PLAYGROUND BOSTON

It’s that time again! 40 local Boston musicians split randomly into 8 5-piece bands, writing 4 songs (1 cover) over the course of a single day to be performed the very same night. Sound hectic? It is? Sound awesome? IT IS! This is the second annual occurrence of One Night Band, put on by the good folks over at Boston Band Crush for the benefit of East Boston youth music organization Zumix.

This year’s edition features another incredible roster taken from some of Boston’s best bands – Township, MEandJOANCOLLINS, Mellow Bravo, Sidewalk Driver, Mean Creek, Drug Rug, Gozu, Autumn Hollow Band… the list goes on and on. Head on over to the ONB website to check out bios and interviews of all the participants, then get down to the Middle East Saturday night for an unforgettable event! As an added bonus, the first 300 people in the door will get a gift bag filled with all sorts of free goodies! Check out the video below, it’s a documentary about how this amazing night went last year!

One Night Band

Boston Band Crush

Zumix

The Phoenix is turning Downtown Crossing into a week long block party! This Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday they’ve got 3 bands per night rocking out in the streets – with different themes per night. Tonight’s show is “Garage Night,” featuring a killer lineup of Needy Visions, Hands and Knees, and Thick Shakes. Wednesday is “Blog Night,” with John Shade, Kingsley Flood, and Magic Magic hand-selected respectively by our buddies at Tea Party Boston, Boston Band Crush, and Bradley’s Almanac. Thursday wraps up the event with “New Night,” with a bill consisting of Mystery Roar, Bearstronaut, and Mean Creek. There’s talk of a full wine bar, and the entire event is sponsored by Budweiser so I’d guess there will be a few beers floating around as well – what’s a block party without alcohol? Best of all? IT’S FREE! (well, admission is free, I’m guessing the alcohol is gonna cost you a few bucks) Here’s some links to let you check out the bands, see you down there!

Tuesday, June 6 – “Garage Night” – 5-8pm

Needy Visions
Hands and Knees
Thick Shakes

Wednesday, June 7th – “Blog Night” – 5-8pm

John Shade
Kingsley Flood
Magic Magic

Thursday, June 8th – “New Night” – 5-8pm

Mystery Roar
Bearstronaut
Mean Creek

The outpouring of support to aid relief efforts in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti has been impressive thus far, but there is always a need for more. Now, thanks to CD Baby, there’s a way to support both the American Red Cross and your local music scene. CD Baby is the world’s largest online independent music retailer, earning independent artists over $100 million based on 5 million album sales over their years of operation. From now through February 7th, the retailer will be donating $1 from every single album sale they make to the American Red Cross to aid in Haiti. In addition, they will be taking that donation out of their commision, so the amount of money artists will make will not be affected by this initiative.

Been meaning to pick up the album from that local band you saw a few months back and have had stuck in your head ever since? Picked up the new CD from one of your favorite bands and now want to check out their back catalog? One of your favorite old local bands broke up and you don’t know where to get their CD since you can’t get it at a show? Heard of a new band from the PGB Tracks of the Week and want to pick up more of their music? What better time than now to go buy your music, when you can help out the artists you love and the people who need you at the same time?! Here’s some local artists from all types of genres that you can find on CD Baby:

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New Years Eve in Boston is always a great night for music, and this year is certainly no exception! Problem is – how the hell do you decide between so many great shows? Well, we can’t tell you where you should end up, but we can try to narrow down the list a little bit and give you our top 6 picks for the best NYE 2009 has to offer. Why top 6? Well, to be honest, I couldn’t narrow this down to a top 5. I had enough trouble getting to 6 from 10, give me a break here! Just check out the list and try to get out to any one of these shows – you will not be disappointed! Best part is, every one of these events will leave enough left in your wallet to ensure you’ll have plenty to spend at the bar and forget about all those nasty things 2009 did to you! Happy New Year everyone, we’re looking forward to plenty more PGB madness in the new decade!

The Upper Crust, The Gentlemen, The Motion Sick – Church, 69 Kilmarnock St. Boston

The Upper Crust blew our collective minds at the P-Town Festival earlier this year. Powdered wig and breeches wearing fops rocking your face off with aggressive rock riffs and clever Victorian-era lyrics? Yes please! These guys simply have to be experienced – no amount of writing will give their shows full justice. They don’t play out so much anymore either, so this is definitely a treat that they’ve put this show together – especially considering what a great lineup they’ll be accompanied by! The Gentlemen, who celebrated their 10th Anniversary in 2009, will also be bringing their nonstop jam-packed set to the crowd at Church. Here’s another example of a band that doesn’t play around here too often, as all of the members seem to be knee-deep in side projects and rarely have the time to come together as the original band. Rounding out the bill is The Motion Sick – Boston indie-pop at its finest. These guys have had an incredibly successful 2009 – music videos, Dance Dance Revolution notoriety, The Phoenix’s Best Local Rock Band award, mentions by every conceivable Boston press outlet – you name it! They’re currently hard at work in the studio but are taking time off from recording to rock out for the New Year!

Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 day of show. Get tickets here!

Forgetful Jones & Three Day Threshold – Olivers @ The Cask n Flagon, 62 Brookline Ave. Boston

Team Shred’s doing it up right for the New Year. The local super-promotions team is taking over Olivers in Kenmore Square for an incredible night of rock. Forgetful Jones has a clear funky reggae imprint on their hard rock style, whereas Three Day Threshold has more of a roots influence. These genres may seem like a bit of a clash at first, but rest assured the two bands work great together and will combine to give your ears everything they could have asked for this holiday season. (Well yeah, they asked for Q-Tips too, but your mom got you those for Christmas.) FJ has been a PGB favorite long before this website even existed, and 3DT’s New Years shows have been the stuff of legend in this town for years!

Feeling a little greedy this New Years Eve? A killer band lineup just won’t cut it for you? Well then, the party at Olivers will also feature a free champagne toast at midnight, a free buffet from 8-9:30, and drink specials all night. STILL not enough? How about some free hockey ticket giveaways going on all night? They’ve got tix for the Winter Classic at Fenway Park, the Legends Game, and the big BC-BU game coming up as well!

Tickets are $25 at the door. Tickets are no longer available online in advance, however there will be plenty of tix at the door if you want to just show up.

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Photo by Aram Boghosian, c/o the Boston Globe

So the Boston Music Awards came and went this year, much like they do every year – with questions flying over the nomination process as well as the winner selection process. While there were a few gross oversights as usual, this year there were some great local bands nominated and there seemed to be more of a connection to the city with the nominees than in past years, where the link has been tenuous at best. There were quite a few PGB favorites nominated – click here for the full nominee list. There were a few interesting choices for winners – like a Rhode Island band winning Album of the Year at the BOSTON music awards, and one of the main sponsors of the event also winning Humanitarian of the Year (don’t get me wrong, both are certainly deserving, just seemed like somewhat interesting choices considering the circumstances involved). Regardless, these are certainly esteemed awards to win, and this year’s winners clearly have great things in store for their careers. Congrats to all!

Without further ado, here are your 2009 Boston Music Award Winners!

'Best Rock Act' winner The Upper Crust - Photo by Eric Levin

Thanks to Jed Gottlieb at the Boston Herald for providing the list of winners.

Thanks to Aram Boghosian and the Boston Globe for usage of their photo.

For a much more INTERESTING list of award-winners in the Boston music scene, check out the Boston Band Crush Music Awards!

Exclusive photos from the BMA’s to be posted on PGB tomorrow!

BMA Website

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The Cave Singers (photo by Pete Legasey)

When I first got to the Cave Singers show at TT the Bear’s last Thursday, I glanced at the set list posted outside the door. Shit. They don’t go on until midnight. With a reluctant sigh and the Charlie Brown music playing in my head, I yanked the door open and headed straight for the bar. Might as well enjoy myself, right?

But then a sound caught my ear and caused me to twist my head around towards the stage: Old Abram Brown was mid-song and lead singer Carson Lund had just brandished a glossy trumpet. The stately sound floated throughout their songs rather than acting as a solo and it was the perfect complement to Lund’s fervent vocals, accented with a faint, raw quiver. “Alright,” I thought. “Maybe this won’t be that terrible.”

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Starting Friday, September 11th, the Boston (ähts) fest will be rolling all weekend long in Christopher Columbus Park. This annual event features some of the most stimulating visual and performance art in Boston. With offerings from rock, to ballet, to opera, this is sure to be a scintillating celebration of local music, art and culture. The lineup showcases some excellent bands that have been featured on PGB in the past, and some that are sure to be in the future, including Mean Creek, The Motion Sick, Cars on Mars and many more! We’ve got the full schedule below…

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Mean Creek

Okay, okay. So maybe local group Drug Rug has been generally accepted as the new hometown heroes, especially around their old Cambridge digs. Formed by Thomas Allen and Sarah Cronin in 2006, the quartet (or sometimes quintet) has been on the loose producing the kind of stick-in-your-noggin, twangy tunes that sound like they belong back in the glory, golden days of Woodstock.

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