Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Boston Music Awards

The 24th annual Boston Music Awards will be held at the Liberty Hotel on Sunday, Nov 20 (the weekend before Thanksgiving). It can be pretty chaotic and hard to get around, but it's also a lot of fun. Limited tickets for the event (awards and performances) are available and benefit Music Drives Us.

Here's a video by Time Out Boston from last year's shindig, which includes some performance clips from 2010 winners Dom (song of the year), M-Dot (hip hop) and Barry & The Remains (Hall of Fame) :


More info:

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Lucero NYE

What are you doing New Year's Eve?

Lucero plays Paradise on Dec 31, 2011. Although it's unrelated, that's the same night as First Night Boston, so there will be lots and lots of people in town that night and lots to do before the show...

Allmusic.com said of Lucero's "Dreaming in America":

Flying by the seat of their pants, Southern indie rockers Lucero have eked out a career in music despite never receiving a royalty check from their first record company and watching their second label close its doors right as the band was getting hot. Add a charismatic, heartfelt ruffian as lead singer, a never-ending tour schedule, and a Replacements-like show that's brilliance on the brink of drunken disaster, and you've got one heck of a story.

Video: Lucero Live @ CBGB


 

When I saw them in 2009, they reminded me more of Uncle Tupelo than The Replacements, but I'm a big fan of both and never got to see either. Lucero have a rabid following, many who sing along and shout requests, even this far north of their Memphis home. They play for two hours without a set list and honor most requests; even if they're not sure they can remember the words. They rock. Go see them, if you can.

Official website: luceromusic.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Lucero



Sunday, October 16, 2011

John Peel


 John Peel (30 August, 1939 – 25 October, 2004) was a famous radio DJ and one of the rare non-musicians whose impact in shaping modern music was greater than those of many of the musicians that he championed. October 25 marks the anniversary of his passing approaches, described as "the day the music died" by The London Evening Standard. I came across some great tributes to the man; including John Peel Day events listed at the #KeepingItPeel website and the documentary "John Peel's Record Box", shown below.

The videos below are described by JohnPeel3904 as a documentary that was "first shown on Channel 4 in 2005, looking at the most prized records in John Peel's huge record collection, which he kept stored in a special box. Looks at the music and artists featured in those special records and at the music tastes of John Peel. Also includes interviews with family and friends, including wife Sheila Ravenscroft, son Tom (who was also involved in its production) and brother Alan; DJs Mary Anne Hobbs, Paul Gambaccini and Marc Riley; artists Elton John, Ronnie Wood (Faces), Roger Daltrey (Who), Fergal Sharkey (Undertones), Jack White (White Stripes), Mark E. Smith and Brixa Smith (Fall), Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt (Status Quo), Billy Bragg, Daman Albarn (Blur) and Pete Wylie (Wah!); plus schoolmate Michael Palin."

"Teenage dreams, so hard to beat" - John Peel's epitaph