Friday Aug. 12

Dave Tree - an activist/rocker friend of mine from way back; he fronted the band Tree and now the J. Geils cover band Blow You Your Face Out - is one of the motivators behind a Friday night event in Allston called "Art Show and Bike-In." The idea, behind the event, co-sponsored by the bikie co-op Commonwheels and SweeTree Ink? Ride you bike to the Penniman Road Park, lock it, and enjoy the geeky pleasure Pee-Wee Herman in "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" on the outdoor, new art will up inside the adjacent studio and there will be music as well. The new art's by Tree, another Boston music bud, Alvan Long, Matt Kruass and Massiel. Said Tree: "I got a bunch of new work on the walls and there will be two floors of art for your viewing pleasure, live entertainment by a some folks busking inside on acoustic instruments. The event is free and open to the public and kid friendly."
     I'm a big Pee-Wee fan and think this sounds like a fun night for the whole family. But there is this war going on. Certainly, you've heard. You've been out on the streets. You've seen the headlines. You know there's a cars v. bikes v. pedestrians battle going on out there. Too many accidents, too much carelessness and, well, some blame-gaming going on. Me, I'm a car and ped kind of guy. I gave up my bicycle riding days - same those stationery ones at the gym - about 1980 when I moved to the Boston area from relatively rural Maine. Simple decision: Cities are not for bikes. You can easily get killed out there. Now, the bike guys have had their say and there's bike lanes and bike safety awareness and bike awareness campaigns, with the one little problem being: Bikers. The 90 percent who scoff at all traffic laws, very much including headlight laws, stop lights, peds in intersections, you name it.

ongoing

"The Trip" that's out right now is not "The Trip' from 1967, a hallucinogenic flick where Roger Corman directed Dennis Hopper, Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern. That was an infamous hippie exploitation movie where LSD inspires visions of sex and death, dancing girls, witches, hooded riders, a a torture chamber, and a dwarf. No, "The Trip" that's at Coolidge Corner Theatre right now is a skewed road trip movie directed by Michael Winterbottom ("24 Hour Party People"), starring two English comics, Steve Coogan - who's better known here in the States and Rob Brydon, a master impressionist. They play themselves, or versions thereof, quick-witted, back-biting pals with swollen egos and a near-desperate desire to comically top one another. 
   The premise is this: Coogan has been hired by an English magazine to tour the north part of the country - where he grew up - and write about restaurants. He took the gig because he thought his girlfriend Mischa would love it, but she's bowed out to work on a magazine story in America, and he's taking his friend/foil Brydon along, because, he explains, "no one else wanted to come." Brydon packs up, leaves his wife and child for a week, and the two depart for a journey where nothing of major consequence happens. But that's OK. This is about the relationship the two have, the way they battle with dueling impressions - Michael Caine and Sean Connery as James Bond - are favorites - and entertain and antagonize one another during their trek.

I've started doing biweekly critic's tips for WBUR-FM (90.9) and its Radio Boston program, 3-4 p.m. on Thursdays. Here's a link to this week's, on My Morning Jacket, "The Trip" and "Pee-wee's Big Adventure."

http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/08/11/arts-picks-12 

Tues. Aug. 9

It hasn't exactly been 16 straight years of rock 'n' roll, but the Boston band The In Out first formed in 1992, assembled by singer-guitarist Todd Nudelman. Various players have passed through the portals and the band has been on hiatus a few times, but it's up and running now with the rhythm section of Nick Blakey (bass) and Rich Adkins. (Rich also drummed for The In Out from 1998-2000.) We've heard them as a deliriously cranky, Fall-like outfit, which is to say just off-kilter enough to entice. On their myspace.com page, where you can hear four songs, they file themselves under the "Mexican/Rock/Progressive" slot. Hmmm. Ask Nudelman today and he describes The In Out's music as "non-trendy rock primativism." They're at O'Brien's in Allston Tuesday Aug. 9, with the show starting at 9. They're celebrating the releaase of a new (vinyl only) disc, "The Venal Column." Tix: $7. Opening: Frustrations, a Detroit band Blakey calls "like the Bizarros and Tin Huey trying to consumer the first four Alice Cooper albums.' Ok, those may be obscure references from some of you folks, but youtube 'em. The Bizarros were one the great VU-influenced punk bands from Ohio and Tin Huey was pretty darn good too. And those first four Cooper albums ... oh yeah.

3 Harvard Ave., Allston, 617-782-6245 www.obrienspubboston.com    

ongoing

Don't know about you, but when I was in high school my history courses concerned the US and Western Civilization. There was almost the unspoken agreement that nothing else mattered and, as a kid, I didn't really question it. Didn't all that matter concern these areas? Hopelessly naive and stupid, I know. But I'll also confess I didn't get much more world history in college - that's when we specialize, y'know - and what I've picked up I've done on my own. I'm kind of enjoying Newsweeks new, more worldly focus - even if the articles are brief, there's acknowledgment that in this self-absorbed land of ours, other places and people matter. I bring this up because I went to the opening party/screening at the Museum of Science for the film "Arabia," where 2000 years of Arabian history is compressed into a 45-minute film.