In the last days of 2009, I'm getting an early jump on a perennial New Year's resolution failure: to actually use a planner. Here are some of the concerts getting penciled in to avert the winter doldrums.
The year begins with the debuts of some new concert series. For more on the WPB PRESENTS dance night, beginning January 2 at Port City Music Hall, see our Editor's Picks. Promoter Jay Jasch begins the RED CURTAIN MUSIC SERIES at the North Star Music Café on January 16. Each month will offer a batch of emerging local and national songwriters in the round, and the venue will be prettied up with cabaret-style accoutrements for the third-Saturday shows. Filling up the Tuesday night hole normally occupied by Clash of the Titans this winter will be TWO, a weekly pairing of two local artists for $2 with $2 microbrews beginning at 8 pm on January 19 at Port City Music Hall.
Other exciting local artist happenings coming up include: the return of Jose Ayerve and SPOUSE to Portland, on January 22 at Empire Dine and Dance; the first outing in ages from doom-folk outfit MOSS MOUNTAIN PROJECT, also at Empire (February 6); and the return of the wildly successful band-generation marathon, the 48 HOUR MUSIC FESTIVAL, at SPACE Gallery, on March 6 (also worth noting: SPACE's First Friday event in February, "DRUM SWAP," will feature 30+ drummers in a Boredoms' "Boadrum"-inspired cacophony, surely another tradition in the making).
And, quickly, some national acts worth buying early tickets for: electric mandolin player CARRIE RODRIGUEZ (One Longfellow Square, January 26); 12-string guitar god JAMES BLACKSHAW (SPACE, February 1); BROOKLYN RIDER, a string quartet fast gaining comparisons to Kronos (USM's Hannaford Hall, February 27); three excellent shows to choose from on March 26 (undervalued Old 97s frontman RHETT MILLER at Stone Mountain Arts Center, wry folk icon LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III at One Longfellow, and the PUNCH BROTHERS at Merrill Auditorium). Big April shows include Starbucks soundtracker extraordinaire DAVID GRAY at the Merrill on April 7, and the young guitar virtuoso KAKI KING headlining at Port City Music Hall on April 20.
Related:
2009: The year in dance, From Mozart to milonga, New stuff, More 
- 2009: The year in dance
You could say there were two tremendous forces that propelled dance into the world of modern culture: the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev and the choreography of Merce Cunningham.
- From Mozart to milonga
We Bostonians may swathe ourselves in sweaters and lock our doors against the blustery weather, but once the music begins, dance performances can help us shake off the shivers — and often transport us to more temperate climes.
- New stuff
One thing that impressed me was that dance invention seems to be making a comeback as a major challenge for young choreographers after years of being stirred into the multimedia stew.
- Squiggles and lines
The eponymous directors of Alonzo King Lines Ballet and the Mark Morris Dance Group both came from backgrounds in modern dance with sprinklings of other styles, and they both subsequently invented movement vocabularies to serve their choreographic ideas.
- Flickers
The hour's worth of film and dance that followed my absurdist journey offered flashbacks, edges, mysterious messages, and a thunderstorm. In 1924, Tristan Tzara described Dada as a resistance to the pretensions of art, "a snow of butterflies released from the head of a prestidigitator." I left Inman Square feeling energized.
- Old masters
Last month, students at Boston Conservatory and Boston University paid tribute to two notables of modern dance's second generation in the best possible way: by performing their work.
- High stepping
The heavy-hitter repertory shows this season come from ALVIN AILEY and GEORGE BALANCHINE . But why not welcome spring by taking a chance on fresh experiences as well?
- Reality riffs
When Jerome Robbins's New York Export: Opus Jazz boogied onto the scene in 1958 then took Europe by storm. Created for Ballets: U.S.A., a company of ballet, modern, and jazz dancers that Robbins had put together for a government-sponsored cultural exchange tour, Opus Jazz was a kind of spinoff from the 1957 hit musical West Side Story , which Robbins directed and choreographed.
- Airs and graces
Somewhere in the middle of Stephen Petronio’s terrific hour-long dance I Drink the Air Before Me last Friday night, the dancers exited and the space went dark.
- Happy returns
George Balanchine didn’t go in for productions of the old classic ballets.
- Offerings
Nora Chipaumire’s lions will roar, swans will fly, angels will wrestle heaven, rains will break: gukarahundi , presented at the ICA last weekend by CRASHarts, had the makings of a multimedia extravaganza.
- Less
Topics:
New England Music News
, Entertainment, Entertainment, Jose Ayerve, More
, Entertainment, Entertainment, Jose Ayerve, Old 97's, Hannaford Hall, CULTURE, 48 Hour Music Festival, Clubs, Punch Brothers, Punch Brothers, Less
