Tues. May 27 Talk about a timely book. Roger Abrams, who is the Richardson Professor of Law at Northeastern University School of Law, wrote a book called The Dark Side of the Diamond: Gambling, Violence, Drugs and Alcoholism in the National Pastime, and if that isn't on our minds now - with the Mitchell report, with the ever-expanding (bodywise) and constricting (mindwise) Roger Clemens in the headlines for some not so nice things, some not even involving steroids. Abrams will be hosting a...

Mon. June 9 You may have read about American youth: Spends a lot of time on its Macs, iPods, XBoxes and the like. Not as much time in the great outdoors playing things, like, say, baseball. We spent our entire spring-summer season doing this. Organized ball, pickup, you name. One of our pick-up game organizers was none other than Toronto Blue Jays third base coach Brian Butterfield, Barney in those days. We played doubleheaders, in the sun. God, we loved it! But we're getting lost in our h...

Wed. July 23 Vanna is doing one date on the million-date Vans Warped tour: ours, at the Tweeter Center Wednesday July 23 starting at noon. Street Dogs (in photo) are our hometown punk-rock heroes, and they'll be there. Good Charlotte is not on this tour is, but Charlotte Sometimes is and they'll be there. You know Jefferson Starship wouldn't be on this youth-oriented jaunt, but Cobra Starship (distant relation?) is. Everclear is too big (and too old) for this tour, but Evergreen Terr...

Fri. May 23 Firewater came at us as a surprise, frankly. A klezmer/gypsy/punk band led by Tod A, formerly of Cop Shoot Cop one of the harder-edged New York punk bands. Firewater was another musical animal - one that had a Pogues-esque bite, sweep and emotional resonance. “I always thought 'World Punk' summed it up pretty nicely,” Tod A told Gear Wire. “We are inspired by music from all over the globe, but it’s always filtered through a punk rock sensibility.&rdquo...

Sat. Aug. 23 Hot August Night! We can only hope. The Red Sox are in Toronto that night, Sat. Aug. 23, so they won't be singing along to Sweet Caroline at Fenway Park along with Neil Diamond, but we're sure 30,000-plus people will. It's a curious phenomenon, is it not? We take a guilty pleasure in Diamond - long have. Loved Cherry, Cherry, Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show, I'm a Believer - not so hot on I Am, I Said. Now, where does Sweet Caroline fit into t...

Tues. May 27 Talk about a timely book. Roger Abrams, who is the Richardson Professor of Law at Northeastern University School of Law, wrote a book called The Dark Side of the Diamond: Gambling, Violence, Drugs and Alcoholism in the National Pastime, and if that isn't on our minds now - with the Mitchell report, with the ever-expanding (bodywise) and constricting (mindwise) Roger Clemens in the headlines for some not so nice things, some not even involving steroids. Abrams will be hosting a...

Thurs. June 19 Fri. June 20 It’s the 4th year for The Boston Pops Edgefest, where contemporary rock musicians join the Pops and concoct something that’s hopefully fresh for both parties – and the audience. Hem and Cowboy Junkies did it last year, My Morning Jacket and Aimee Mann, the year before and Guster started it in 2005. This year, Natalie Merchant, formerly of 10,000 Maniacs, performs her soft folk-rock on the first night, Thursday June 19. More interesting and provoc...

Sat. June 21 Our favorite bellydancer, Samarra, has a way of bringing her art to different genres of music and audience. To wit, she and other dancers will perform: Hips Highballs, at the All Asia Cafe Saturday June 21. It's subtitled Belly Dancing to the Music of the Golden Age of Las Vegas Samarra says, You'll think you've died and gone on to Las Vegas heaven...At the All Asia Casino, we'll be reliving the pre-Trump, neon-fired, swingin' performances of Vegas, baby! ...

Fri. May 16 As regular readers of JSink know, Lez Zeppelin - four gals lookin' for a whole lotta love - is our favorite Led Zeppelin tribute band. Singer with a multi-octave range, hard-hitting Bonham-esque drummer, guitar leads a la Page. Plus, they're, you know, girls. But Kashmir has been on the LedZepTrib circuit for a long time and earned plaudits for being the top band of its ilk in the US. Maybe they are. Seems like they've been with us longer than the real Lep, but that might...

Fri. May 9 The pressure on China to behave in more humane fashion is amping up - can't you feel it? Not that we here in the good old USA live in a glass house and can throw stones. I mean, we can, but you look around at the greed, hypocrisy, recession and wars and well it's not exactly time to be Proud to Be An American. (Two points if you recall that old Tubes song.) Anyway, Rick Roth - a buddy/competitor from back in my fastpitch softball playing days, a raging liberal and a t-shirt ...

Thurs., May 8 Dropkick Murphys - pretty much the official Red Sox theme team as well as being our proud Celtic/punk rock standard bearers - can pretty much be counted upon to do the right thing. Whether we're talking song subject, downhome approach to fans and to rock, or to causes. On Thursday, May 8, Ken Casey, Al Barr and the boys are playing a short, free gig 4 p.m. in the Longwood Medical Area in Brookline/Boston. They're supporting Boston hospital workers who are organizing to join...

ongoing We attended the party at Liberty Hotel yesterday afternoon, with Live Nation announcing its summer series of shows at the Tweeter Center, the Bank of America Pavilion and the TD Banknorth Garden. The primary booker, Dave Marsden, said they had put tickets on sale earlier this year - as well as announcing the full (or close to it) slate of concerts. This, he added, allowed people to make choices on what may - for many - be a more limited budget. It's very busy concert season, with man...

Sun. May 25 A band with the professiona-soundng name the Architects releases its third disc called Vice. So, this quartet from K.C. Missouri, is into contrast, aye? Yes, it would seem. They're a hard rock band influenced by punk rock - all members played in the punk band the Gadjits - and they're shooting at a classic rock audience that was embraced AC/DC and Thin Lizzy. I decided I need to break a lot of my old stupid indie rock habits, says singer-guitarist Brandon Phillips, who ha...

Fri. May 9 I read this great piece recently in the New Yorker about country and folk music, going way back to the beginning. It included one iconoclast collector who had no use for Johnny Cash - a hero in our book - because, well, probably because he was there went country went from a folk tradition to a profession. Purism is a lonely spot. The Wiyos might entice this particular iconoclast, if someone were to convince him their debut CD, The Wiyos, was really an old 78 transferred to CD by ana...

Mon. May 5 The Boston comedy scene is constantly changing, but one thing has remained remarkably consistent over the years: They're very willing to do benefits - for a variety of causes. And when the cause is one of their own ... well. Boston comic Bob Lazarus is battling leukemia and Steven Wright, Barry Crimmins, Tony V, Jimmy Tingle and others are doing something about it. They held a soldout comedy show at the Regent Theatre in Arlington last night and added another for tonight, Monday M...

Thurs. May 8 - Sat. May 10 We're just going to summarize Fuddy Meers, the first production of the year for F.U.D.G.E. Theatre Company (up Thurs. May 8 - Sat. May 10) and see if you're not intrigued. Claire lives a quiet, suburban life with her husband, Richard, and teen-aged son, Kenny. But Claire has a secret, mysterious past. That past is a secret - even to herself, because Claire has a rare form of psychogenic amnesia, which erases her memory every time she goes to sleep. (Every day...

Wed. May 22 When Gilda Radner invented Baba Wawa for Saturday Night Live back in the day, I smiled. Yes, this speech-impaired, egomaniac with a skill for fake empathy was finally being skewered. And, such was the strength of the late Radner's impersonation, I think back to it whenever Barbara Walters comes into view. (Not on The View, which I refuse to watch, and probably am banned from watching anyway, due to gender.) Maybe it's over-the-top sense of self-importance, or maybe she wa...

Thurs. May 8 Bold prediction: The Framingham Barns Noble is going to be a freakin' zoo Thursday (May 8) afternoon around 3:30. No, Barbara Walters isn't coming to sign her book; Barenaked Ladies are making an appearance - performing and signing copies of their new album, which is called Snacktime. We like the way Time Out New York describes it as BNL’s first album created intentionally for children. There has been something - oh - child-like about BNL because a certain sillin...

Fri. May 16 - Thurs. June 15 Nicholas Martin, artistic director of the Huntington Theatre, is on his way out of town after seven-plus years - to return to the Berkshires and Williamstown Theatre Festival and New York - but he wants to go out inn style here in Boston. His favorite play is Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” and he’d have picked that – if the Huntington hadn’t already done it with Burton earlier in his final season. So, he took a 180-degree pivot wi...

Fri. May 9th Sat. May 10th Truthfully, we'd be hard pressed to define alternative comedy. We suppose it's a spinoff of alternative rock which was the broader catch-all term that used to bracket punk and new wave music. So, the assumption we'll make as America's First Alternative Comedy Festival comes to town - the Somerville Theatre Friday May 9 and Saturday May 10 - is that you won't hear many jokes about girlfriends, boyfriends, driving, cell phones and mothers-in-law...