MON 10/18: Film, Words & Music

Hey, keeping it short is getting me closer to catching up, so maybe it'll be another week of brief posts.

Let me give a gentle, sensitive shoutout to a two-month series of weekly poetry readings begin in Harvard Square tonight.

If you're willing to try (or already love?) Hungarian liqueur Zwack, there's going to be free samples and an air-hockey tournament at Game On tomorrow night (7pm to 9pm). It looks like you can still RSVP (doesn't guarantee entry).

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MON 10/18

6pm
"Hocus Pocus"
at Rabb Lecture Hall, Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston St, Boston (Copley Sq)
FREE

I doubt there's much of the real Salem in this flick, but enough to include it into the "Made in Mass" film series. According to some movie-lovers, it's a lot better than you'd expect a witch-comedy that stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy.

MON 10/18

6:30pm to 8pm
John Horrigan, "Bay State Phantoms": Lecture & Slideshow
at Charlestown Public Library, 179 Main St, Charlestown
FREE

New England is a great spot for ghost stories and other paranormal activity. Should be good conversation fodder to the Halloween season.

MON 10/18

7pm
Neil Landau & Matt Frederick, "101 Things I Learned in Film School"
at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Harvard Sq)
FREE

Some may have a burning desire to be a filmmaker while others merely harbor a curiosity about cobbling their vision into something watchable. This book and presentation will give you some basis to make fewer mistakes than you would otherwise.

There should also be a Boston movie/TV trivia contest for some kind of prize.

MON 10/18

8pm
One Happy Island, Allo Darlin', Megan Sliger, Full Tang, Kristen Ford Band
at The Burren, 247 Elm St, Somerville (Davis Sq)
$3 / 21+

Is this part of the "Big Night Out" dance night? I guess it is, but before the dancing will be some twee indie-pop (including Allo Darlin' from the UK), accordion-based songs, jazzy world-rock from frolks previously in The Superpowers (aka Boston Afrobeat Society), and soulful, folky rock. Quietly eclectic good times!

MON 10/18

9:30pm
Pomegranates, The Main Drag
at Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston
$9 / 18+

I didn't find any mention of a third band playing, so I'm skeptical that the music will start before 10pm. On the other hand, you've got a pair of fantastically catchy indie-rock bands.

Cincinnati's Pomegranates are addictively good pop outfit that could be described as sweet, tangy, juicy, and multi-layered with extra surprises as you dig around. Maybe you know The Main Drag from playing "Rock Band" or maybe you've their carefully crafted, chiming indie-pop somewhere else -- or it could be time to give them a first listen.

MON 10/18

9:30pm
Smoke or Fire, Late Nite Wars, Dan Webb & The Spiders
at PA's Lounge, 345 Somerville Ave, Somerville (Union Sq)
$10 / 21+

Former Boston punks Smoke or Fire moved to Virginia and have been making a name for themselves. As the years have gone by, it seems like the attack is still aggressive yet with a bit more nuanced.

As a guy who enjoys his share of pop-punk, Late Nite Wars has latter-day/current approach that sounds pretty good. You get some good, straight-forward noisy rock from Dan Webb & The Spiders.