Last fall we hardly performed any of the old stuff, because we were focusing on the new ideas.

Q: If you've had time to run through the seldom-played songs already, are there any that have surprised you (either in a 'Why weren't we playing this one all along?' sort of way, or a 'Uh oh, we're in trouble with this one' kind of way, or anywhere in between)?

CC: There were several songs that required some skullwork to reconstruct, and there are still some transitions, and odd corners, that I am not totally convinced we've got "right." Overall, the recall of songs from almost 30 years ago (!) has been eerily easy. And yes, some of the songs we haven't been playing seem pretty decent, if I say so myself.

RM: Mostly they fell into place pretty quickly. Some were surprising to find how they were structured - they were pretty much all fun to revisit. The most surprising one for me was "Train of Thought", which didn't do much for me "back in the day" but I find quite bracing now. We've run through twelve "resuscitates" (songs we haven't played since 1983), and we're hoping we'll have them together by the time of the shows! We're in Spain right now, and we go over them in soundchecks and incorporate a couple in every show, so we should be OK by the Paradise shows. We just listened to these songs in the van, and found that there were quite a number of little sections we didn't realize were there.

Q: With the albums being relatively short compared to the usual length of your live sets (and one actually being an EP), how are you planning to fill out the rest of each night? And do you plan on sticking to the original "Signals..." track order, or the remastered sequence with the two additional songs? (no worries if you're hoping to keep any of that a surprise, of course).

CC: We are still working out the details of how to present the records/shows. Suffice to say we will be expanding beyond , say, the 6 song "Signals," doing other songs from that period that may or may not have shown up on other releases, such on Taang or Horrible Truth. Same with 'vs'.

RM (from notes he wrote earlier): For the 'Signals...' show, we will play some songs from early on that are not on 'Signals...', but were of that era. We will then play the 4 songs from the Acad/Max session (including the 2 that were just released), then play 'Signals...' start to finish, then play encores, and make sure everyone is happy.

For the 'vs.' Show: We will play the 4 "bonus tracks", 'vs.' start to finish, then play encores, and make sure everyone is happy.

Q: You guys have been playing some new stuff recently, so what does the future hold for MoB? Back to the studio for a follow-up to "The Obliterati"? Any other special plans ahead?

CC: We almost never know what we are going to do. If there is a plan, no one's told me.

RM: We're not so good at planning. We do have new material, and once this reissues thing has passed, I'm sure we'll work on more new songs. The only truth to be told is that so far, whenever we've had enough new songs to make an album, we've made one. That may or may not hold true in the future.

Q: I believe you're answering these questions while driving around Europe on a short tour. So what exactly is helping pass the time while on the road? (what music, books, games, etc.?)

CC: We are at this moment following the luxurious Shellac tour van across the high, dry plains of Spain, on our way north to Gijon, a beach town on the Gulf of Vizcaya (Atlantic Ocean). Spain is beautiful to the point of flabbergasm. I was reading Oliver Sacks' "Musicophilia" until it got stolen yesterday along with my laptop in Madrid.

RM: Gazing at the scenery is quite nice. I was in Barcelona with Alloy Orchestra some years ago, but otherwise, this trip is all new stuff to me. Babbling to each other, occasionally listening to music. Listening to Public Enemy (who MoB will play with at P4K in July - ed) coming into Madrid was kind of interesting. I have my laptop with me and writing the Tour Blog for the Burma MySpace site is my little "side project" on this trip. It's hard to say what we do to keep amused - it just happens.
One thing's for sure: Roger's road blogging kept me amused (especially the Burma vs. Shellac scores). Damn shame about Clint's laptop, huh? Add MoB to the long list of victimized touring bands, but hey, at least it wasn't their instruments. Much thanks to Roger and Clint for taking the time to answer those questions.

As I said, I'm glad to be able to give away a pair of tickets to each show, so if you're game, send me an email at giveaways -at- bradleysalmanac -dot- com titled "MoB Thursday" or "MoB Friday", depending on which one you want to try for (no double-dippin'). Make sure I get it before 10AM on Wednesday, and I'll randomly pick one winner for each show who will end up on the guest list with a +1 spot for a friend.

And to get yourself in the mood, I should mention that I uploaded my January recording of MoB's amazing appearance at Great Scott to the Live Music Archive. Have at it.

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sparklehorse
live at the paradise
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on monday, february 26th, 2009

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