boston, concert photos, event planning, marketing, social media, awesomeness

Don’t forget about Girls Guns & Glory’s CD Release Party (this) Friday, May 2nd, downstairs at the Middle East in Central Square for “Inverted Valentine.” If you buy a ticket in advance for $12 (online from Ticketmaster or at the box office at the Middle East) you can show up early for a free drink and hear some pre-show music. The band just won the 30th Annual WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble so there should be a big crowd there.

Here are the latest batch of concert photos I’ve added to Exploit Boston!

The Lights Out @ The Middle East Upstairs: First time I had seen them in a long, long time. They rocked.

WBCN 30th Annual Rock & Roll Rumble: Semi-Finals (Girls Guns & Glory, Andrea Gillis … I didn’t get there in time for HUMANWINE and Jason Bennett & The Resistance)

WBCN 30th Annual Rock & Roll Rumble : Finals (A.K.A.C.O.D., Girls Guns & Glory, The Great Bandini, with special performance by the 1st rumble winners, The Neighborhoods)

(In the photos: Ward Hayden from Girls Guns & Glory; David Minehan from The Neighborhoods.)

Betahouse, the coworking space that I work out of, had a one year anniversary party a couple weeks ago. I’m not all that savvy about the electronic music world, but the two “official” party DJ’s that played music that night were very good. They were so good that the handful of us that made guest DJ mixes didn’t get to add our music into the evening. But all is not lost, thanks to Muxtape. Here’s the mix of rock and roll awesomeness that I put together for the party.

Betahouse Rocks Year 1

• Watts - “20 to 12″
• Run DMC & Aerosmith - “Walk This Way”
• The Black Crowes - “Sting Me”
• Cassavettes - “Shine A Light”
• The Jayhawks - “Save It For A Rainy Day”
• The Connells - “‘74-’75″
• Steve Wonder - “Don’t You Worry ’bout A Thing”
• Girls Guns & Glory - “God Love Murder”
• The Tragically Hip - “Looking For A Place To Happen”
• Nine Inch Nails - “The Hand That Feeds”

You can also listen to Clampants’ mix and Aurgasm’s mix.

Several years ago I conspired with The American Repertory to invite Boston area bloggers to a performance at their new Zero Arrow Theater in Harvard Square. It was a fun excuse to get out to see something I rarely seem to do: theater!

Thanks to Nicholas Peterson at A.R.T., they’re inviting bloggers to this Sunday’s (7pm, April 6th) performance of the U.S. premier of “ELECTIONS & ERECTIONS: A Chronicle of Fear and Fun.” Tickets normally cost $39 for the Sunday performances; but bloggers get a complimentary ticket in exchange for blogging about the performance (good, bad, indifferent).

If you’re a Boston area blogger and you’d like to join us on Sunday, April 6th at 7pm, sign-up on the Upcoming.org page. If you don’t use upcoming.org, send me an email with the URL of your blog. We might meet up for drinks after the performance.

A.R.T. has a blog that will probably start percolating again sometime soon with tidbits about their latest show.

Earlier I was catching up with Acquia’s blog and found this post by Kieran Lal. He rounded up a bunch of feedback about Drupalcon Boston that some of the (850+) participants posted on their blogs. After spending a solid eight weeks jam packed with work helping Kieran and the rest of the Boston organizing committee bring that event to life, it was very cool to read how much people enjoyed the conference. And it was an excellent reminder that I am really happy that I’m working with Acquia on events beyond the Drupalcon Boston event. Kieran was amazing to work with/for. He is the most organized, focused (and somehow still friendly) person I’ve ever conspired with. Not to mention he put up with me pestering him at practically all hours of the day for two weeks leading up to the conference. True awesomeness.

“Well, that week just flew by. This is the most time I’ve spent in front of my computer all week.”
“Big thanks to the following folks for hospitality, logistics, and generally making it a great week: Kieran Lal, Jeff Whatcott, Robert Douglas and Jay Batson from Acquia; Gary, Jose, Al, and Robertson from the Knight Foundation; Leslie Hawthorne — the source of all good Summer of Code things; Moshe, Jamie and the rest of the local volunteers; Matt Cheney and Neil Drumm; Tobby, Jonathan and Nik (MDW); Morten, the King of Denmark; D Mak; Christefano and Lee; Cary and the rest of the hockey posse; the Lucky’s Lounge mob; Mike Meyers; Eric Gunderson, Alex Barth and the absent Bonnie Bogle from Development Seed; Pierre from the World Bank (I don’t hate the bank); Lisa Williams and Ben Melançon; and, of course, the all-powerful Sooz.”
— Ken Rickard’s blog

“I had a great time and want to offer my congrats to the organizing team for a solid event!”

“Otherwise, it was really great to see all the old faces and meet some new ones. For anyone who missed it, the Acquia party was a blast (Orbit rocks!). Looking forward to the next!”
— James Walkah’s blog

Read more of Kieran’s Drupalcon Love roundup …

After a long hiatus, Free Agent Boston is back with a networking lunch on Thursday, April 17th at Cambridge Common. There’s room for 35 people so RSVP on the event website if you’d like to join us.

I started up Free Agent Boston in 1999 after inviting some freelance/consultant friends to lunch. The events took place most every month until 2004 with 30-60 people attending each lunch. It’s awesome to be working on my own but it can also feel isolating not having many people to talk to during the day. I recently moved in to the Betahouse coworking office in Central Square so that definitely helps. But not everyone has a Betahouse to go to. Free Agent Boston is a monthly lunch that is a few parts social, networking and support for anyone working on their own or in a small group. I might add a monthly breakfast and there has been a lingering idea to do a conference, too.

I’ve been so busy with helping plan Drupalcon Boston that I’m five days late writing about this other exciting tidbit.

One of the greatest movies ever (seriously) debuted at the 2007 Boston Independent Film Festival — On Broadway They finally have a run of dates in the Boston area. Here’s hoping it expands to the rest of the world soon.

I’d like to get a bunch of us together to see the movie on March 16th at the Somerville Theater for the 7pm showing. They’ll be doing a Q&A session with the director and some of the actors after the show. I’ll put up a link to an RSVP page soon.

THEATRICAL RELEASE OF ON BROADWAY MARCH 14, 2008

WHAT: The made-in-Boston independent movie “On Broadway” has just finished a highly successful year on the film festival circuit, taking home high honors from American and European festivals. Now it is being released on five screens in Greater Boston. “On Broadway” is a true look at Boston’s Irish community with a cast and crew all with local ties to the city.

Many of the film’s stars are native Bostonians - Joey McIntyre, Eliza Dushku, Mike O’Malley, Amy Poehler, and Robert Wahlberg. Also, Writer/Director Dave McLaughlin is a West Roxbury native, cinematographer Terrence Fitzgerald Hayes is a son of Southie, and
every member of the movie’s producing team hails from Massachusetts. The icing on “On Broadway’s” Boston cred is the movie’s score, composed by Buffalo Tom front man and Lexington resident Bill Janovitz, and recorded at Somerville’s Q Division studio.

This is a truly independent approach to filmmaking.

Not only was the film financed and produced outside of the traditional studio system, it is now being distributed exclusively through independently owned theaters.

• Best First Feature Film, Galway Film Fleadh 2007
• Best Narrative Feature, Woods Hole FF 2007
• Grand Jury Prize, New Hampshire FF 2007
• Directors Choice Award, Magners Irish FF 2007

WHERE: At the following theaters:

• Cameo Theater 1 & 2
14 Columbian Square – South Weymouth, MA 02190
781.335.2777

• Dedham Community Theatre
580 High St – Dedham, MA 02026
781.326.0409

• Sharon Cinema 8
700 South Main St – Sharon, MA 02067
781.784.9300

• Somerville Theatre
55 Davis Square – Somerville, MA 02144
617.625.5700

• West Newton Cinema
1296 Washington St - West Newton, MA 02465
617.964.6060

WHEN: In theaters March 14, 2008

WHO: On Broadway stars Joey McIntyre, Eliza Dushku, Mike O’Malley, Robert Wahlberg, Will Arnett, and Amy Poehler.

MORE INFO: Visit www.onbroadwaythemovie.com for
showtimes and more information.

Michael and I took a micro-trip to New York City on Saturday to see Eddie Izzard perform at the Union Square Theater late that night. He was even funnier than the last time I saw him in Boston three or four years ago. So.Very.Funny.

The rest of the photos are in a photoset at Flickr.