Yup, it’s DVD, CD,
and fireplace weather for the next few months. But if you live alone, you might
get a little lonely. If you live with someone, you might wind up killing each
other. And it’s hard to dig a grave when the ground’s frozen.
There isn’t a ton of
shows blowing through town, but there are definitely a few that’ve
got me jazzed. Check the weekly music listings in City for the specifics on these and other shows.
Part
songwriting genius, part crusty curmudgeon, Loudon Wainwright III returns to the Montage on January 12. Again at the Montage, on January 18, is the return of Sophie B Hawkins, who sold out the
joint a couple of years back. She puts on a fantastic show. She’s engaging and
endearing — damn, I wish she were my lover.
On January 15 our
recently acquired Italian Baroque organ gets
to flex its pipes with Hans Davisson at the wheel at
the MemorialArtGallery.
Boston’s Tarbox Ramblers hit Milestones with their
menacing Delta boogie and their rusty roots rock on January 26.
Puccini’s Madama Butterfly will be Mercury Opera’s first production of 2006. The grandiose two-night
stand is January 27 and 29 at the Eastman Theatre.
Nouveau punk rock for
the kids complete with electric violin makes it to town when the Warped Tour
staple Yellowcardhits WaterStreetMusic Hall on January 29.
Jazz piano legend Marian McPartland tickles the ivories with the Eastman Jazz Ensemble February 1 at Kilbourn Hall.
In what will
hopefully be the beginning of many shows this year at the long-vacant Main
Street Armory, O.A.R plays February
4.
And in the spirit of
all that cool space-age-bachelor-pad-lounge-exotica, the Northwest’s Pink Martini plays two luxurious nights
with the RPO February 10 and 11.
Prong is one of
those bandnames that make people ask, “They’re still
around?” These hard and heavy downstaters have been
around forever — still are for that matter — and will prove it February 21
at the Penny Arcade.
Hear some Delta blues
goosed with some good-lookin’ hip-hop with Philly’s G Love and Special Sauce February 23 at
WaterStreetMusic Hall. His last album, The
Hustle,was killer and the band
puts on a terrific, no-frills show. Gonna be lots of
cuties at this one for sure.
He’s a crooner. He’s
a panty magnet. And, for some, he’s a pop culture guilty pleasure. (Hell, it’s
not that unusual.) Well it’ll be
raining T-backs when the legendary Tom
Jones plays the Auditorium Theatre on February 26.
Jazz trumpet and
spacey loops will fill the Bop Shop Atrium when The Cuong
Vu Trio returns February 27.
Not sounding nearly
as industrial as I remember, Nine Inch
Nails has a new album out and will be touring with a stop at Blue Cross
Arena March 9. On the same night you can catch the big rock of Canada’s GreatBigSeaover at WaterStreetMusic Hall.
And if you got chains
on the tires and want to head west a spell, the Center for the Arts at UB has
two shows worth the schlep. The Lyle
Lovett Acoustic Trio plays January 29, and Magnolia songstress Aimee
Mann plays February 2.
Or you could always
just rent End of the Century.
This article appears in Jan 11-17, 2006.
