WED 2/24: Film & Music

Decisions, decisions... I hate picking something to do tonight. Sometimes there is an events that is clearly my favorite, but every cheapie below is really strong.

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WED 2/24

7:30pm
"An Evening with Jimmy Tingle": Screening & Discussion
at Room 101, College of Communication, 640 Comm Ave, Boston (BU campus)
FREE

When I first saw Jimmy Tingle on a cable standup show, he was a funny guy who would often punctuate jokes with stabs of bluesy harmonica. It was a good gimmick. He still whips out the harmonica although the humor has narrowed to mostly political topics. I saw his "Jimmy Tingle for President" show during the last election, and he addresses the issues in thoughtful ways while finding the laughs.

I watched a clip from his new hour-long documentary "Jimmy Tingle's American Dream" (modesty much?), and it seems like a quite funny and patriotic look at what that term has meant and what it means today. Among those who are interviewed include Howard Zinn, Robert Altman, Mort Sahl, Janeane Garafalo, Sean Hannity, Lewis Black, Al Franken, Robert Reich, and his mother Frances.

I believe Tingle and director Vincent Straggas (a BU grad) will be in attendance.

WED 2/24

8pm to 10pm
The Mieka Canon
at House of Blues, Foundation Room, 15 Lansdowne St, Boston (Kenmore Sq)
FREE with RSVP / 21+

Read below and consider taking a chance. (Remember -- dress code: no sneakers, t-shirts, shorts, or baseball hats)

WED 2/24

Cassavettes (11pm), Hello Ninja (10pm), Twin Thousands (9:05pm)
at TT the Bear's Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$9

The fantastic music blog Ryan's Smashing Life always puts a strong show together, and tonight is pretty sweet. Cassavettes are sometimes more rootsy, sometimes more rockin', and always with a bit of twang that you might expect from a band with Austin roots. It's a pleasant surprise when I hear something really good like Hello Ninja for the first time. They've being playing around town, so I don't know why I haven't bobbed my head to their confidently swinging, sassy rock. The real key to feeling cool is to hear Twin Thousands who not only play brilliant, lively indie-pop but they ooze music hipster cool (eg the cellist used to play with Cursive, Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, etc).

WED 2/24

9:30pm
"Do It Solo #1"
Feat: Nate Leavitt, Marc Pinansky, Ian Adams
at Lizard Lounge/Cambridge Common, 1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge (between Harvard Sq &
Porter Sq)
$8 / 21+

Tonight is the beginning of a new series of shows that strips rockers of their normal band settings to showcase the essence of their songs with only their voice and instrument. It's meant to be a quiet setting for maximum listening.

The concept is simple, and similar gigs have happened before. I know Sooz, the organizer/curator, is one of the most passionate music supporters around. She's not just slapping arbitrary acts together, she has corralled three excellent songwriters.

Nate Leavitt plays guitar and sings in The Blizzard of 78, one of the best dang anthemic rock groups around, and he's currently working on a solo album. Most days Marc Pinansky is rocking out with his metaphorical cock out in Township; he's pretty damn prolific, so you can occasionally catch him doing solo gigs here and there. Since moving on from his loud, horrorbilly of Rock City Crimewave, Ian Adams has normally been gigging with a drummer on the new solo stuff. Besides going it alone, he designed the poster above (and you may leave with a copy of it).

My apologies for not getting this up sooner, but there may still be a chance to get in for $5 by signing up for Sooz's mailing list that won't feel like spam at all. There's also a 'tweetup' from 7pm to 9pm in the upstairs bar for all the tech-lovin' music. If you tweetup early enough, you could get a free beer.