After the total lunar eclipse spiced up the night sky this past weekend we've got enough of the visuals. This week we're committed not to go see live music but to go hear live music. This week we're welcoming a few new contributors to the list, have a listen, will ya?
Monday 3/5
Badly Drawn Boy
It's okay to admit to liking British singer-songwriter Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy. He may write lyrics like "It all boils down to love and peace," but what distinguishes him from the fame-seeking pop music circle is his remarkable songwriting skills, and his warm sense of honesty. There's no false front to Gough, which means you may find yourself wondering if it does boil down to love and peace. He plays the Somerville Theatre tonight, with the criminally underrated folk band Adem.
The Somerville Theatre, 7:30 p.m., $21. Buy tickets via Ticketmaster.
Tuesday 3/6
Love of Diagrams
Who doesn't love diagrams? Locals Shepherdhess and Squids open for some adorable Australian post-punks.
Middle East Upstairs, 18+, 9 pm, $9
Love of Diagrams: web site | myspace | No Way Out video | Cool (live Pylon cover) .mp3
Shepherdess: myspace
Squids: myspace
Lily Holbrook
Undoubtedly, at some point you've found yourself waiting for a train at Park St., wondering whose ingenious interpretation of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" you're listening to. The voice paying homage to Robert Smith is Lily Holbrook, and she's got an impressive repertoire of her own. Catch her sans the crazy guy dancing and throwing nickels across the tracks.
Sky Bar at 8 p.m. Sky Bar, 8 p.m., $7, 21+.
Gomez
Several months ago, shaggy-haired rocker Ben Kweller had a bloody nose during a live performance. So, he remedied the situation by inserting a tampon in his nostril, and continued the show. Now that's dedication! Hopefully his shared bill with the easygoing indie rock lads of Gomez, Tuesday
evening at Avalon, will be feminine hygiene product free (at least for the men).
Avalon, 8 p.m., $25. Tickets available via Ticketmaster.
Wednesday 3/7
Christian McBride Band (also Thursday, 3/8)
The last time McBride was in town with his band, we marveled at his interaction with drummer Terreon Gully and keyboardist Geoffrey Keezer as he traded off upright and electric bass (engaging the wah-wah and echoplex now and again for good measure). If you missed McBride last Spring, or last Fall when he brought his more jazz-funk & hip hop influenced group featuring DJ Logic and Oliver Lake to the Beantown Jazz Festival, here's your chance to find out way he's considered "the best bassist of his generation."
Scullers Jazz Club, $20, 8pm & 10pm
Christian McBride Band: website | myspace
Ad Frank and the Echo Heights
Ad Frank's been performing locally since the late 90's, solo and with bands such as Lifestyle and the Fast Easy Women, establishing himself as a local legend of sorts. In concert, Frank channels his inner Morrissey, sometimes painstakingly and sometimes with humor, but always with honesty. He'll play with British pop band
The Baseball Tavern, 11 p.m., $8.
Thursday 3/8
Little Jimmy Scott
Legendary jazz vocalist Jimmy Scott started out singing in Lionel Hampton's band and has recorded with the likes of Charlie Parker, Ray Charles, and Lou Reed along the way. Stricken with Kallmann's syndrome, Scott's vocals chords never developed, leaving him with an otherworldly falsetto voice. Throw in his amazing vibrato and phrasing and it's no wonder giants like Brother Ray, Reed, Billie Holiday, and Dinah Washington consider(ed) him one of their favorite singers.
Regattabar, $25 adv / $28 dos, 7:30pm & 10pm
website | myspace
Friday 3/9
Dean & Britta
Two hot freaks from now-defunct Luna play their first-ever Boston show this Friday, unleashing their Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra charm on an unsuspecting Museum of Fine Arts.
MFA, 7:30 pm, $18
Dean & Britta: web site | myspace | Words You Used To Say video
Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs
Bostonist caught Holly Golightly (real name) on her last swing through town supporting 2004's great Slowly But Surely. This time the former member of Thee Headcoatees teams up with bass player and long time buddy Lawyer Dave to record as Holly & the Brokeoffs (influences include "bourbon, brisket, Lead Belly, Howlin Wolf, and by the cutting edge audio technology of the Victrola"). Catch them in support of their forthcoming album You Can't Buy A Gun When You're Crying. Beantown's garage punk kings the Downbeat 5 (soon heading to SXSW) open with a record release party for their new album Victory Motel.
Middle East Upstairs, 18+, $12, 9pm
Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs: website | myspace
The Downbeat 5: website | make your mark.mp3 | laughing out loud.mp3 | purchase
Saturday 3/10
Ute Lemper
Besides her other thousand lives as a dancer, a punk, an actress, Velma Kelly, Marie-Antoinette, and the German voice of Disney's Little Mermaid, Ute Lemper has been called Kurt Weill's greatest (living) interpreter.
Berklee Performance Center, 8 pm, $28-$37
Ute Lemper: web site | Split (with Neil Hannon) .mp3 | The Case Continues video
Mr. Lif
After a bus accident forced the cancellation of Lif's tour with The Coup back in December (and put a couple members of Boots Riley's group in the hospital), hometown hip hop hero Lif returns for a "10th Anniversary Homecoming Show."
Paradise Rock Club, 18+, $18, 8pm
website | myspace | the fries (Abdul Malik remix).mp3
Sunday 3/11
Of Montreal
Those lucky enough to catch the Elephant Six psych-rockers of Of Montreal when they played the Middle East Downstairs last year are now wed to lead singer Kevin Barnes. Barnes donned a wedding gown, proposed to the crowd (how could we not accept?), and deemed the union official. So it's sort of requisite marital dues to catch their show at Avalon on Sunday. The unwed are invited as well – the band's powerful, darkly poetic yet frenetically danceable new album "Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?" is worth the sacrifice of an otherwise quiet Sunday evening.
Avalon, 6:30 p.m., $16.50. Tickets available via Ticketmaster.
Monday 3/12
An Evening in Bach's Circle
David Yearsley and Peter Sykes play music by J.S. Bach—and by his family and friends—on clavichords.
Christ Church (Zero Garden St., Cambridge), 7:30 pm, $5-$26
David Yearsley: Cornell faculty bio
Peter Sykes: web site
Boston Clavichord Society: web site | mp3s of previous events
Caitlin E. Curran, Victoria Welch, Matt Durutti and C. Fernsebner contributed to this post
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