Rock bands, throat singer, and a partridge in a pear tree
By SUSANNA BOLLE | December 19, 2008
Hats and Glasses |
There's not a whole lot of Yuletide-themed activity on Boston's musical fringes this year, and that makes the holiday rock show at the Milky Way this Sunday all the more welcome. According to organizer Dan Shea, the idea is to have five local bands — LIFE PARTNERS, EARTH PEOPLE ORCHESTRA, THICK SHAKES, HATS AND GLASSES, and WEYMOS (a Weymouth-centric Christmas-song-playing supergroup) — play three songs each, at least two of which must be holiday-related.
"We're doing a cover of Clarence Carter's classic 'Back Door Santa' from his '68 album Soul Christmas," says Life Partners trumpeter Greg Kelley. "Many may know this as the sample source for Run DMC's 'Christmas in Hollis' or perhaps via the Black Crowes' rendition from Mission Impossible III or Bon Jovi's version from A Very Special Christmas, which was a Special Olympics benefit comp. We're also doing two originals that may have Christmas or winter-related themes, 'Rapist Gets Off' and 'Men Are Talking.' Should be a very special Christmas indeed!"
Elsewhere in questionably holiday-related musics: the Tuvan throat-singing ensemble ALASH return to the Lily Pad in Cambridge this Friday. The eerie bagpipe-drone whistle of throat singing might not seem all that season-appropriate, but the quartet, who mix traditional Tuvan and Western music (leaning heavily on the former), recently performed on a Bûla Fleck Christmas CD. Besides, there are few things more festive (and otherworldly) than vocal overtones.
LIFE PARTNERS + EARTH PEOPLE ORCHESTRA + THICK SHAKES + HATS AND GLASSES + WEYMOS | Milky Way Lounge & Lanes, 403-405 Centre St, Jamaica Plain | December 21 at 9 pm | $5 | 617.524.3740 or www.milkywayjp.com | ALASH | Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge | December 19 at 7 pm | $15 | www.lily-pad.net
Related:
Spare Us the Early Onslaught of Christmas!!, Local influence, Live radio lives, More
- Spare Us the Early Onslaught of Christmas!!
On the night of Saturday, November 1, I went to a house party in the Fox Point section of Providence. Standing in the beer line, flanked by Cruella DeVille and Catwoman, I was both confused and underdressed.
- Local influence
In a day when so much radio seems less and less local, WFNX remains in touch.
- Live radio lives
Radio, it's rumored, is a dying industry, falling behind the new-media Zeitgeist like an asthmatic jogger.
- Feel the music
I personally find it comforting that the current number-one single in the country has a chorus that goes "I'll gas up the jet for you tonight, and baby we can go wherever you like."
- Gross point blank
Mary, Mary, quite contrary, couldn't make her garden grow with water. So what did she use?
- Jingle spells
Nothing screams Christmas like children dabbling with sorcery. Which is why Harry and the Potters' annual Yule Ball is such a howling success every year.
- Mixed nuts
Ballet Rox's Urban Nutcracker , the ultimate multicultural Christmas celebration, has become so inclusive, it's almost a blur.
- Not-so-silent night
Oh, what Miss Pixie wouldn't give to be loved. Pride? Dignity? Self-awareness? Check, check, check.
- Slideshow: Santacon
Santas brave the cold for a good beer
- Just the 11 of us
De La Soul believe that three is the magic number. My college girlfriend thought it was 55, not counting guys she only blew.
- True voices
When I first checked out Travis Sullivan's Björkestra live, it wasn't to see the singer. But live, the Björkestra (at the Regattabar last October) turned my expectations upside down.
- Less
Topics:
Music Features
, Entertainment, Music, Music Reviews, More
, Entertainment, Music, Music Reviews, Concerts and Tour Dates, The Black Crowes, Run-DMC, Special Olympics International Inc., Bon Jovi, Dan Shea, milky Way, Less