Music Funny, they don't look bloodthirsty. Vampire Weekend's sound could be described as "My First Afro Pop." They merge indie sounds with world music, and the critics are falling in love. The Village Voice called them "goofy"--it was a compliment. MFA, Remis Auditorium, 8:00 pm, $15. Why do we post this since it looks like it is nearly impossible to get tickets? So you can share hot ticket tips in the comments. Keep an......

Ask Bill Belichick about last week's game, and you may as well be asking him about the Treaty of Ghent. Ask him about the 14-point-underdog Chargers, and you may as well be asking him about an All-Star team composed of the '85 Bears, '89 49ers and the Justice League of America. You know what you get from Coach Bill when you ask about football. But apparently, ask him about team fight songs and you hit......

Here’s a novel idea: if a music scene wants to prove its relevancy through an award show, why doesn’t that scene put in some effort? Boston’s ties to regional, up-and-coming, and national talent were on clear display Saturday evening at the Orpheum Theatre, as the 2007 Boston Music Awards honored many a bold-faced musical name. Metal poster boys Killswitch Engage took home Act of the Year accolades, while critical darlings Lori McKenna and Martin Sexton......

Bostonist just left the 2007 Boston Music Awards, and while we'll have ruminations on the awards ceremony for your Sunday reading pleasure, you can find below the crop of winners from the 20th anniversary ceremony, presented here in chronological order: Outstanding Funk/Jam Band of the Year: Westbound Train Outstanding Blues/Soul Act of the Year: Eli "Paperboy" Reed & the True Loves Outstanding DJ/Dance Act of the Year: DJ BC Outstanding Rock Band of the Year:......

--67 Boston clubs might be forced to shut down by Thursday if they can't install sprinkler systems. [Boston Globe] --Myron Stovell, the Pop Warner coach who was shot in the leg by a teenager, has announced that he is praying for his attacker and wishes he could have helped him. [Boston Herald] --Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo is cool. [Boston Herald] --Your laugh for the day: Gameday to show Williams-Amherst game. [Sports Hernia] --Your......

Juliette and the Licks Scissors for Lefty, Suffrajett Middle East Downstairs Tonight, 8 p.m., $15 (18+) MySpace She's a J. Lewis making a name for herself in music after an acting career, the frontwoman of an otherwise all-male band, someone known for keeping audiences guessing about how she's going to look, what she's going to wear, what she's going to do. But whereas Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis takes the demure route (as much as one......

International Pop Overthrow The Great Scott, Allston Friday Nov 2 - Tuesday Nov 6 $10 // 7 PM // 18+ except for 11/3, 21+ Sounds cool, doesn't it? Well, we certainly think so. The International Pop Overthrow, the brain child of creator David Bash, comes to Boston for the Festival's 5th year. The 5-day long event will showcase local bands whose sound can be classified as indie, rock and/or pop. But wait - pop?......

Have you played a show in Boston over within the last 18 months? Have you ever crashed on a Boston couch? Do you know someone who did? If so, check out the Boston Music Award nominations. You or they just might be nominated. Listen, we actually enjoy the fact that local musicians are honored once a year through the BMAs. Sure, it's always dominated by the usual suspects (Aerosmith, Dropkick Murphys, Dresden Dolls and, most......

--Early this morning, a 22-year-old man was found shot in the head on Bowdoin Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene. --Last night, the Codman Square Safe Street Team heard shots fired at Dunlap and Washington. They soon found the alleged shooter, Oscar Mohamed, 19, of Jamaica Plain. Mohamed had shot two men. Both sustained non-life-threatening injuries. One of them didn't waste any time and took a cab to the hospital before emergency reinforcements......

After all the "enough is enough" blah-dee-blah from the city brass, people on the ground who have to deal with Boston crime every day are doing something about it. Pop Warner football coach Myron Stovell, who was shot in the leg this weekend by a teenage hothead with a gun, didn't let his injury stop him from attending a community meeting on the subject. The meeting included parents and children who were on Stovell's Boston......

--The teenager who shot Pop Warner football coach Myron Stovell in the leg during a football practice was supposed to be under 24-hour electronic surveillance. According to the Herald, the surveillance was instituted two weeks ago. How hard is it to follow up on that sort of thing? Aren't people supposed to get suspicious when the signal doesn't turn on or doesn't move? The family of the teenager who was arrested for the shooting told......

--Because some teenage bonehead with an anger-management problem and a gun shot popular Pop Warner coach Myron Stovell in the leg, Boston Pop Warner games will be getting a police detail. Way to ruin the fun for everyone. The alleged shooter is currently being held without bail. He is not being identified because he is a juvenile. The press release from the DA's office confirms that the shooter got angry after Stovell accidentally hit the......

--Yarelis Cruz, 26, of Lawrence, is a mom who allegedly grew pot in her house, and she got caught when the teacher of her 11-year-old son found pot pictures on the boy's cell phone. The teacher confiscated the cell phone when Cruz' son was taking pictures in the school when he wasn't supposed to, and she spotted pot plants on the screen. The teacher did the math, the police investigated, and they found a plant......

A 15-year-old boy allegedly shot Boston Bengals Pop Warner football coach Myron Stovell in the leg yesterday afternoon. Stovell was at Washington Park in Roxbury to lead a team practice. Why? A witness told the Globe that the teenager and Stovell got in a fight over something Stovell may have done to the kid's dog: "'He hit the kid's dog, that's why they did it to him. He hit their dog, and they came onto......

Alert! Alert! All units copy! FNX radio is bringing grungy Canadian youngsters Tokyo Police Club and hard-rocking locals Tiny Whales to The Harp tonight. It's a free show--just sign up for an FNX card and you're in the door. Can't beat that! While almost any music is enjoyable when it's free, these bands are actually good enough to pay for. Perennially picky Pitchfork gave Tokyo Police Club's newest release, A Lesson in Crime, a......

Bostonist Pick: Ballermore Has Arrived .::. Shake 'Em Down @ Milky Way (Thurs) Bostonist has some good news for you: this is going to be an easy weekend on the liver. The bad news is that your two days of drinking, dancing and staying up into the wee New England-established hours begins tonight. There are two main events invading our city on the 4th, and first up is Shake 'Em Down, a dance party......

If you believe the worst of the rumors, the members of the Police spend most of their downtime on the tour bus smashing bottles and going after one another with the jagged glass. But whatever happens offstage, it doesn't seem to affect the show. The Police reunion tour hit Fenway Park Saturday for the first of two nights, and they've hardly lost a step. The best part of a reunion that nobody thought would ever......

--We're not saying Northeastern University students like to urinate on stuff. But first it was the onions, and then it was the time-honored closet of the roommate. The NU crime log says, An intoxicated 20-year-old male student walked into his roommate's bedroom in West Village A, urinated in his closet and returned to his own bed. He will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution. We just find it interesting......

So many car insurance commercials on TV, so little relevance to Massachusetts drivers. This is the only state in the country where insurance rates are set by a government panel, which has worked out well for some folks (bad drivers and insurers willing to play ball) and not so well for other folks (good drivers in bad neighborhoods, big-time out-of-town companies). Now Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burns wants to shake things up, proposing a limited shift......

The U.S. Air Guitar Championship series is winding its way across the country and tonight descends upon Boston. The rock and its rockers will show their best air windmill moves and air thrashing at Harpers Ferry, the third stop on the 14-city tour. Will Boston follow in the steps of New York and Washington D.C.? Both of those shows sold out, and we read today a recap of the D.C. battle from USA Today's Whitney......

By now you're probably either planning your strategy for Saturday's WBOS EarthFest or figuring out how to avoid Storrow Drive like the plague over the course of the weekend. With predictions of weather in the low 80s and partly cloudy skies, it appears that the folks over at BOS have picked themselves a beaut of a day to devote to free music and environmental friendliness at the Hatch Shell. For EarthFest attendees, it might seem......

The Boston Globe may be cutting their news room staffers – but they're scraping together some funds to push through some new media. According to the Pop-Ed site, where the videos are posted, "Boston.com is proud to present 'Pop-Ed,' a daily original song and accompanying video written and performed by local musician Jake Brennan, focusing on news and events that take place that day. Jake will find news of interest in the morning and then......

The nicer the weather gets, the busier we get across the Ist-A-Verse. But we like being busy. Here's a peek at what we've been up to since last week! Chicagoist had an interview with Audrey Niffenegger, whose popular book, The Time Traveler's Wife, was based in their fine city. They also had a heated discussion about Rush Limbaugh's controversial Barack Obama parody, talked about whether Uncle Julio's Hacienda is a good place to get......

This week has seen finally-blooming trees, an uncharacteristically shining sun, and Bostonians emerging from their long grey coats—just in time for some jaunty indiepop. With some help from the kindly gaylords at Total Gaylord Records, the Student Council is bringing sixteen bands' worth of twee to town for the first (Bostonist hope it's "first annual") Cream of the Pop festival, commencing this evening and continuing through Saturday. Regional darlings Smittens, Mittens, and Hands & Knees......

A little bit of SXSW and a little bit of Japan are converging tomorrow night in Central Square. The SXSW Japan Showcase makes a few U.S. stops in addition to the big indie weekend in Austin. And, lucky for those of us unable to make a pilgrimage to Texas, Japan Night drops by TT's this weekend. Japan Night includes garage punk band The 50 Kaitenz. In addition to strains of The Ramones (one of their......

Marilyn Johnson will read from The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries tomorrow, Tuesday, March 6, at Harvard Book Store, 6:30 pm. You may have asked yourself how papers get obituaries published so fast. Easy. They write 'em in advance. A whole army of journalists are posted on a death watch of sorts, waiting for the moment to release the words that sum up the lives of the recently......

While it might not seem possible judging from the creaky antics of bands like the Rolling Stones, there are some rock musicians who age well. Exhibit A would be Mission of Burma. Exhibit B would be Kristin Hersh, who will be performing at Newbury Comics on Newbury Street at 6:00 pm tonight. Hersh's new record, Learn to Sing Like a Star, out on Yep Roc, is the latest in her 20-year career. Hersh, along with......

This was not a very happy week for the -ist network as one of our own, Phillyist co-editor Star C. Foster, passed away early in the week. Her wit, intelligence, and good nature shone through the site, making Phillyist an immensely fun read. She was loved by many and will be missed by all. Phillyist paid tribute to her this week with a heartfelt letter to her and an obituary. And now, the awkward......

Jagshemash! Borat is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour. In Shanghai, Borat would be observing Inane Learnings of Penis Photos for Make Benefit Glorious Flat World of......

Boston joins in the celebration of late Warhol muse and Pop Art Poster Girl Edie Sedgwick. Tonight, the MFA will screen Sedgwick's final movie, Ciao! Manhattan, which was released shortly after her death in 1971. The Sedgwick tribute is timed to complement the release of Edie: Girl on Fire by David Weisman, who also directed Ciao! Manhattan, and Melissa Painter. It's probably a good idea to see Sedgwick on screen and read about her......