Five (ok, maybe six) notable items for a gray, misty Friday...


When I mentioned Slowdive/Mojave 3 frontman Neil Halstead earlier this week, I was somehow completely clueless about his appearance tonight at the tiny Lizard Lounge here in Cambridge. How this flew under my radar shall remain a mystery, but I'm damn well indebted to the Jimbamma, the commenter who filled me in. Advance tickets for LL shows are a rarity, but they smartly set some up for this one, and mine has been acquired. It's an early 7pm show with no mention of an opener, so I'll be hanging solo upstairs in the Cambridge Common, precious on-tap Brooklyn Lager in hand, if you want to say hey before doors open.

FYI, you can download a free live Neil Halstead EP courtesy of the MySpace Transmissions site. And while I'm at it, here's an August interview with Neil over at Tiny Mix Tapes.


I'm a big fan of Danny Provencher, aka Under Electric Light, as well as Arne Van Petegem, aka Styrofoam, so I'm glad to see the two have teamed for a little remixing, with U.E.L. tackling Styrofoam's "Other Side of Town". It can be downloaded for free at Buffet Libre as part of the Proyect Obatidora Remix Project. You can also request the tracks for songs by Cut Copy, Holy Fuck, The Bravery and more, then submit your own mix if you dare.


Boston's pride Hallelujah the Hills recently shared some news on the followup to their excellent full-length debut, "Collective Psychosis Begone": Their sophomore disc will weight in at 13 songs, and is damn well close to being finished (just Ryan Walsh's vox and some sampling flourishes remain). Already on tape are sure-to-be-great vocal contributions from Cassie Berman of Silver Jews and Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus. We should get to hear the finished product next spring thanks to Misra Records, and I'm more psyched than ever... their opening performance for the Silver Jews in September was the best I'd seen yet. Next chance to catch them live is on Sunday, December 21st at Allston's Great Scott.


Mark your calendars - The second annual RECORD STORE DAY is scheduled to fall on Saturday, April 18th, 2009. Our own Newbury Comics was a major part of last year's inaugural edition, and they did a ton of cool stuff for the occasion. Sadly, I was traveling that weekend, and I'm hoping I'm around for the next one. I try and celebrate my own personal record store day once a week, but I don't get as much free stuff or live performances as we'll get next April.

Speaking of Newbury Comics, that reminds me -- I meant to point out a very cool edition of the Well-Rounded Radio podcast that featured a discussion with Newbury Comics founder Mike Dreese, in honor of the chain's 30th Anniversary. The nearest N.C. is where I do most of my music-buying (and, I'll admit, occasional action figure-purchasing), so I was glad to hear a chat between Mike and WRR main-man Charles McEnerney. Subscribe to WRR while you're at it -- personal fave programs have included interviews with Dan & Liz from Ida and Jenny Toomey of the Future of Music Coalition.


NTDWM (Nothing To Do With Music): Fascinating stuff if you're a fan of Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi, or the animation process in general -- He just shared a very detailed account of his work in Taipei during the mid-80s, training some new animators to work on The Jetsons.


Also NTDWM: As a rabid fan of George RR Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" not-exactly-fantasy series, I am both excited and nervous about the news that HBO has officially green-lit the pilot episode for a tv series based on the epic tale, starting with the first book, "A Game Of Thrones". I've known for awhile that it was optioned, but was doubtful it would ever get the go ahead (file under: to good to be true). If the pilot passes muster, we'll supposedly see one full book (there are four of seven out so far, and the fifth is taking forever to arrive) covered over each season. If anyone can do it right, I'm confident HBO can. I'm got a bit more faith in that than I do in the upcoming Watchmen movie, actually... the more I see of that film, the more skeptical I become. [geekspeak] It's not Rorschach's voice that bothers me (that's how I figured they'd translate his rough-edged speech bubbles from the comics), but the fact that he actually refers to the team as "The Watchmen". Something that was purposefully absent from the book, a touch I always liked. Ah well, I must repress my nrrd-nitpickery and continue my slightly-more-cautious optimism. Translation: I'll still be there opening night.


Almost weekend time. Neil Halstead this evening, and tomorrow I'd planned on that Scarce/Wheat show at TT the Bears. Sadly, I've been summoned to New York City for family matters, so I'll regretfully be absent. Back in time for the Centro-matic/South San Gabriel show on Sunday, I hope (my allegiance lies with Will Johnson, otherwise I'd be at the Calexico / The Acorn show at the Somerville Theatre that night). I'm tired already.

By the way, if you didn't see the comment below, there's a great new Wheat interview over at Mel.ohpo.be that has me even more bummed about missing out. Ah well, next time. Go for me, will ya?

Hey, anything of note going on in NYC Saturday night? If so, let me know in the comments...