WED 5/19: Photo Talk & Music

Besides the Hark! Philharmonic ($12 at the door, more below) and Bay State Bike Week, there's more Humpday cheapness.

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WED 5/19

6pm
Susannah Sayler, "The Canary Project": Presentation
at Rabb Lecture Hall, Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston St, Boston (Copley Sq)
FREE

The Canary Project's mission is to photograph places around the world that have been affected by climate change, including drought, melting ice, extreme weather, and other drastic changes to the ecosystem. The photography s pretty amazing although the subject matter is not usually good news.

Photographer and founder Susannah Sayler discusses her experiences -- and hopefully displays some photos.

WED 5/19

9:30pm
Eldridge Rodriguez, The Beatings (acoustic), St. Claire, Ted Billings
at O'Brien's, 3 Harvard St, Allston
$6 / 21+

In the middle (or perhaps "waning quarter"?) of Eldridge Rodriguez's May residency, his bandmates The Beatings are joining him for an acoustic performance that should be pretty cool since it's a band whose music doesn't seem like it would translate well to an acoustic setting. The songs are solid at their core, but I dig that fuzzy post-punk noise they usually make.

I assume Rodriguez will also do a set of his solo material, which is a quite tasty mix. St. Claire adds some sweet folk-noir goodness to the party, and Ted Billings is playing without his band Hot Protestants (ex-Age Rings).

The songs between bands can't suck, because the guy behind the laptop (right?) is Brad from the excellent music blog, bradley's almanac.

WED 5/19 (and THUR 5/20)

9:30pm
Slim Jim & the Mad Cows
at House of Blues Restaurant, 15 Lansdowne St, Boston (Kenmore Sq)
FREE / 21+

These guys have got a great angle: Slim Jim & the Mad Cows take classic metal/hard rock songs from the likes of Zeppelin/Motorhead/Judas Priest/Iron Maiden/etc, and they've rearranged them as country tunes.

It's great fun if you've never seen them before (including the fine back-up vocals by "Lazy Sue" and "Honey Do" usually in campy outfits), but the novelty wore out for me the next time I saw them. You have a chance to make up your own mind, since they're playing two sets each night. Expect them to start after the Sox game.

WED 5/19

10pm
Elastic Waste Band
at Atwoods Tavern, 877 Cambridge St, Cambridge (near Inman & Kendall Sq)
FREE

If you don't recognize the name, you'll recognize the sound former Morphine sax-drums combo of Dana Colley and Jerome Dupree. Over the last year, they've been collaborating with Deltabilly-blues guitarist Jeremy Lyons who moved here after Hurricane Katrina. They play some Morphine tunes, some stuff by Lyons, and new stuff they call "Psycho-Delta Low Rock". Lyons will whip out a 2-string bass at some point in the night. Do I need to say more?

These guys have been doing Atwoods Wednesdays for a while, but I've been keeping it in my back pocket for a night that didn't have much going on. My apologies (and no disrespect intended for the other gigs tonight).

There's also Team Pub Trivia at 7:30pm ($5 per team). I get the impression this night is more challenging than your typical "Stump Trivia" night.