Weekly Music Picks: If Only Every Day Were Friday Edition

Now that we're on this eight days a week kick for doing these picks it seems like it might be time for a new graphic. We'll give you a cookie if you design us a new one. Or maybe a Newcastle next time you catch us at the Middle East. Promise.

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, Lauren, 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

Boston Landmarks Orchestra (also Sunday 8/13)
The BLO just will not quit with the summertime mish-mashes. Their next round of free concerts includes the world premiere of a new piece by thirteen-year-old composer Jeremiah Klarman, a concerto featuring the Russian guitar virtuoso Grigory Goryachev, and a chestnut after each: Beethoven's First Symphony and Prokofiev's Classical Symphony.
8 p.m. on Monday at Piers Park in East Boston (rain location: Savio High School, 145 Byron Street); 6 p.m. on Sunday at Dorchester Park in Dorchester (rain location: Caritas Carney Hospital, 2100 Dorchester Avenue)
Both shows free and unticketed
Boston Landmarks Orchestra: website |
First Symphony

Tuesday 8/8
?uestlove DJ Set
Bostonist can't say it any better than the FutureClassic website: "So the Roots show sold out in 17 minutes and there you are crying like a little girl over the fact that this year's chance to see ?uestlove has passed you by. Well, wipe those tears off your face 'cause FutureClassic [has] exactly what you need. The one and only ?uestlove will be spinning a blend of hip-hop, rock, funk, 80s, and whatever else he has up his sleeve on Tuesday."
Underbar (275 Tremont St)
?uestlove: Roots website | myspace

Thursday 8/10
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio
Come witness Karen O. strangle herself with the mic cord as she belts out the latest Yeah Yeah Yeahs album live at City Hall Plaza with special guest TV on the Radio. This special treat is free so we advise you come early to get a decent spot.
City Hall Plaza
All ages, free, 6pm
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: website | myspace
TV on the Radio: | myspace

Ryan Lee (of Ryan Lee and the Mindless), Marissa Nadler, and Stephen Brodsky
Zuzu
11 pm
Marissa Nadler: website | listen

Humanwine
M@ McNiss, Holly Brewer and Jeremy John Pilny are joined by Adam Glasseye, Andrew DiMola and Brian Viglione for the first installment of the "Spare Change Series" presented by Nervous Relatives.
Lily Pad
$5, 10 pm

I love the 80'sVH1 Classic's We Are The 80's
Rick Springfield, Eddie Money, Loverboy and Scandal play the Pavilion for the 80's all-star show. We're already humming two tickets to paradise. We may just pack our bags and leave tonight – and that's just for Eddie.
Bank of America Pavilion
$40 (please bring your own booze – you'll need it), 7:30pm

Friday 8/11
Throwing Muses with special guests Bullseye and 50 Foot Wave
50 Foot Wave with Throwing Muses and Bullseye. Yeah, we just said it again because this show is going to be that good.
Middle East Downstairs
18+, 8 pm, $20

Banana Hands CD release show, with Marah Mar, Tiny Whales, Twelve Canons
Lily Pad
7 pm, $5

Gnarls Barkley
Sold out before you could say "Crazy," this could be the show of the summer. And who knows what movie characters Cee-Lo and Dangermouse will show up as this time. Maybe, in honor of their first Boston appearance, they'll get dressed up in dirty jeans and tee-shirts and pretend to be Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in "Good Will Hunting." Yeah right. Oh wait, we got it: Minnie Driver and Robin Williams!
Avalon
$30, 8pm SOLD OUT
website | myspace | wikipedia

Ray Lamontagne and Guster
Guster, or perennial favorite local rock band who made it big on the scene without selling out too much, join Ray Lamontagne at the Bank of America Pavilion. The covers of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy are running rampant on the web and Ray Lamontagne has a decidedly different and beautiful floating around the tubes. With so much going on this Friday it might be a tough choice – but we heard a rumor that there are still some good seats left for the Pavilion show.
Bank of America Pavilion
$38, 7:30pm
Guster: website
Ray Lamontagne: website | Live on NPR |

Charlie Haden and Quartet West (also Saturday 8/12)
The sound of Charlie Haden's acoustic bass is one of the most recognizable in jazz. And Haden has played a key role in charting the course of jazz over the past 50 years, beginning with his role in Ornette Coleman's legendary 1960s free jazz quartet. Haden was also part of Keith Jarrett's 1970s quintet (with Paul Motion, Dewey Redman and Guillermo Franco) that experimented with North African and Middle Eastern music to great effect. In 1969, Haden and Carla Bley formed the Liberation Music Orchestra that made powerful, political music using folk songs from the Spanish Civil War (check their brilliant 1983 release Ballad of the Fallen). Oh yeah, Haden also happens to be the father of Josh Haden, and "The Haden Triplets" -- Tanya, Rachel and Petra (Rachel and Petra formerly of the Rentals and That Dog; Petra currently of the Decembrists). This weekend, their dad performs with Ernie Watts (sax), Alan Broadbent (piano), and Rodney Green (drums).
Regattabar
$26, 7:30pm & 10pm
website | wikipedia

Lyrics Born
To paraphrase from our ?uestlove pick . . . So, the Gnarls Barkley show sold out in like 7 minutes and you are crying like an abandoned kitten because you'll miss your only chance to see the mighty Cee-Lo and Dangermouse this year. Well, don't go Crazy. Suck-it-up and head over to the Paradise to catch one of the legends of progressive hip hop as the mighty Lyrics Born brings the sound of Quannum and the Bay Area to Beantown. Along with DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, and Jeff Chang, Lyrics Born (Tom Shimura, aka Asia Born) founded Quannum precursor SoleSides back in 1992. Since then, he's continued to "redefine what good hip hop should be" by kicking out massive funk jams seamlessly blended with a diverse array of styles, mad flow and complex rhymes. "Maybe we're crazy," but we're just as excited to see LB as Gnarls B. Well, almost. "Just a Thought."
Paradise Rock Club
18+, $15, 9pm
website | myspace | wikipedia | purchase

Saturday 8/13
TAM
A little Canadian rocker, keeping the faith that someday she'll make it to big Canadian rocker (and not in that you oughta know kinda way.) Don't think bad of her if we tell you that she once was an Oasis cover band. She's on her own with her own fresh sounds. There is a good chance you'll be hearing more from this synth-pop starlet (think Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville).
PA's Lounge
21+, $7, 8:30pm doors
TAM: website

Mon 8/14
Mike Cummings (of Furvis) with Star Star Quarterback (a solo project
from Andy of Mittens)
Zuzu
10 pm

C. Fernsebner, Matt Durutti, Victoria Daskal, and Christina Linklater contributed to this list.