TUES 4/7: Dylan Talk, Poetry, Rock, Hip-Hop, Film

Well, the Tarheels won last night. (And I came in 77th out of 387 in my bracket pool... True!) I didn't feel like having an ice cream in the pouring rain. Maybe because the Sox were postponed...

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TUES 4/7

7pm to 8:30pm
Christopher Ricks, "All Because of the Color of His Skin: Race & Its Relations to the Art of Bob Dylan": Lecture
at Metcalf Hall, Sherman Union 2nd Fl, 775 Comm Ave, Boston (BU campus)
FREE

We have a world-class Dylanologist in town. Christopher Ricks is a professor at BU, and he's been the Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford for the last five years. About 5 years ago, he also released a book ("Visions of Sin") where he extols the poetic greatness of Dylan's lyrics.

I missed the earlier lecture on Dylan and gender, but you can hear his views about Dylan and race. It's interesting timing since His Bobness was recently asked about Obama in an interview.

TUES 4/7

7pm
Robert Pinsky's Recitation Celebration
at First Parish Church, 3 Church St, Cambridge (Harvard Sq)
$5 (tix available at Harvard Book Store or 617-661-1515)

I'm surprised because this doesn't look sold out. You'd think there would be a bunch of folks interested when former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky gathers a group of local celebrities to read from the collection he assembled "Essential Pleasures: A New Anthology of Poems to Read Aloud".

Scheduled to appear: Jody Adams (chef/owner, Rialto), Tom Magliozzi (Car Talk), Michael Holley (WEEI), Prof. Stephen Greenblatt (humanities, Harvard), Prof. Steven Pinker (psychology, Harvard), Bill Littlefield (NPR's "Only A Game") and others

Note: "Your $5 ticket may be redeemed for $5 off a single item at Harvard Book Store for one month following the event."

TUES 4/7

Have Nots (11:15pm), The Motion Sick (10:30pm), The Dirty Truckers (9:45pm), The Fatal Flaw (9pm)
at Middle East - Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$9 / 18+

Night #3 of Rock 'n Roll Rumble. (Congrats to Gravehaven for winning last night. Wow.)

This show is stacked with too many good bands! Any of these bands could go all the way.

Have Nots snuck under my radar, but they're a damn tight punk band that throws a good amount of ska in there -- plus they have a cool logo. The Motion Sick caught my heart at one time with a quirky twist on power-pop with clever lyrics -- I called them the local version of Fountains of Wayne. God bless The Dirty Truckers for making kick-ass guitar-rock and writing good songs. (I think they're a dark horse to take it all...)

If you go, get there on time to see The Fatal Flaw. They would have my vote to win the Rumble. The music rocks with enough grit to carry those beautiful melodies and wry lyrics to plane where all flavors of music fans can coexist. Gotta love a band that writes songs referencing Journey ("Don't Start Believing") and Guns 'n Roses ("Where's Izzy?") as well as doing an unrecognizable Daft Punk cover ("Digital Love").

TUES 4/7

9pm
Sex!, The Vader Boys, Vamoose, Spokinn Movement
at Harpers Ferry, 158 Brighton Ave, Allston
$10 advance / $15 door

Remember when rap and rock evolved into a douchy metal trend? This show can be seen as an attempt to reclaim the funky, bluesy connection between rock and hip-hop. Will the audience dig it? I've personally experienced it long ago while playing a drunken frat party where some rappers joined the band. We'll see about tonight.

While I enjoy sex, I'm not enchanted by a band called Sex! There's a bunch of Berklee guys in the band, so you know they can play. They are scheduled to go on first, and then The Vader Boys are scheduled to go on next followed by Vamoose and Spokkin Movement. They all have a good sound, but I think I preferred Vamoose and Spokkin Movement. I could hear more jazz/funk influence in them, and maybe Vamoose will perform with a band.

I like to think that all of the performers are traveling via Chinatown buses for this Philly-NYC-Boston jaunt, but that's why it's called the Chinatown Throwdown.

"Free swag bag will be given to the first 100 people at the show."

TUES 4/7 & WED 4/8

7pm
"In the Mood for Love"
at Harvard Film Archive, Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St, Cambridge (Harvard campus)
FREE

I love Wong Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love"...