Things to do in Boston: Sept. 29 to Oct. 5

By: - Wednesday, Sep 28, 2016 - 6:57pm
tbc__newsletterPhoto by Wenjie Qiao | Creative Commons

October gets a lot of love as the best month of the year in Boston, so get out and enjoy the weather, the festivals, and our sports teams just owning everyone. Here’s everything going on around the city this week.

* If you’ve never seen the Chicken Slacks play a Thursday night at the Cantab, what are you even doing here, man. What concerts are you going to, artists you heard on the radio? Come on. The band celebrates its 11th anniversary of holding it down in Central Square with a combination of old school funk/R&B and strong mixed drinks that are guaranteed to get you out on the dance floor. 9.29. 9:30p. $6

* The HUBweek festival keeps rolling this week (like a wheel, get it, wheels have hubs) showcasing Boston’s innovation, creativity, and ability to throw a pretty good party when we need to. The week’s biggest social event, Celebrate Boston takes over six floors of the WeWork South Station building Thursday for the kind of not-stuffy night where you won’t feel bad for partying a little at a networking event or for networking a little at a party. Then the festival wraps up Saturday with a warehouse party in the South End featuring Brew the Charles, which is exactly what you’re afraid it is: six local breweries making beer from the Charles River. It’s filtered by a water tech company in Newton, so you can take a big sip and say “I love that dirty water!” and you’ll really mean it. 9.29 + 10.1. Various times, prices

* The fall edition of ArtWeek Boston is back with ten days of mostly free events (yeah that’s more than a week, give ‘em a break they’re artists not mathematicians). The festivities kick off at Thursday’s free Party on the Greenway, a block party meets nighttime arts festival featuring one-of-a-kind musical performances at Rings Fountain, food trucks, games, artistic activations and more. ArtWeek events begin Friday, check the website or the list below for more events. 9.29. 6p. FREE

* If you stopped at the phrase “artistic activations” in that last sentence and wondered if that was just a fancy way to say “art” then yeah, basically. It’s like the neighborhood is a gift card on the shelf before you bring it to the cashier (the artist) and they swipe it (make art) so it’s not worthless anymore. Artists are activating Franklin Park for Saturday’s Franklin Park Art Grove with sculptural installation, music, performance, and dance. And food, because who doesn’t love a picnic on a nice fall Saturday. 10.1. 12p. FREE

* It’s getting to be that time of year when we scare ourselves on purpose, at least a kind of superficial scare that temporarily takes our minds off the existential dread that plagues us all. The Imaginary Beasts ensemble’s production of Angela Carter’s ‘The Fall River Axe Murderers’ at the BCA Black Box Theatre takes a closer look at the tale of Lizzie Borden, Fall River’s second most famous resident, after Emeril. 10.1 to 10.22. Various times. $24

* Yeah, when I was a teen, Emeril was that dude. Sure he didn’t have tattoos or a drug problem like cool chefs, but he made cooking look fun. And now I cook myself restaurant quality meals almost every night. Why am I talking about food right now? Because (segue alert) the Globe’s Let’s Talk About Food festival serves up a day-long smorgasbord of fine food, cooking demonstrations and discussions Saturday in Copley Square. Let’s talk about food, baby! / Let’s talk about umami / Let’s talk about all the gouda, the bad…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. 10.1. 9a. FREE

* If you like barbecue, or you’re at least barbecurious, this one’s for you: East Cambridge’s Smoke This Rib Fest pits (get it, barbecue pits) some of the city’s cue-masters for the title of best ribs in town. There’s also live music from Ali McGuirk, Roy Sludge Trio, Vapors of Morphine and more. Lately when something starts going well for me, I’ll say “Oh yeah, now we’re cooking with gas.” I highly recommend it, except at the barbecue festival where cooking on a gas grill is a total amateur move. 10.2. 12p. $25 tasting ticket or pay as you go

* The idea of combining music with visuals in a planetarium has been around for decades, probably ever since the first time someone got high and realized it would be even cooler if they were playing Pink Floyd in there instead of an astronomy lecture. Sunday’s special ArtWeek presentation of SubSpace: Prince at the Museum of Science fuses the sounds of one of music’s greatest icons with stunning and inventive visuals on the dome of the Charles Hayden Planetarium. 10.2. 6p. $12

More events that don’t suck:

 

Blount smokes Texans; Patriots roll

By: - Thursday, Sep 22, 2016 - 11:27pm

Brissett’s been waiting on his moment since 2012…

And then it came…

And then Blount smoked some Texans…

What a game.

Zeds Dead heading to Boston October 3rd

By: - Thursday, Sep 22, 2016 - 2:00pm

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Toronto duo Zeds Dead announced their fall tour, naming it after their upcoming album Northern Lights.

Looks like DC and Hooks are collaborating with some big-time rappers. Word on the street is that the album will be star-studded, featuring Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, Pusha T, Diplo, Twin Shadow, Elliphant, Jadakiss, Styles P, and a few others.

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DC shares that “We like good rappers. We’re in New York right now; that’s the Mecca of hip-hop for me. I like all sorts of stuff, but my heart is with the golden era, East Coast sound. These guys are legends to us. The type of hip-hop we gravitate towards involves good lyrics.” Hooks adds, “New York had a huge influence on the Toronto hip-hop scene. Now you’re sort of losing the geographic-centered styles. People in Toronto are doing songs like people in the South.”

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The album should drop later this week or perhaps early October.

Regardless, you all should get your tickets to their show at the House of Blues on Lansdowne. Tickets range $30-99 at LiveNation.

And while you wait to check them out in October, check out their premiere of ZEDS DEAD and Diplo’s “Blame” (feat. Elliphant). Video is very chill.

RECAP: MIX 104.1’s MIXFest 2016

By: - Monday, Sep 19, 2016 - 12:00pm

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MIX104.1 hosted their annual MIXFest featuring OneRepublic, Ingrid Michaelson, and Shaggy. Kicking off the concert at DCR Memorial Hatch Shell, MIX’s 15 Seconds of Fame Winners, Tyler and Ryan Falcoa belched out their cover of Shawn Mendes’s “Treat You Better.”

Next up at MIXFest was Indie Folk singer, Ingrid Michaelson, who rose to fame with her first single, “The Way I Am.” With her signature ukulele and her sassy comments during song transitions, Ingrid gave an unforgettable jam session Saturday afternoon, singing hits like “Be OK,” “Parachute,” and “Girls Chase Boys.”

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Ingrid ends her set with her latest single “Hell No,” which ends up being a collective big middle finger emoji to all of her ex-lovers.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for Ingrid Michaelson’s return to Boston on November 18th 2016 at House of Blues on Lansdowne.

Yeah…It wasn’t me. It was Shaggy.

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It completely blew my mind that everyone in the crowd knew the lyrics – from the teenyboppers in the front row to the moms who were dragged to the Hatch Shell for the free concert. “It Wasn’t Me” helped Jamaican-American reggae artist Shaggy break into the pop scene, and it had everyone singing his Caribbean tunes.

“I love Boston…but let me bring you to my country.” Mr. Boombastic stirred things up many of his classic dancehall and reggae beats while whipping out his Jamaican flag. And who could forget “Angel,” one of his more popular love anthems?

The stage, of course, was not big enough of a playground for Shaggy so he hopped off the stage and into the photo pit. In addition to entertaining the press photographers, Shaggy shot a live YouTube video of the thousands of fans who showed up this weekend and went onto the barricades towards to crowd.

Shaggy ends his set by stepping back from Jamaica and going to one of his latest pop singles, “I Need Your Love.” Yes – I do need your love, Shaggy.

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Ryan Tedder led OneRepublic as they ran out of backstage with “Love Runs Out.” Did anyone else notice Ryan’s black bomber jacket? Written on the back of the jacket states was GUILTY PARTIES. If anyone was wondering, it is a Japanese clothing line called Wacko Maria.

Not much of a talker like Shaggy or Ingrid, Ryan slowed down the tempo with “Wherever I Go” and then it is picked right back up with “Secrets.” I was so swooning when Brent Kutzle busted out the violin.

“Speaking of a perfect day and a perfect city, this song kinda encapsulates that,” Ryan Tedder told the audience as he started to strum away to “Good Life.”

OneRepublic ended the incredible Saturday afternoon with “Stop and Stare,” “Apologize/Stay With Me” mash up, “Counting Stars,” and “If Lose Myself” that could be heard all the way from Boston Common.

What a weekend.

Photo Credits: bit.ly/TamCamIG

Flume Sells Out Two Shows in Boston

By: - Saturday, Sep 3, 2016 - 5:00am

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Who is able to sell out shows on a Monday and a Tuesday? Flume.

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Harley Edward Streten, also known as Flume, progressed from being a bedroom DJ in Australia to playing his #1 radio hits at Boston’s House of Blues.

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Flume may be best known for his pop hits, Never Be Like You (feat. Kai) and Say It (feat. Tove Lo), but he did not fail to rock the stage with his experimental electronica vibe.

Photo Credits: bit.ly/TamCamIG