Weekly Music Picks: Eight Days a Week

Eight Days a Week. The music scene is hot, and we realize that we're not giving you enough lead time on some of the best way to cure a case of the Mondays – with a Monday evening show. This week we're putting eight days into our weekly music picks. Starting on Monday and running through the following week. This week we're eating locally – and listening locally. Several local acts find prominence on this week's list.

Monday 7/31
Rocket from the Tombs
Pere-Ubu and Dead Boys predecessor RFTT reunites for a packed week of historic shows with an unparalleled commitment to excellence. If you don't believe this, spend some time on David Thomas' Ubu Projex website. Notable: Richard Lloyd (of Television) on guitar.
w/ The Dents, Keys to the Streets of Fear (LOCAL ACTS!)
TT the Bear's Place, Cambridge
$15, 9PM
RFTT: myspace
Ubu: website
The Dents: website
KTTSOF: website

Tuesday 8/1
Black Heart Procession
Wurlitzer, violin, Moog, guitar, angst, and more subtlety than their name suggests.
Middle East Downstairs
18+, 8 pm, $12-$14
Black Heart Procession: web site | myspace | Not Just Words .mp3

Boston Lyric Opera
It doesn't get much cheaper than free, it couldn't possibly get much hotter than this, and it doesn't get much more cheesy than "Funiculi Funicula." The City of Boston sponsors an early evening of free, hot and cheesy by the sea. "Canta Napoli" is a short programme of popular Neopolitan songs like the above as well as beloved opera chestnuts (mmm, cheese and chestnuts!), among them "La donna è mobile."
Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park
6 p.m., free
Boston Lyric Opera: website

Wednesday 8/2
Boston Midsummer Opera (also Friday 8/4, and Sunday 8/6)
For slightly more than free, a new opera company begins its first season with a pastiche of coupledom as construed by Mozart and his freewheeling collaborator Lorenzo Da Ponte. A cast of young singers, including two actual married couples, performs staged excerpts from "Così fan tutte," "Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Don Giovanni."
Tsai Performance Center (685 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston)
8 p.m. (Wednesday and Friday) and 3 p.m. (Sunday), $20 and $50
Boston Midsummer Opera: website
Q'n'A with BMO artistic director Drew Minter in the Boston Globe

Muse and The Cloud Room
They just dropped their new album, Black Holes and Revelations only two weeks ago and now they are out on tour to promote the disc. We've got a good feeling about Muse after what we've heard so far – and what a bonus prize to the show when we found out that The Cloud Room would be opening.
Bank of America Pavilion
$28.50/$25, 7:30 pm
Muse: myspace
The Cloud Room: myspace

Thursday 8/3
Josh Ritter
Josh Ritter, who used to live in Somerville, has moved back to his hometown in Idaho, but when Bostonist listens to Thin Blue Flame we can't help but hear Davis Square waking up lonely and hungover on the morning-after of November 3rd, 2004. WBOS's summer concert series brings Ritter back to Boston for a free outdoor show on Thursday. He has a knack for making whole clubs and theaters fall silent and hold their breath; it wouldn't surprise us if he stopped rush-hour traffic in Copley Square.
Copley Square Park
5:30 pm, free
Josh Ritter: web site | myspace | Lillian, Egypt video | Girl In The War .mp3 | Me & Jiggs .mp3 | purchase

Furvis
There's enough time to catch Josh Ritter at Copley – then catch the #1 over to Central for the Furvis show at TT's. Furvis takes the stage late in the set – just before fellow local rockers Baker. The show is part of the Thursdays sponsored by Sam Adams beer – tickets are just $8.
T.T. the Bear's Place
$8, 8pm
Furvis: website
Baker: website

Friday 8/4
Lee Konitz Trio
Early in his career, Konitz played on Miles Davis' seminal Birth of the Cool album. Although initially associated with west coast cool jazz, Kontiz has been a consummate explorer, recording and experimenting with everything from hard bop to cool to abstract free jazz. Check out Lee this Friday and see (and hear) and why no less an authority than John Zorn claims that "Konitz is one of the most consistently brilliant, adventurous and original improvisers in the jazz tradition -- a genius as rare as Bird himself."
Regattabar
$24, 7:30pm & 10pm
wikipedia | Konitz on Verve | purchase

Saturday 8/5
The Casual Lean
Every time The Casual Lean comes up in rotation on Exploit Boston Radio we sit up and take notice. They sound so good on the stream and are even better live. They take the stage for an early set – doors open at 1 pm – so come and cure your Friday hangover with a little of The Casual Lean with The Appreciation Post, The Minus Scale, Medicated Kisses, A Hero Next Door
Middle East Upstairs
$9, 1 pm doors, All ages
The Casual Lean: myspace

The 1 Spot MC Battle
Termanologly, the 23 year old Puerto Rican phenom straight outta Lawrence, has some major buzz going courtesy The Source and MTV. He may be poised to break into the big time. But Saturday he's hosting an old fashioned MC battle: 16 rappers will fight to win an album worth of beats from up and coming producers MoSS, J. Cardim, and DC. Judging and special performances by Termanology and 7L & Esoteric.
Middle East downstairs
18+ $18 / $20 dos, 9pm
Termanology: website | myspace | watch how it go down.mp3 | this is hip hop.mp3 | purchase
7L & Esoteric: website | myspace

Sunday 8/6
Protokoll
If you haven't gotten a local rock fill for the week – and you've stumbled into Sunday – get over to Paradise for Protokoll. We can't say enough positive things about this local group. They excite us every time we catch them live – and this may be our last chance for a little while. It's their last scheduled US appearance before they head out for a fall UK tour (UK-only single forthcoming). They take stage with Gary Numan and New Skin.
Protokoll: myspace | website

Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra with guest conductor William Shatner
Keith Lockhart cedes the baton to William Shatner for "the most celebrated summer event on Cape Cod." Festival seating is sold out, but lawn tickets are still available, so bring your picnic basket and claim some territory on the Hyannis Village Green and did we mention William Shatner? Conducting a live orchestra for the first time ever?
Hyannis Village Green
5 pm, $15 general admission
Pops By The Sea: web site | tickets

Monday 8/7
The Roots with Talib Kweli
It may not be a Brooklyn block party hosted by Dave Chappelle, but it will be a party when the legendary Roots crew and Talib Kweli play Beantown Monday night. What could be better than the foundation movement, the organic jazz hip hop, the illadelph halflife and Talib on a hot summer's night? Nothin' we can think of. Well, maybe if Chappelle, Erykah, Lauryn, Kanye and Common also dropped by. But Avalon ain't selling any gold Willy Wonka tickets so we're more than satisfied to see Talib, ?uestlove, Black Thought, Kamal and the rest of the gang. If you can score tickets, go see why the Roots are considered the best live act in hip hop, bar none.
18+, $17, 9pm SOLD OUT
The Roots: website | myspace | wikipedia | purchase
Talib Kweli: website | myspace | blog | purchase

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Not much is needed to describe the tunes of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Though we prefer a true outdoor venue for these type of performances the Bank of America Pavilion is close enough – a free Hatch Shell concert would be ideal.
Bank of America Pavilion
$30/$35, 8 pm
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones: website

C. Fernsebner, Matt Durutti, Mike Walker, and Christina Linklater contributed to this list.