WED 5/30: Talk, Rock, Latin

Is Boston Beer Week something to get excited about? Well... If you like drinking beer, it might add a twist to your pub time.

Today's CTB-approved Boston Beer Week events include: Todd's Taco Night at Green Street Grill (featured beer & taco for $3.99) and Oskar Blues Pint Night at Flash's (buy the beer and keep the pint glass).

--------------------------------------------------------------

WED 5/30

6pm to 7:15pm
"Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems": Discussion
at Wasserstein Hall, Milstein West (2nd Floor), 1585 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Harvard Law School)
FREE w/ RSVP

Feat: John Palfrey & Urs Gasser

The co-authors (and Harvard law professors) delve into a subject where most people might stop at "Yes, the easy access of different types of information over disparate platforms. I wish there was some kind of standard like they did with electrical plugs -- except those damn Europeans with their funny plugs..."

It's going to be wonky, but there should be a discussion of some big concepts.

WED 5/30

7pm to 9pm
Science in the News: "Climate Change -- Earth's Climate: Old Problems, New Thoughts"
at Pfizer Auditorium Hall, Mallinckrodt Bldg, 12 Oxford St, Cambridge (Harvard campus)
FREE

Not a climate change expert? These lectures are structured for any interested lay people to hear an introduction to the subject, some of the recent research, as well as ethical/social angle.

Tonight's lecture focuses on the effects of greenhouse gases and desert dust blowing across the Atlantic Ocean. It can be a relatively depressing discussion because it seems like the world has waited too long to remedy the effects, however the presenters have a new solution to share.

WED 5/30

8:30pm
"WFNX Local Exposure": The Daily Pravda
at Hard Rock Cafe, 22 Clinton St, Boston (near Faneuil Hall)
FREE w/ RSVP / 21+

Aw, man, it's sad to see WFNX is going off the air. On the other hand, they sorta deserve it for playing so much Red Hot Chili Peppers lately... The pre-planned events are still happening even if the radio station has stopped transmitting.

Until it goes dark, I understand the RHCP quotient has decreased, and they've championed local music like playing Boston bands beyond the "Boston Accents" program -- and this free gig at the Hard Rock.

Take a minute to RSVP then soak in the The Daily Pravda who obviously love David Bowie, which is a good starting point for modern-rock band who have expanded their sound over the years.

WED 5/30

9pm
Tampoffs, The OBN IIIs, Reports
at Radio, 379 Somerville Ave, Somerville (Union Sq)
$8 / 21+

9pm
"SM Night" w/ Earthquake Party!, Thunders, DJ's Iron Fist & El Poser
at Middlesex Lounge, 315 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
FREE

We can do a little 'compare and contrast' exercise for these gigs:

Both have an out-of-town band (The OBN IIIs from Austin and Thunders from Chicago). There are DJ's at Middlesex for dance time, ad probably no DJ's -- or anything close to organized dancing -- at Radio. While I expect both are 'queer-friendly', SM night specifically mentions it along with encouraging sexy summer outfits.

I like the idea of mixing noisy-spikey garage-rock with dancing. Sometimes it's really good to spazz out to rowdy garage-punk while standing in one place (or dancing).

WED 5/30

9pm
Cruzamente
at Milky Way Lounge / Bella Luna, 284 Amory St, Jamaica Plain (The Brewery Complex)
FREE

This is an all-female band who combine the various sounds of Cape Verde into an smooth, buoyant Latin-jazz blend that you'd expect from islands with Portuguese/African/Caribbean influences.

WED 5/30

9:30pm
Grass Widow, Shepherdess, Bent Shapes
at Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston
$10 / 18+

There's another good gig with a visiting band, San Francisco's Grass Widow. The jangly trio of ladies appear to be high on cool tunes and good vibrations while being low on rockstar attitude. They're joined by two of my faves Shepherdess and Bent Shapes who I raved about when they were Girlfriends and have added another guitarist and changed the moniker.