Cos Music

Blue Moose free show

2009-07-28T22:15:11Z

Tomorrow evening at 6:30pm, Blue Moose & the Unbuttoned Zippers are playing a free show at Titus Sparrow Park in Boston's South End, near the Prudential and Back Bay T stops.

Blue Moose & the Unbuttoned Zippers is an acoustic quartet of mostly-strings, playing music that combines bluegrass, folk-rock, Cape Breton fiddling, and Norwegian & Swedish fiddle music.

Bronwyn Bird - Nyckelharpa, Accordian, Vocals

Andy Reiner - 5-String Fiddle, Octave Fiddle, Mandolin, Vocals

Mariel Vandersteel - Fiddle, Hardanger Fiddle, Vocals

Stash Wyslouch - Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals

They're also amusing, entertaining, and cute :)

Although they're local, I actually first saw them at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival last year, when they were in the emerging artists showcase. Out of 24 artists, audiences get to vote for three, and the three top vote-getters get invited back to perform as actual booked acts the following year - which Blue Moose did at this year's Falcon Ridge. I think they were #1 in last year's audience vote from the showcase.

Wanna come join me at the free show?

Falcon Ridge advance ticket deadline tomorrow

2009-06-30T15:21:36Z

----- Forwarded message from FalcRidge@aol.com -----

Is almost here!!

Advance prices on 4 day tickets end midnight Weds July 1

That's $125 per person for all 4 days WITH ON-SITE CAMPING

And $95 PP for all 4 days NO CAMPING.

Prices go up $20 on both of these categories after that.

Cheryl and I are here manning the phones til then - 866 325-2744

You can also order online at www.FalconRidgeFolk.com or mail in, postmarked July 1 will do it.

More news coming to the website shortly, crazy busy here, THANKS, Anne

Red Molly

2009-06-12T00:13:30Z

Red Molly, a wonderful 3-woman bluegrass trio who formed by singing together at their campsite the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival several years ago, will be at Club Passim in Harvard Square tomorrow evening at 8pm. Wanna go?

Passim campfire festival this weekend

2009-05-24T00:19:32Z

Yesterday evening through Monday night, Club Passim is having its Campfire Festival - ~100 performers/bands over the course of the long weekend. Ones I particularly want to go see are:

Goli tonight 11-11:45pm: Valerie (cello & vocals) and Vessela (electric marimba), half of Fluttr Effect

Blue Moose & the Unbuttoned Zippers Sunday 7:30-8pm: Winners from the 2007 Falcon Ridge showcase (I voted for them)

Kevin So, Sunday 11:30pm set w/others: He just released his first new solo folk album in years, I need to get it.

Rose Polenzani, Monday 11pm set w/others: So weirdly good!

Whichever ones of these I get to, I'll probably also see a few of the sets before & after them.

Are you going?
Do you especially recommend any of the artists on the schedule?

Play music for each other over the net

2009-05-06T15:48:13Z

MixApp is shared music listening software written by an MITish group of people. You join a MixApp group, in which there are "rooms" which are like online chatrooms with playlists. Anyone in a room can add music from their iTunes library to the room playlist, and anyone can rearrange or remove tracks. Everyone in the room hears the track that's currently at the top of the playlist.

It's in beta testing currently, and among other things, that means:
- Only mp3 files. You can't play mp4/aac or other files times from your library yet.
- Only for OS X (Macintosh). They're working on a Windows MixApp client.

If you're on a Mac, come join my MixApp group!

You can listen to some of the rooms I've started up there and filled up with music (freefall, Ecto, 80's, Afropop Worldwide, Southern Rail, Finland, Massachusetts Music) or add your music to them or make a new room or two.

This week in Camberville

2009-05-05T19:28:19Z

EDIT: Wrote this from a Wednesday point of view and posted a day early! Fixed now.

Wednesday, Jaggery performs at Johnny D's in Davis Square, with the weird Army of Broken Toys. I hear Molly Zenobia will be a guest during Jaggery's set. 8:30pm, $10, 21+

Thursday, Kevin So has a CD release concert at Club Passim in Harvard Square, for his first acoustic folk album in years. Paul Erlich opens. 8pm, $15, all ages

Friday, it's Fluttr Effect's Spy Night at the Lizard Lounge (next to the Cambridge Common restaurant on Mass Ave, halfway between Porter and Harvard). An evening of (under) cover songs and spy music featuring the Covert Operation Chamber Orchestra! Starring Molly Zenobia as Golfinger, Mali Sastri as Pussy Golore, Brendan Higgins as M, Gonzalo Plaza as Oddjob and Goli as the Fembots! Come dressed as your favorite spy, double agent, ambassador, assassin or femme fatale! 8:30pm, $10, 21+

Any good music you know of on the weekend or next week?

NEFFA?

2009-04-26T07:00:37Z

Who's going to NEFFA today?

ticket prices

2009-04-23T22:03:49Z

I've been looking for what's happening around Boston around the end of May / beginning of June, for some people coming in from out of town, and I happened to notice that Leonard Cohen is doing a couple of shows at the Wang Center.

Tickets in the mezzanine and back rows are about $100, and range up to $253 for the front sections.

Okay, he's good. But is an hour or two of Leonard Cohen really worth as much or more than, say, a full 4 days of the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival? (FRFF 4-day tickets were $100 in the super-early sale this year, but even at the gate tickets won't be over $200)

P.S. Molly Zenobia with Mali Sastri at the Lily Pad in Inman Square this evening 7-10pm, "From the Inside Out". Lily Pad at 1353 Cambridge Street, all ages, $10 (I think).

Silhouettes

2009-03-10T16:28:24Z

Dada, Molly Zenobia's first interactive themed show at the Lily Pad last month with the Army of Broken Toys, featured such things as:
- Molly performing one of her songs backwards
- Each of the main acts drawing the other during the other's set
- A collaborative audience poem
- Molly with cellist Valerie Thompson, in the video on the right

Molly's next in the series is this Thursday evening, 7-10pm, with Valerie and Vessela of Goli (the same Valerie who's playing cello in the video - there will be more Molly + cello at this show), Brendan Burns, and Nate Greenslit from Humanwine. And more art.

Silhouettes

The Lily Pad

see the art
listen to the music.
be a silhouette.

featuring:
Molly Zenobia
Vessela Stoyanova
Brendan Burns
Valerie Thompson
Nate Greenslit

constant surprises.
forward art.
~molly zenobia

P.S. Molly's next interactive show after Silhouettes will be April 23rd at the Lily Pad.

Camille Bloom (Mon & Tue in Cambridge)

2009-03-08T20:14:32Z

Sometime in the past few weeks, a friend recommended Camille Bloom to me, because she's got a couple of gigs in Cambridge. I no longer remember who it was who recommended her to me (are you reading this?) but since both gigs are this week, I finally got around to visiting the web site and listening to some songs, and I like what I hear, a lot.

Monday, March 9th, 9pm
The Cantab, 738 Mass Ave (Central Square)
Featured act at the every-Monday folk open mic, 8-10pm (her set at 9:something)
21+, no cover

Tuesday, March 10th, 6pm
All Asia, 332/334 Mass Ave (Central/MITish), 617-497-1544
19+, $5 for 21+ / $8 for 19-20

Wanna go?

Falcon Ridge sale

2009-02-09T17:06:10Z

Falcon Ridge Folk Festival's special early pre-sale is on today (and tomorrow if there are still tickets left). Limited number of 4-day with camping for $100, 4-day without camping for $70 - both of those are $15 cheaper than the regular "early bird" advance ticket prices. 866-325-2744.

Free live Emperor Norton's recording

2008-12-24T02:51:46Z

Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band's performance at the Nave Gallery in May, is available for free download.

SoCal-Mexican music?

2008-12-02T17:52:19Z

For years one of my favorite musicians has been Julieta Venegas, a Mexican-American woman who was born in LA and grew up in Tijuana. Recently, when I was in San Diego, I found a radio station playing Latino techno/dance/electronica I liked, so I kept listening to it occasionally the rest of the week... and started hearing music that reminded me of Julieta Venegas. Nothing quite like her, but some of the turns of melody, the feelings, the rhythms, were familiar to me from her music.

I'm not entirely new to Mexican & Latin American music in general. We had a great Latin/Hispanic music coordinator & DJ at WBRS for the ~15 years I was there, who had a show right after mine for many of those years, and who built up quite a solid collection. We had separate subsections in our CD library for things like "Tejano", "Norteno", and "Cumbia", and I learned how to figure out what music went in which subsection, and what a "ranchera" or a "corrida" is. However, I don't remember hearing much music that reminded me of Julieta Venegas like this.

That makes me wonder: Is there a whole musical cluster of specifically Southern Californian Mexican music, that Jose at WBRS didn't play much of, but that I would really like if I heard more of?

confluence

2008-11-26T15:51:54Z

At last night's show, Amanda Palmer...

Covered Jason Webley's Icarus
Performed a song Neil Gaiman wrote for her (called "I Google You")
Had Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band play with her on the encore

There was also other stuff, like a troupe of Australians, a lip sync performance of "can I stand under your umbrella" complete with water pouring on umbrellas, and a pianist I met at a party a few years ago. But I highlight those three because it's multiple instances of artists I loved before they were connected to each other, all being connected in one set of music.

P.S. Here's a video of the same encore with ENSMB from Monday night's show, and a poor quality cell phone video of it that got the beginning of the song. Here's a pretty good video of I Google You from earlier this month.

Goli tonight, Giant Robot tomorrow

2008-10-15T16:29:15Z

This evening, Goli performs inside the Speaker Project at MassArt, 6-8pm, for free. Visually nifty as well as musically, and you can wander around the space and listen through a variety of objects.

Tomorrow, Giant Robot Dance plays the Thursday contra in Concord MA, and they'll play the Greenfield contra dance in western MA on Friday evening.

Goli in a sculpture

2008-09-25T13:07:29Z

Last night I saw Goli perform inside a large found-object sculpture at Mass Art, The Speaker Project. I watched most of the show sitting or standing inside the thing with them. Around the room were several similar but smaller sculptures full of listening nooks and shapes (my favorite, which porcelaincat showed me, was listening through some orange traffic cones in a wall, cut at different angles).

There are going to be musical performances at the Speaker Project several days a week, afternoons and evenings, for the next three months, and speakerproject has the schedule. I definitely want to catch some more of these.

Goli will be back on Wednesday, October 15th, 6-8pm. Come join me for that one!

Any of the other performances look good to you?

BT coming to Boston

2008-08-24T00:47:57Z

One of my favorite electronic artists, BT, is coming to Boston with his "Laptop Symphony" tour. If you've gone on a lot of roadtrips with me you've probably heard some of his music, probably from either ESCM or Movement In Still Life. Here's a video from a recent show that someone took in Seattle (sound quality okay but not good).

More here.

Molly Zenobia: 2 August shows, then gone for a while

2008-08-10T15:44:55Z

Molly Zenobia has two more shows coming up this month in Somerville and Cambridge, then she's going back to LA for a few months to record stuff. Both of these shows happen to be all ages, and inexpensive!

Tuesday, August 12th, 7-9pm: Backyard concert near Davis Square, with Mali Sastri of Jaggery. $5 suggested donation. RSVP to backyardconcerts@gmail.com; they'll send you the address when you RSVP.

Thursday, August 21st, 10pm: The Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge Street, Cambridge (Inman Square)... with possible special guest accompanying her on cello!

Cambridge: Molly Zenobia, Jaggery, Copal, Cyanide Valentine

2008-08-04T15:17:26Z

Molly Zenobia moved to Boston after four years in southern California, and her first public gig is this Thursday evening in Central Square, opening for a great lineup for anyone who likes gothy music with unusual sounds.

First two acts are intense female vocals & piano, Molly and then Mali Sastri's band Jaggery (she also recently moved to Boston, from New York). Next is Copal, violin-centered tribal-goth/dance music. I haven't seen Cyanide Valentine yet, but I'm intrigued.

Cyanide Valentine, Copal, Jaggery, & Molly Zenobia

T.T. The Bear's

The Middle East

Thursday

8pm-1am

8:00pm - doors open.

8:30pm Molly Zenobia - poetic, haunted, intense, singer/pianist Molly Zenobia makes her return to Boston after four years in the exile of Southern California!

9:30pm Jaggery - an experimental art-rock collective who work the dark edge of a genre-defying musical style (darkwave jazz?). Featuring Mali Sastri on piano and vocals.

10:30pm Copal - string fusion with hip hop and world beats. Copal combines traditional sounds stemming from Spanish gypsy, Eastern European, Nordic and Middle Eastern influences with electronic beats and soundscapes of the modern age, accompanied by tribal-style belly dancing. Featuring Hannah Thiem in violin & vocals.

11:30pm Cyanide Valentine - protean electro/synth-pop/rock band, the Cyanide Valentine focuses on rehashed textures and arrangements along with pulsing beats intended to move dancefloors and inspire reflection on one's past. Hannah plays violin in this one too.

Falcon Ridge ticket, save $30

2008-07-23T21:08:58Z

One extra ticket to Falcon Ridge, full festival + camping, at the early bird price of $110 (if you get one at the gate, it's $140), if you can pick up from me in Central Square this evening or tomorrow morning/midday, or if you're somewhere convenient I can drop it off on the way tomorrow (Cambridge, Somerville, Newton, Waltham, etc. on the way from here to Falcon Ridge).

I've also offerred this ticket elsewhere, so first comment here gets it if you provide enough information such that I can get the ticket to you and the money from you today/tomorrow, unless I get an email from someone claiming it first.

Mischief in the Machine

2008-05-30T18:19:28Z

http://boston.going.com/mischief
http://mischiefinthemachine.com/

Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band

HUMANWINE

$25, at the BU Dance Theater, 915 Comm Ave / Buick Street in Allston. Three shows:
Tonight: doors at 7:30pm, show at 8
Tomorrow: doors at 7:30pm, show at 8
Sunday: doors at 2:30pm, show at 3

Edit: I'm going tonight; I'll be away the rest of the weekend.

African music in Davis Square tonight

2008-03-07T18:37:43Z

Boubacar Diabate with Samba Lolo is performing at Johnny D's tonight. The Johnny D's blurb:

"West African guitarist, singer, songwriter, and storyteller, Boubacar Diabate, along with his group, Samba Lolo, has combined traditional rhythms with modern influences to create his own style of contemporary Malian Griot music. Singing in Bambara, the ensemble creates a performance that spans the full spectrum of Traditional to Contemporary Malian music from West Africa. These songs of a common shared experience of love, life and humanity, give all an opportunity to hear the age-old West African tradition of Griot, storytelling through song."
Johnny D's, 17 Holland Street, Somerville, MA
across from the Holland St exit of the Davis Square T stop (red line)
21+, $10, show begins at 9:45pm

Who wants to go?

Falcon Ridge pre-sale this weekend

2008-02-07T00:21:31Z

The special limited early early presale of Falcon Ridge 2008 tickets is this weekend, Feb 9-11, 11am-10pm or until tickets run out. Camping (400 tickets available) for $95 each, no camping (200 available) for $70 each. All-weekend tickets only, no day passes in this sale. 866-325-2744.

Oh, and Vance Gilbert is back!!

As always, the festival will be Thursday-Sunday on the fourth weekend of July, which this year is ... July 24-27. Are you coming?

Jason Webley tomorrow evening

2007-11-28T16:18:45Z

Reminder: Jason Webley at the Lily Pad tomorrow evening at 7:30pm, all ages, $7, and I hear it might sell out so get tickets in advance! See you there?

Jason Webley in the northeast

2007-11-21T18:20:06Z

Jason Webley is coming to our part of the country next week and the week after!

I'm out East to work on projects with some friends. While I am out here, I'm doing a small handful of shows. I am playing in Portland and Providence with the amazing Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls just after Thanksgiving. Then I am playing solo shows in Boston and New York. I am also doing a few college shows at Hampshire, Bard and Sarah Lawrence.

Here are the details about the shows:

Nov 24 - Portland, ME
Space Gallery, 538 Congress St., (207) 828-5600
9pm - 18+ - $12
with Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls.
Special guest appearance by Evelyn Evelyn.
Tickets at: http://www.dresdendolls.com/

Nov 25 - Providence, RI
The Living Room, 23 Rathbone Street
9pm - All Ages - $12
with Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls.
Special guest appearance by Evelyn Evelyn.
Tickets at: http://www.dresdendolls.com

Nov 29 - Cambridge, MA
Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St
7:30pm - All Ages - $7
Special guest appearance by Evelyn Evelyn very likely.
Advance tickets and more info at: http://www.jasonwebley.com/events.html

Dec 1 - Amherst, MA
Hampshire College, SAGA Dining Hall
9 pm - All Ages - $5 donation
With Dr. Science and Hampshire Circus Folk Unite!

Dec 3 - Bard College, Details TBA

Dec 4 - Sarah Lawrence College, Details TBA

Dec 5 - New York, NY
Parkside Lounge, 317 East Houston, (212) 673-6270
10pm - 21+ - $7
Advance tickets and more info at: http://www.jasonwebley.com/events.html

I'm going to the Lily Pad show on Thursday, November 29th.