THUR 10/2: Talking & Singing & Playing

I saw a very skinny woman running on the Somerville Bike Path, and I actually said it out loud, "I hope you're running to get a burger." I think she heard me... (But someone needed to tell her!)
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THUR 10/2

6:30pm to 8pm
Dale Chihuly, Glass Art: Lecture
at Room 250, Bldg 10, 222 Memorial Dr, Cambridge (MIT Campus)
FREE

By looking at his work, one has to assume Dale Chihuly is one of the greatest glass artists ever. Add such career highlights like the 1st American to work at one of the most prestigious glassmakers on Venice's island of Murano and being a Fulbright Fellow since '68, and you know you're not out on a limb.

If the auditorium is full, a room in the Stata Center (#123) will have a video feed of the lecture.

THUR 10/2

6:30 pm
Anne Nivat & Lida Abdul, "Creativity During Wartime": Conversation
at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 280 The Fenway, Boston (The Fens)
$7 / $5 seniors / FREE students

Two participants in the Gardner's "Artists-in-Residence" program lead a discussion that will likely cover both the challenges and opportunities regarding the creative process in war zones, e.g. Iraq and Afghanistan. If artists live in crappy neighborhoods here in the States, imagine what it's like in Baghdad or Kabul... Lida Abdul is a video artist originally from Afghanistan and fled during the time of Soviet invasion. Anne Nivat is a journalist who has done much reporting from war zones around the world including real (outside of the Green Zone) reporting in Iraq.

The evening will include a screening of one of Abdul’s short films that was shot around Kabul, "In Transit".

THUR 10/2

9:30pm
The Soft Drugs, The Diamond Mines, Emergency Music, Gunfight!
at Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston
$9 / 18+

The Soft Drugs might have been my "wow" discovery of the week. With no preconception, I immediately loved the catchy songs that aren't too aggressive or too mellow. This is Goldilocks rock -- just right! Then I read up about singer-songwriter Tim Walsh living in Seattle eventually playing in Pedro the Lion then moving back to Boston. I've been a fan of The Diamond Mines for a couple years; I wish I was in this band! You already know it's a party when you've got the saxophone... More cool songs with a old-school punky vibe when you could include elements of soul, etc. It keeps on getting better with the power-poppy goodness of Emergency Music. Whoops! I didn't listen to Gunfight!, but they're probably a enjoyable indie-rock band from Brooklyn.

THUR 10/2

10pm
Baby Dee, M.G. Lederman
at Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge (Inman Sq)
$10 / All Ages

More than anything, Baby Dee is Baby Dee -- fascinating and talented transgender pianist/harpist/singer/circus performer who likes riding a giant tricycle and has been performing haunting high-register vocals before Antony and the Johnsons. You might have heard Mel Lederman playing keyboard with Victory at Sea or Thalia Zedek Band; tonight he brings his low, gravelly vocals and songs to the ivories before Dee. One might not expect it, but the acoustics at the venue are superb too!

I checked with the wonderful Aliza of Truth Serum, and the cover is $10 no matter what the Lily Pad's site says...

THUR 10/2 & FRI 10/3

8pm
Baltimore Round Robin Tour
at Pozen Center, 621 Huntington Ave, Boston (MassArt, enter on Evans Way)
$8 / $15 both nights

On the Baltimore Round Robin Tour, the crowd spins around to see the bands play one song followed by the next adjacent band that's set up around the room. It's a perfect scene for the live music fan who wants to hear multiple performers but wishes they could switch as fast as a DJ.

Charm City/Wham City's mad genius Dan Deacon has pulled together at least 10 bands each night:

Thursday is "Eyes Night" for those who'd like a watch-and-listen (described as " a mixture of folk, noise, theatrics, improvisation"). Friday is "Feet Night" for the uptempo sounds to move those feet and asses ("music that you dance, thrash or otherwise move around to and is a mixture of electronic, punk, hardcore, dance, and rock and roll"). Deacon fires up his keyboards and mic on Friday.

Max is a guy in the know about these things, and this is what he says:

Last time Dan was in Boston, he RULED. He got the crowd to play a gigantic round of London Bridge, which then dissolved into a whiteboy-hip-shaking moshpit, and at one point actually had to stop the show and say, "OK. EVERYONE. Take THREE steps backwards, and every time you feel like pushing the person next to you, just put your arms in the air and yell, 'WAHHHH'."