"I lived in Boston for four years and I was never here. Call it what you will. But I'm glad tonight is the first night." On Friday night, Josh Ritter began his set in Boston's most esteemed concert hall (lined with statuary of "huge, intimidating, partially-clad figures") by singing about his native Midwest: "Idaho," Illinois in "Best for the Best," and the whole region as "story we made up to erase" in "Other Side." Ritter......

Cryptacize's songs are puzzle boxes, suitable for storing something small and probably evil. Catchy, nostalgic pop elements are shifted just off-kilter enough to be eerie, embellished frequently by guitarist Chris Cohen's TV-commercial jingles for a minor-key alternative universe. Both Cohen and Nedelle Torrisi sing on their album, Dig That Treasure, but Wednesday evening's rather brief performance at the Middle East Upstairs emphasized Torrisi's disarmingly pristine satin voice.......

Consistency is an underrated virtue in these challenging and changing times. Just as you can count on the stock market to recklessly bounce up and down like a fat kid on a trampoline, for years Boston has been able to count on the reliable Emergency Music to deliver the goods for the able ear. Delegates of pop perfection, old Emergency will headline an increasingly rare appearance this Saturday at T.T. the Bears. Bostonist caught......

Just before midnight on Saturday, Bostonist was surprised to see Annie Clark flanked by people with musical instruments. Marry Me, her first album as the pseudonymous St. Vincent, gave us the impression that she led a cheerful army of synthesizer-wielding robots, but there she was, in the non-synthetic flesh, with a bassist and a drummer and other humans. Her songs about augury and landmines retained that spooky, clear-eyed quality and, when she wasn't singing......

Okay, it seems that we have a hangup on Alvin and the Chipmunks, but the success of that movie suggests that children are more in charge of their parents' dollars than ever. We're not talking teenagers controlling the box office--we're talking the little critters. Further proof of that was provided when Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour was number one at the box office. If teenagers controlled the world, the horror remake......

--A man walking on a pond in Weymouth on Sunday fell in and was rescued before freezing to death. Neighbors heard his screams and called for help. The footage of the rescue was so dramatic that it's been making the rounds on CNN. [WCVB] --The Globe displays pictures of the region's worst storms, which carry the subliminal message "Quit yer bitching." [Boston Globe] --Is Will Ferrell's "Funny or Die" tour coming to Boston College......

Benefits for Jeanne Sheehy December 6--Tonight!: B.O.D., Willie T & Dr. X, Doug McDonald Band, Roger Fisk, Country Doctors, Wide Iris, The Delusions, The Outlets. Show starts at 8:45 pm. December 21: Jonny Pape, Auto Interiors, Joyce & Chick of Scarce, Downbeat 5, AdFrank, The Pills, The Shods. Show starts at 9:05 pm. December 28: Jules Verdone, The Douglas Fir, Baker, Francine, The Gravel Pit. Show starts at 9:10 pm. December 29: Keys to the......

The Eight Saturday, December 10, 9:00 pm T.T. the Bear's 10 Brookline Street, Cambridge (T: Central Square) $12 advance / $15 at the door More info Taglit-Birthright Israel and JDub Records is hosting a Hanukkah rock concert that will be held in cities all over the United States. Boston will represent at T.T. The Bear's this Saturday. The Boston celebration will be split between rock and electronica. The Brakes are straight-up pop-rock, and press for......

Indoor Yard Sale at the Papercut Zine Library Saturday, December 1, 10:00 pm to 5:00 pm Concert: 6:00 pm, $5 donation 45 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge More info The Papercut Zine Library is sniffing at the idea of holding a yard sale during the cold weather. They're taking their goodies inside and throwing their doors open to you, the discerning shopper, so you can pick up some cool holiday presents. The many items for sale......

One of the most famous sights in Cambridge--MIT's Stata Center, designed by Frank Gehry--is leaking. MIT is now suing Gehry for negligence. The Stata Center may look amazing on the outside, and it got a shout-out in Doonesbury, but Shelley Murphy at the Globe reports that the inside is a mess of cracks, drainage backups, and mold. MIT paid $1.5 million to fix problems in the Stata Center's amphitheater--which is a rotten icing on top......

Story time. It's early 2001 at a snowy New England college campus. Collegiate-Aged Bostonist takes in a set by San Francisco-based Matt Nathanson in the campus student center. It is Nathanson's birthday and Sister Helen Prejean (of "Dead Man Walking" fame) is also appearing on campus. Did we mention that this is a Catholic college? Nathanson winds up performing a very, very intimate two sets and, we imagine, having a pretty sucky birthday. But Bostonist......

Bostonist knew that with Wednesday night's Boston Pops EdgeFest finale would come a chance to see local talent (and Bostonist favorites) Mieka Pauley and Chad Perrone, but it wasn't until shortly before we braved the heat en route to Symphony Hall that we discovered that we were in store for another Boston music treat - three-fifths of the Ryan Montbleau Band (guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Ryan Montbleau, bassist Matt Gianarros and Laurence Scudder on viola), who closed out......

We'd heard that the 2007 WBOS Free Summer Concert Series at Copley was going to be a great one - and lo and behold, the folks over at 92.9 FM have announced a schedule full of acts we'd happily plunk down money to see. We are going to be making the trek to Copley a regular part of our Thursday evening routine. The lineup boasts established acts (Martin Sexton, Jonatha Brooke), indie artists we can't......

All across the Ist-A-Verse (or at least the American parts thereof), writers and editors are in the midst of enjoying their three-day weekend. But after the week we've all had, we feel like the break is not only needed, but deserved. Just look at everything we've been doing! Gothamist headed into the Memorial Day weekend with a number of tasks accomplished. They worried about Long Islanders giving New Yorkers a bad name. They tried......

This past September something innovative happened in Boston. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum launched a webcast. It wasn't just any webcast, it was a creative commons licensed release of concerts performed as part of the long standing museum concert series. It's allowed users world wide to take in a little classical music culture by downloading the file and playing it on their iPod, in the windows media center or whatever MP3 compatible device they choose.......

Every once in a while a webcast comes around that Bostonist just adores. Of course, we want to share this adoration and what better way to accomplish this than to drop a review on the intertubes for your consumption? This week we review a 'cast that is produced by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: The Concert. Let us get the geekery out of the way. The folks over at the Gardner have done something great......

Many a Sunday finds Bostonist somewhat hung-over, looking at a greasy plate of bacon, eggs, and some sort of potato product. By the time brunch has finished we've already missed a great classical music concert at the Isabella Stewart Garner Museum. We feel rewarded when we do end up making it to the ISGM for the Sunday afternoon show. The ISGM offers a whole lot of what those smart folks call "fine art." Today, in......

Fall seems to have set in, at least for now. the temperatures are dropping and people all over the metro have been forced to put their flip-flops away for some more sensible footwear. At least until it gets warm again in another week. Or so we hope. Music abounds again this week and we're listening. Tuesday, 9/12 Branford Marsalis Quartet Braggtown CD Release Concert Berklee alum Branford Marsalis created Cambridge-based (and Rounder distributed) Marsalis......

In a world where there's nothing to do but watch movies. In a city full of theaters, museums, and libraries. One moviegoer who can be in three places at once. Thursday 8/3 Stolen One of the things that endears the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to us (along with the dim lighting, strict ban on electronic devices, and terse signage) is how the frames of missing paintings hang empty on the walls. (As per Mrs. Gardner's......

A free concert put on every Thusday Night in the summer by the Springfield Business Imporovement District starts at 7:30 pm, and runs till late. The event first happened in 1999 and has been a huge success since, drawing 4,000 to 6,000 people for each Thursday night, and has become a big draw for bikers and music lovers from NY, Conn., Eastern Mass., Rhode Island, and Vermont, in addition to Western Mass. locals. With......

It's a good week to take the whole week off. Well, is there such a thing as a bad week to take off? Grilled meats will be invading your pores for the first time in such a heavy dose since Memorial Day, which was only about a month ago. In addition to this weeks picks for some of the great shows creeping up on us in Boston we'd like to point you over to......

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for us to claim that all shows should be played outside over the summer. Lucky for us no one listens to our suggestions on venue – so we're heading back inside where the temperature with the AC on is only about five degrees cooler than it is outside. A welcome five degrees, with a tiny bit lower humidity. This week's list hits a variety of shows, something......

We’re working for the weekend and it's only Monday. Rainy day outside and the sun is reported MIA until Wednesday. Despite the current gloom, things are looking mighty green outside - a good sign of spring. Flowering trees have done their thing and soon we’ll be smelling the lilacs. For now we’re settling for another cup of Stella while we soak up the tunes and the increasing temperatures. Monday 4/24: John Vanderslice mk Ultra......

Yesterday the employees of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum were steps away from the Red Sox and Fenway Park when the first pitch was thrown at home for the Sox’s 2006 season. Long noted as a rather eccentric, er, crazy woman Isabella Stewart Gardner did have one thing right – a passion for the Olde Towne Team. After sporting a white headband with the words “Oh you Red Sox” written in red lettering to......

We live in an iTunes nation. It's easy to pull a track down to your pod for under a buck. Bostonist still longs for cover art, liner notes, and that masterwork that is a multi-track collection of songs we call an album. Listed here is our much discussed, unbiased by payola, top 25 albums of 2005. After the jump you'll find where some of us stand individually on the subject of the years best. (Apparently......

We know you are excited, we have renamed "Upcoming Music Events and Concerts" the Breakdown (at least for the time being). So here it is, the second installment of must-see gigs for the weekend, next week, and in the future. Please let us know if you have any suggestions for events that you want people to hear about that don't manage to make it on the Bostonist radar - just shoot us an e-mail......

Bostonist enjoyed a flawless August evening of free indie rock tunes at the DCR Memorial Hatch Shell last night. At the latest installment of the FNX Radio Summer Concert Series, newcomers Longwave took the stage at 6 p.m. followed by our favored indie darlings, Spoon. Spoon played the crowd a pleasing set with selections from their 2002 release "Kill the Moonlight" and their recent 2005 success "Gimme Fiction." Perhaps the only downer at this......

After being entertained by Werner Herzog’s new flick, Grizzly Man, but not particularly impressed we’re going for broke on free media push-delivery this week. Chalk it up to Bostonist’s philosophy that it can’t be that bad if it’s free, we’re heading to see the Staind show on City Hall Plaza after work today. The Fusion Flash Concert, which Staind spilled the beans about the date on their website a couple weeks ago, has officially been......

Unless they look down at the sidewalk and realize you are on the Freedom Trail or their heel gets caught in one of those damn cobblestones downtown, Boston residents can often overlook the history right around them. Well, when the Fourth of July rolls into the city, residents are almost slapped in the face with a six-day-long historical celebration for Independence Day. Boston Harborfest kicks off today at noon in Faneuil Hall with a 500......

Enter Bostonist's new contest to win Neil Diamond concert tickets. The man of many classics is coming to the hub this summer on his world tour, and the countdown to the ticket sale is on. If you’re not into camping out in line talk to us, Bostonist happens to have three pairs of tickets to give away! Enter at Bostonist Contest: Neil Diamond Concert. Each pair of tickets (good for a winner and guest)......