Roadtrips
It's Fugazi time again. You know the deal. Six bucks, all ages, and no
slamming, unless you want Ian MacKaye to stop the show and heckle you. There's
no new album, which isn't anything special, though if you need something to
obsess about, there's still Instrument, Jem Cohen's impressionistic
video portrait of the band, as well as a soundtrack featuring, uh, instrumental
demos and stuff. Apparently Fugazi guy Brendan Canty can't get enough of this
soundtrack thing -- he recently scored a Discovery Channel series on
skyscrapers and bridges. The Discovery Channel: that's so Fugazi. The
band's only New England appearance is at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876)
in Providence tonight, December 2. And for those who can't be
bothered to make the trip: Dischord soul/punks the Make-Up are at the
Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge tonight.
We're not sure we still care about crossover hip-hop has-beens De La
Soul, but, shucks, Biz Markie's on the undercard, and like the man
once said, nobody beats the Biz. Organized Konfusion's Pharoahe Monch
does the solo thing in between. That's at the Palladium (508-797-9696) in
Worcester tomorrow, December 3.
Can't say as we've heard anything quite as strange as Bring 'Em Bach Alive
(Spitfire; see Arts, page 27), the latest disc from former Skid Row singer
Sebastian Bach. It's your typical subpar greatest-hits-live disc, except
for the two new songs written by Jimmy Flemion of avant-homocore weirdos the
Frogs -- who's also part of the touring band and will be wearing his trademark
green-lamé batwing outfit. Besides being quite pretty, and just
tastefully tasteless enough to be compared with Skid Row's classic hits,
Flemion's "Superjerk, Superstar, Supertears" might be the most accidentally
revealing hair-metal ballad since GNR's "November Rain." Bach's at the Station
(401-823-4660) in West Warwick, Rhode Island, tonight, December 2.
Folk-rockers Eddie from Ohio are, in fact, from Virginia. Just wanted to
clear that up. They're at the Somerville Theatre (617-628-3390) in Somerville on
December 4 with Vermont singer/songwriter Diane Zeigler, who has a new
disc coming on Rounder next spring; and at the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in
Northampton on December 5. Celtic traditionalist Áine Minogue
keeps the home fires burning with her studied harp playing and singing, and
she'll be performing a series of holiday concerts drawn from her To Warm the
Winter's Night (DruidStone): at the Beacon Hill Coffeehouse (781-891-1497)
in Boston on December 4; at the Blackthorn Tavern (508-238-4068) in Easton on
December 5; and at the Natick Arts Center (508-647-0179) in Natick on December
10.
-- Carly Carioli