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Dec 31, 2010 at 12:00 AM |
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 My niece, Deborah Yarchun, me, Amos Lee, my wife Roza Yarchun. At Lowell Summer Music Series, Boarding House Park, July 9
Roza Yarchun, me, Chef/host Daniel Bruce at the Boston Harbor Hotel's Wine Festival 2010 |
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Blue Man Group: The Tubes Are Rewired - 14 Years and Full Speed Ahead |
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Dec 15, 2010 at 12:00 AM |
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onoing It was 1995.No one had ever seen anything quite like it in Boston. Three silent men with bald caps and blue grease-painted heads took the stage at the Charles Playhouse, beating drums, spraying paint, tossing food, looking quizzically at each other and the audience, questioning authority.
 Those guys - the Blue Man Group - have never left the Charles. They started with “Tubes” and continue now with the retooled “Tubes/Rewired.” (About a quarter of the show changed in 2004.) They perform eight times during a normal week – up to 21 times during holiday weeks. The 524-seat theater is nearly always full. And it’s not just a local phenomenon. The Blue Man Group has companies in six other cities. There’s also an international touring show called “How To Be a Megastar Tour 2.1,” what they call a satirical, interactive “workshop” on how to create the “perfect rock concert experience.” In May, that tour re-launches in the UK. |
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Late Night Dining in Boston: Open for Business |
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Nov 01, 2010 at 12:00 AM |
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ongoing When I was a younger rock critic, out about town ‘til all hours and famished, my choices were a microwaved steak-and-cheese sub at the nearest Store 24 or a fill-up at (the late, lamented) Buzzy’s Roast Beef. Times change ... Never would you call Boston the ci ty that never sleeps. The city traditionally shuts down early, nightclubs by 1 or 2 a.m., and most restaurants by 10. But the nightscape has evolved. More and more restaurants are catering to the late night crowd. Recently, we went on a mission to check out the scene. We started in Kenmore Square, but found ourselves frequently in the South End, a nexus of late-night dining. Did we get everywhere? Certainly, not. Space and time were limited. But my wife and I found top-notch places to satisfy late-night cravings. (A version of this story ran in the June Where Boston magazine and can be found at www.wheremagazine.com .) After a night game at Fenway Park – and they seem to last forever now – you may be primed for cuisine that surpasses ballgame fare. Skip the chains and head to Eastern Standard, part of the Hotel Commonwealth. Walk in and you may feel like you’re in an old-fashioned train station. Sitting in a burgundy leather booth, proprietor Garrett Harker explains the name came from an old postcard of Penn Station, which had a giant clock reading Eastern Standard. "Eastern Standard sounded like an old railroad company,’ he says, and that’s the motif. |
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Strip Club Lite?: Air Sex Competition Makes Local Debut at Middle East |
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Oct 08, 2010 at 12:00 AM |
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Fri. Oct. 8. We were pretty sure air guitar competition was the stupidest thing we'd ever seen until we realized hot dog eating was a competitive sport. Which made us realize th at truly the world of so-called reality TV has pulled America's pop culture wagon train right into the gutter, where we can watch nightly spite, Donald Trump teach us what dignity and class is all about, watch people fall off big beach balls into mud and indulge Snooki in looking orange and acting trashy. Which brings us to The World Air Sex Championships, taking place at the Middle East Upstairs Friday Oct. 8. They're like air guitar but with, like, sex. Let the promoters of this thing describe it: "Instead of rocking out with an imaginary guitar, you’re making sweet and/or filthy love with an imaginary sex partner." This was, we thought, something people perhaps reserved for the privacy of their own home, but we live in a post-privacy world, right? Promoters: "You choose a clip of music, you show up in whatever sort of wardrobe you like, and you come up on stage and show everyone how you do it. Or how you wish you could do it. Or how you once had it done to you." The promoters acknowledge you may then think: "'Oh my god was that a bad idea' |
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Trippy Low-End Swirl: Serena-Maneesh, Depreciation Guild, Black Fortress at T.T..s |
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Oct 02, 2010 at 12:00 AM |
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Sun. Oct. 3 4 A.D. has been one of those labels where you see a band that's on it and immediately you're interested. Cocteau Twins, Pixies, Throwing Muses, This Mortal Coil, Scott Walker, the National, TV on the Radio, The Big Pink, Deerhunter, Tinderstics ... the list goes on. Ad d Serena-Maneesh, (or S-M) an Oslo quintet, which is headlining the Middle East Upstairs Sunday Oct. 3. The Village Voice raves about them thus: "Serena-Maneesh make strangely bandeautiful and lushly noisy pop using guitars that are alternately washed out or shrieking, distorted samples, and breathy female vocals singing lyrics in broken English." You'll hear bits of My Bloody Valentine, the Stooges and the Velvets. It's led by singer-guitarist Emil Nikolaisen. (In photo: bassist Hilma Nikolaisen). They're touring behind their "S-M 2:Abyss in B Minor." Ticket price and opening bands TBA. Should start around 9. 492 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278 www.mideastclub.com |
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