Who knew? Sunny Day Real Estate reunites, comes to Boston

I had absolutely no idea that Sunny Day Real Estate had gotten back together. Not reading any music magazines or frequenting any music websites will do that to you.

Tonight, I Googled “boston music blogs” and came up with one I’ve looked at a few times before, but had forgotten about: Bradley’s Almanac. Bradley’s latest post details his playlist from a DJ set where he exclusively spun tracks by bands coming to Boston in the near future. Since I’ve been in Boston for a year now and only gone out to three shows, it’s probably time to start visiting the clubs a little.

Scrolling through Bradley’s list, I came up with a few that piqued my interest:

Lucero, playing at something called “GreenFest” tomorrow, Aug 22. Lucero is a band I’ve opened for. Nice guys, though they ate almost all of the pizza. A very rough, whisky-soaked y’all-terna-rock sound.

Dinosaur Jr, two shows at the Middle East in October. The original line-up, back together and going strong. I don’t really like the first couple D Jr albums, but it’d be cool to see they play together. I did a recording session with Murph once, a cover of Paperback Writer for a documentary soundtrack.

Sunny Day Real Estate, Sept 28 at House of Blues. In addition to their Boston show, they’re also playing 930 Club in Washington, DC and Terminal 5 in NYC, two venues I’ve also played.

RollingStone.com has an article on SDRE’s press release confirming their Fall Reunion Tour.

Also, here’s info on GreenFest: http://www.bostongreenfest.org/index.html

Sorting out my thoughts on Watchmen

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian in Zack Snyder's film of the Alan Moore graphic novel "Watchmen"

I went to the Jordan’s IMAX Theater to see Watchmen last Sunday night and the experience has left me feeling kind of strange. I can’t stop thinking about the movie, and even dreamed about it a little bit — although I can’t remember the context of the dream, only that Watchmen was in my head while I slept.

(Let me say first off, in case anyone actually reads this post, that I’m obviously going to be writing about the film here, although it may take a while to get to it. That means there may very well be spoilers and the like, so if you haven’t seen the film and don’t want to know anything about it until you’ve seen it, don’t read any further. )

Coverage of U2 in Somerville

Like most folks in Boston who listen to music at all, or watch the news at all, or breathe the air at all, all I could think about yesterday was U2 and the fact that they were playing the humble Somerville Theather for a special “secret show” to celebrate the release of their new record.

Apparently they played 5 songs, and held a brief Q & A.

Coverage can be found in a multitude of locations:

• A great set of photos on flickr

• A preview from Wicked Local with some great photos of the band’s arrival

• A recap from Reuters

• There are some other video clips here, though most of the audio is lousy.

I’m sure there will be much more coverage in the coming days.

Upcoming Geek Flicks

Thinking about the films slated for 2010 in my last post, I sort of forgot that we still have plenty of interesting comic and genre pieces scheduled for release in 2009. The first in the list, obviously, is the biggest. Watchmen was deemed unfilmable by it’s creator, writer Alan Moore.

They filmed it anyway, although it took 25 years. If you haven’t heard about this film, or been positively assaulted by the promo machine that’s in place, please come up from under that rock. Personally, I’ve never read the graphic novel it’s based on. In some ways that’s kind of shocking considering the sheer volume of comics I was consuming at the time it was released. I thought about picking up a copy (which is in it’s own special display rack at the local Barnes & Noble — wow!), but I’ve decided to wait until after I see the film.

I’ve also sworn off reading any reviews. Although I did catch an article about how the reviews have been positive.

At any rate, here’s a brief rundown  of Watchmen and a couple others that have gotten me excited.

March 6 – Watchmen
Rorshach: “The world will look up and shout, ‘Save us.’ And I’ll whisper, ‘No.'”
Watch the Watchmen Trailer

May 1 – X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Sabertooth: “Do you even know how to kill me?”
Wolverine: “I’m gonna cut your head off, see if that works.”
Watch the X-Men Origins: Wolverine Trailer

May 8 – Star Trek
“Space is disease and danger, wrapped in darkness and silence.”
Watch the Star Trek Trailer

May 21 – Terminator: Salvation
John Conner: “I knew it was coming. I thought I knew our enemy, but I don’t know if we can win this war.”
Watch the Terminator Salvation Trailer

Warner Brothers films in 2010 and 2011

Newsarama has a rundown of films that Warner Brothers just announced are slated for release in 2010 and 2011, and there look to be a few at least semi-interesting comic book and genre based picks in there.

Here’s the list, from Newsarama (with their commentary):

Sherlock Holmes – Directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Robert Downey Jr. is now due in theaters on Christmas Day, 2009, bumped from November 13th.

Clash of the Titans – a remake by Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier is due in theaters on March 26th, 2010.

Green Lantern – directed by Martin Campbell, is due in theaters on December 17th, 2010.

Inception – Christopher Nolan’s next film after The Dark Knight due in theaters on July 16th 2010

Jonah Hex – Josh Brolin and John Malkovich get it on, Western style on August 6th, 2010.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part One on November 19th, 2010, and Part Two now slated for a July 15th, 2011 release.

Green Lantern is a character that I’ve always had a fondness for and have tried to follow  more than a few times over the years. For some reason, though, I just never quite manage to latch onto him. I don’t know if it’s the cosmic angle, or what, but I have heard and read that Goeff Johns has done a terrific job revamping the character in recent years and bringing a whole new mythology to the book.

For that reason alone (and hoping that the producers of the film pay attention to the books) the idea of a film definitely piques my interest. I mean, it’s at least gotta end up being better than that  Spawn movie.

Right?

In the Dollhouse with Joss Whedon

There’s a great interview with Joss Whedon about his new show Dollhouse, which debuts next Friday the 13th on Fox and stars Eliza Dushku.

http://scifiwire.com/2009/02/joss-whedon-reveals-more-dollhouse-secrets-and-he-wants-you-squirming.php

As a big, big fan of Firefly (though not so much of either Buffy or Angel), I’m hoping for some seriously quality writing and character here. Firefly, which was completely screwed up by Fox’s marketing and timeslot decisions and died an early death, is the type of show we rarely get to see these days: solid characterizations, an original premise and compelling stories all seamlessly interwoven.

I’m hoping for more of the same from Dollhouse, but like the old saying goes, “Wish in one hand …” etc etc

Aimee Mann’s Christmas Show

More images from Aimee Mann‘s 3rd Annual Christmas Show, which took place last night at The Somerville Theater in Somerville, MA, after the jump.

Hadley. Home. Almost Sunset.

Back home in Hadley this past weekend, this was the view from the front lawn at my folks’ place, getting near sunset.

Wintersleep: “Weighty Ghost”

I’m totally grooving on a track from the band Wintersleep, the song called “Weighty Ghost” off of their 2007 disc Welcome to the Night Sky.

The song’s available for download on the wonderful Songs: Illinois blog, and you can find the post at this link right here. Also, you can listen to some other tracks on their website or on their myspace page.

I don’t know much about this band, but I discovered them last week thanks to that Songs:Illinois blog (along with a bunch of other great bands that I’ll mention at a later date), and I’ve been listening to the song every day. Sometimes more than once.

A quick look at their reveals that they’re from Halifax, Nova Scotia, that this is their third album, and that they’re about to tour Europe.

Here’s the video for “Weighty Ghost,” via YouTube:

The Wrestler trailer is finally released

A couple weeks back, I wrote about the possible resurgence of Mickey Rourke’s acting career in Darren Aronofky’s upcoming film, The Wrestler. At the time, a trailer hadn’t been released. Well, now the trailer is available on Apple’s movie trailer page and on YouTube.

And it looks amazing.

I love the line towards the end, when Rourke’s character Randy “The Ram” Robinson is addressing the crowd and says, “The only people who can tell me when I’m done doing my thing is you people right here.” It feels like Rourke is talking directly to the movie viewing public. Here’s one fan that hopes he keeps doing his thing for a long time to come. If this trailer is any indication, he’s still got a lot left in him.

Here’s it is, embedded for your pleasure.