THUR 10/23: DMZ Reunion, More Music, Film, Talks

I'm going to be at Church to see DMZ tonight, but that might not be everybody's thang...

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THUR 10/23

Opposing Viewpoints -- Only a couples miles apart...

6pm to 7:30pm
Andrew Bacevich, "The Limits Of Power": Discussion
at BU Barnes & Noble, Reading Room, Level Five, 660 Beacon St, Boston (Kenmore Sq)
FREE

6:30pm to 8pm
Douglas J. Feith, "War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism"
Lecture & Discussion w/ Jules Crittenden
at Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington St, Boston (Downtown Crossing)
FREE

I wish these guys were speaking with each other tonight, but these events are meant to promote books. Andrew Bacevich is a professor at BU (History, International Relations) who graduated from West Point, served in Vietnam, and retired as a colonel. He has also been one of the few conservative voices that's added thoughtful opposition to the Bush Administration's foreign policy. An Internet quotation of a March 2003 Bacevich LA Times editorial, "if, as seems probable, the effort encounters greater resistance than its architects imagine, our way of life may find itself tested in ways that will make the Vietnam War look like a mere blip in American history."

On the other hand, Douglas Feith was "Defense Undersecretary for Policy from '01 to '05" aka one of Don Rumsfeld's guys who helped to plan the Iraq War. I think he wrote a book to say why none of the problems with the war was his fault. Former embedded journalist (in Iraq) and current Boston Herald editor, Jules Crittenden, sits down with Feith tonight.

There will be booksignings at both talks.

THUR 10/23

7:30pm to 8:30pm
"Les 24 heures de la télé : Couleurs d’Europe"
at French Library/Alliance Francaise, 53 Marlborough St, Boston (Back Bay)
FREE

It seems like a "best of French TV" presentation (in French with English subtitles). The footage is provided by the Institut National de l’Audiovisuel, a research facility at the Mitterrand National Library located in Paris.


From the Weekly List:


THUR 10/23

DMZ (10:30pm), The New Frustrations (9:30pm), Red Invasion (11:30pm)
at Church, 69 Kilmarnock St, Boston (Fenway)
$10

There's no other place to be tonight. I don't care if the Sox are playing in the World Series -- they have TV's. I don't care if it's your mom's birthday -- the food is fine in the restaurant. This is the '76-'78 lineup of DMZ, Boston's first great punk band. Somehow they're doing a show at Maxwell's in Hoboken on the weekend, and this is their first show with this lineup since a reunion about 15 years ago.

The New Frustrations and Red Invasion will rock you, but DMZ is the only thing that matters tonight.

THUR 10/23

10pm
Willard Grant Conspiracy, Chris Brokaw, Drew O'Doherty
at The Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge (Inman Sq)
$10 / All Ages

Okay, I geek out for old-school punk rock (see above), but this is a spectacularly good night of music at a venue with superlative acoustics. The Willard Grant Conspiracy don't reside in Boston anymore, we can be proud that they started here. Who knows who will play with WGC mastermind Robert Fisher, but I'm amazed one can experience them in such an intimate setting. If you don't already love them, fans of American Music Club and Tindersticks will dig this. Chris Brokaw played with Thalia Zedek darkish-rock band Come, and he's pretty awesome in general. I think you'll like Drew O'Doherty also.

THUR 10/23

7:30pm
"The Battle of Algiers"
at Bartos Theatre, 20 Ames St, Cambridge (MIT campus)
FREE

It's considered a cinematic masterpiece. This is a story about a military force from a first-world country as an unwelcome occupier of a Muslim country with torture of the citizens and many guerrilla attacks.

Umm, France... in Algiers... during the '50s...

THUR 10/23

8:30pm
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Pants Yell!, Cotton Candy
at Oxfam Cafe, Miller Hall basement, 210 Packard Ave, Medford (Tufts campus)
$8 / All Ages

For the electro folks. There are rather detiled directions on Oxfam Cafe's MySpace. I think they'll work.