ICA HarborWalk Concerts

Before you completely fill out your summer calendar with events and other fun stuff, remember to take a look at The Institute of Contemporary Art in the Seaport area.

On Thursday nights during the summer, the ICA has its HarborWalk concert series featuring Berklee College of Music students, faculty, and alumni. It's great music, a beautiful view, and, best of all, FREE. Seating is limited to the wooden steps/deck at the ICA so find a nice summer's Thursday and leave work early!


The ICA Calendar lists the various musicians who will be performing there this summer.

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Tomorrow @ T. T. The Bear's: Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears!!

Few weeks ago on my music binge spree, I stumbled up on a band named "Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears". I have to say their whole album (Flight of the Knife), (<-iTunes Store link) just blew me away!

You can't quite pin point their sound, but you can definitely hear who influenced them. Start with David Bowie and add bit of Queen and Zappa then throw in a good measure of The Beatles... I could go on, but you get the point. Their music is a hodgepodge of eclectic musical sandwich that is deliciously fun to listen to!

Anyhoo, to catch these blokes live, head to T.T. The Bear's tomorrow, 05/29/2008. Tickets are only $10.

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Get ready for brain freeze! Scooper Bowl is here again!

My humble apologies to those who look forward to the annual Scooper Bowl in Boston! I have been careless in my blogging and I am guilty for not posting this wonderful event. Yes, this is for you, Mr. CakeBread ;)

For those of you, who might be new in town, "Scooper Bowl" is all-you-can-eat ice cream event that is held at City Hall Plaza (Yeap, the second ugliest building in boston after the Department of Mental Health Building in Staniford St). 

So, grab your ice cream scoop and head over to the Scooper Bowl on June 10 - 12, 2008. 

p.s. Lactaid maybe necessary for some unfortunate peeps.

photo from the scooper bowl website

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Concert in Court Yard series @ MFA

If you are a concert geek who prefers a relatively small and intimate concert experience, then "Concert in Court Yard" series at the MFA might just be your cup of tea.

It's is an outdoor summer concert series at the MFA and surprisingly handful of good indie bands/musicians are alway in the series.

This year, Beth Orton and Grizzly Bear will be performing July 2nd, 2008 and August 14th, 2008 respectively. 

Beth Orton (<-iTunes Store) came into music scene in the mid 90's when she did vocals for William Orbit and Chemical Brothers and then she gone to make her own music which was a mixture of folk/pop/electronica. 

I only got to know Grizzly Bear (<-iTunes Store) through Girl Talk's remix of "Knife" a year ago. First, I thought it was another classic Girl Talk mix, but then I stumbled on the original track few months after that and I was hook. Their music is grand symphonic melodies that has a cinematic feel to it. 

Anyhoo, even if you are not into arts & museums, if you are a music fan, then check out the Concert in Court Yard at the MFA.

Photos from www.MFA.org

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The Swell Season coming to Boston

Unless you've been living under a rock with you eyes closed and your ears shut, you may have heard of a lovely film called "Once". 

 Apart from being a wonderful film, it has a brilliant soundtrack as well (<- iTunes Store link). 

The soundtrack was written and performed by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who also plays the lead characters in the film. 

Both Hansard and Irglova are professional musicians before they acted in the film. Hansard is a lead singer in an Irish band called "The Frames" and Irglova is a Czech singer and pianist. 

"Once" soundtrack is filled with melodic folk/singer-song-writer type songs. If you are a fan of Damien Rice, and Iron & Wine, you will definitely enjoy listen to the soundtrack.

Now, where does The Swell Season fits into all this, you ask? Well, The Swell Season is a name that Hansard and Irglova goes by when they are performing together.

The Swell Season will be performing at Agganis Arena in Boston on September 19th, 2008. 

Photo is from Fox Searchlight Pictures

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Drink of the week: The Brunette

You know what they say about brunettes: Smart, Sophisticated, Exotic, ... I could go on and on, but you lazy arses can read it for yourselves at urban dictionary. 

Anyhoo, on a completely unrelated note, recently, a bar tender at the Savant Project recommended me a drink called "The Brunette". It's a concoction of Harpoon Oktoberfest, W. &J. Graham's fine ruby porto, and splash of lime juice. I know I know, why would you mix a proper beer with anything else. But, order it and take a sip. It's pretty dang tasty. Bit like a bastard child of red Sangria, but with a slight more punch. Perfect for a warm summer nights drink! 

So, there you have it. This week's Drink of the week: "The Brunette - a little darker and richer than the blonde, but still a good time" courtesy of the Savant Project.

If you are in the mission hill area, pop by the Savant Project and say hi to the friendly bar tender, Lynette. 

The Savent Project logo was created by the alphabet arm design

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Memorial Day Open House @ MFA

If you want to pretend to be a culture vulture instead of just knocking back beers at a backyard BBQ, then you can head over to the MFA for memorial day open house this coming Monday (May 26th, 2008).

Current exhibitions are "El Greco to Velazquez: Art during the Reign of Philip III" and works by Antonio Lopez Garcia  (spanish painter) as well as "Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914-1939".

Best part of memorial day open house at the MFA is that it is FREE (For the special exhibits, it's first-come, first-serviced basis starting at 10am). So, if you never wanted to spend your hard earned dosh on museums & art, but secretly wanted to go, then check out the MFA this memorial day!

Photo from Explorer Pass

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Avoiding Graduations

It's the time of the year again when a city like Boston, with all its various colleges and universities, gets overrun by overzealous parents celebrating their kids graduating from college.

With near fights breaking out over parking spaces, moving out of apartments, dinner reservations, and everything in between, it's important to keep track of when and where these graduations are going down so that they can be avoided at all cost.

Fortunately the bulk of them happened this past weekend (Simmons, Bentley, Tufts, BC, BU, Emerson, Suffolk, and Brandeis). Upcoming ones of note are UMass Boston's on May 30th, Harvard's on June 5th and MITs on June 6th.

On the bright side, this is also a good time if you're looking to fill your apartment with mismatched and possibly bug riddled furniture.

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Finally! The Ting Tings are coming to Boston!

If you've been watching some tele, I am sure you have come across one of the new iPod commercials that features "Shut Up and Let Me Go" by The Ting Tings. 

The duo from England pumps out unabsahedly poppy and fun songs in their new album titled "We Started Nothing" (<- This link will open iTunes and will direct you to iTunes Store).

Anyhoo, The Ting Tings will be playing at Great Scott in Boston (well, ok, Allston) on June 19th, 2008. Ticket is only $10 plus Great Scott is a small, college bar-esque venue. Kind of place that you can fool yourself into thinking you are still in college by drinking cheap beer and listening to live music. So, go and check them out!

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