ongoing - March 28, 2010

It would arrogant of us to say we understood anything of what being in a real war is like. What we've learned, we've learned from books, music and movies. Particularly wrenching are the spate of books written from soldiers' perspectives during the first two World Wars. Music? "Death, blood and horror," Eric Bogle sang about Gallipoli in "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda." He accomplished something just as powerful in "The Green Fields of France" about WWII. (The Pogues did killer versions of both.) There's "Saving Private Ryan," the opening scene. There's "Platoon." And there's work set in museums, like "The Veterans Project," new large-scale video installation by Krzysztof Wodiczko (in photo) up at The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston Nov. 4 and running through March 28. It focuses on the experience of war in Iraq. Based on the artist's conversations with soldiers who have returned from Iraq as well as Iraqi civilians, the new work builds on their memories of the chaos and confusion of war. Since 1980, Wodiczko has created more than 80 projections of politically-charged images on civic buildings and monuments worldwide.

Fri. March 19

There aren't that many CAN'T MISS events we stress here at JSink, because there really are so many viable options out there. But this is one: The 2009 return to Boston of the Feelies, the Haledon, NJ-band that made the late-1970s and 1980s so much more wonderful with its mix of jangly (pre-REM) guitar, nervous, twitchy rhythms, inspired covers (the Beatles' "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except for Me and My Monkey," Velvet Undeground), and a mix of resignation, bitterness, ennui and, yes, joy. The crazy rhythms drove you one way, the intertwining guitar lines of Glenn Mercer and Bill Million another and despite the subtext of anxiety and angst, there was a palpable sense of excitement. The Feelies reunited for a show July 1, 2008 at their old stomping grounds of Maxwell's and have, tentatively, at least, kept it going. They played the Wilbur late last year opening for Sonic Youth and they're headlining at Middle East Downstairs Friday March 19. Opening bands TBA. Tickets: $20.

A chat with guitarist-singer Glenn Mercer:
JSink: You broke up in 1991. Why do you exist now?
GM: There’s no easy cut and dried answer. Conversations Bill and I had over the years, there seemed there was more interest in the band recently. We’ve had a lot of requests for licensing the songs, and with the Internet it’s a lot easier to keep tabs on the fan base. So, it’s an evolution of conversations we’ve been having. It probably would’ve happened a lot earlier, but the main thing was Bill [Million’s] son had a major illness (he’s now recovered) preventing him from doing it, and there were logistics. Bill was in between houses in Florida. (He works as a locksmith at Walt Disney World.) Brenda’s in Pennsylvania. Everyone but Dave [Weckerman] has family. We don’t have the desire or logistics to do tour … When we first broke up we didn’t have much contact. In 2001, Bill and I talked again.

Wednesdays in March

 The biggest band on the Cape - well,they certainly have a lot of players - is at the Midway Cafe on Wednesdays, the month of March. This wild bunch is known as the Chandler Travis Philharmonic. What gives the CTP its appeal? Says Travis: "The Chandler Travis Philharmonic is a band that has grown accustomed to being detained. Their magical mixture of Ray Davies' steadfast provinciality, Charo's gelatinous combustibility and Hopalong Cassidy's swarthy good looks has been drawing the kind of crowd that prefers unpredictability to being set aflame and cast into a pit of angry rodents." Some of this maybe true, some not. Travis continues, "The band is concentrating more lately on frolics, rhumbas, and  indecipherable mumbling, and that the horn section (the June Trailer Dancers, led as always by maverick saxophonist Mark Chenevert), has been paying a lot more attention to its gardening, despite the nasty weather. The band has just come off the cancellation of a tour to Memphis, in which they almost played in Washington DC, Asheville, NC, and Worcester, MA; as usual, the condition of drummist Rikki Bates is described as "stable, with squirrels." Do you need more enticement?" Let's just say jazz, pop, lounge music and all kinds of genres get scrambled up in the CTP's hands and the singer can be counted upon to be barefoot and pajama clad. Ready for bed it migh seem, but not really: This is his stage uniform. He's ready to perform.  Tickets: $10. Of the St. Paddy's Day gig, Travis says, "We have some history with this oh-so-special holiday: the very first Chandler Travis Philharmonic album was 'Raw Blarney,' an all-St. Patrick's Day Calamity .. We intend vengeance for every listening of "The Unicorn Song' suffered over our long histories." JSInk note: As a wee child, we thought it was cute! So was "Lily the Pink," Then we grew up and realized good Irish music was about scrappin' and drinkin' and lovin' and losin' and getting up the next day to do it again. CTP shows start at 8:30. Cover: Don't know. Called the club, they didn't know.

3496 Washington St., Jamaica Plain, 617-524-9038 www.midwaycafe.com

Thurs. March 18 

"Songs You Should Know" is the name of a musical program Thurs. March 18 put together by two members of the Tufts University music faculty, Rabbi Jeffrey Summitt and Paul D. Lehrman. (Paul, in photo, is a friend and a former Boston Phoenix writer. We played softball on the Boston Phoenix team I was on back in the '80s.) Now, you might have some reservations called "Songs You Should Know." Should is that kind of word that makes you think, wait, I don't like to be told I should do anything. But the  subtitle here is ( " ... and still matter.") It's a concert of music from the 1960s featuring songs that defined the issues and political climate of the time.  The artists whose music they will play include Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Pete and Peggy Seeger, Malvina Reynolds, John Prine, Tom Paxton, Donovan, Joan Baez, and many more.  They did this at Tufts earlier this year and are kicking it up again at Johnny D's.

It came about when composer and music technologist/guitarist-keyboardist Lehrman sat down to jam with ethnomusicologist/guitarist Summit at a Tufts music department party not long ago. They realized they had something powerful in common: a great love for and knowledge about the “protest” songs of the 1960s. And they also found they shared a strong desire to teach their students about these songs, the era that spawned them, and why they were so important—both during the social upheavals of their day, and to the music and political struggles of today.

Thurs. March 18

Our pal, promoter and sometime promoter Billy Ruane, has been raving about Drug Rug for, well, centuries or so it seems. Sometimes, we’re late to the party, and that certainly was/is the case with Drug Rug, whom we finally caught last year at the Middle East. We liked. They’re at the Paradise March 18, sharing the bill with psychedelic Boston popsters Apollo Sunshine.
    We reviewed Drug Rug for the Herald last year. A distillation of our thoughts … Sarah Cronin used to mix sound at the Middle East Upstairs. Tommy Allen still tends bar there occasionally. But here they were Downstairs, the singing-and-guitar-playing duo was headlining the larger club, fronting the band they call Drug Rug, celebrating the release of their second recording, “Paint the Fence Invisible.”
    There was a little bit of country, a little bit of psychedelia, a little bit of the back-and-forth vocals swaps favored by X’s Exene and John Doe. And their harmonies could bring to mind the Mamas & the Papas and late-‘60s California pop.