Events Feedback
New This WeekAround TownMusicFilmArtTheaterNews & FeaturesFood & DrinkAstrology
  HOME
NEW THIS WEEK
EDITORS' PICKS
LISTINGS
NEWS & FEATURES
MUSIC
FILM
ART
BOOKS
THEATER
DANCE
TELEVISION
FOOD & DRINK
ARCHIVES
LETTERS
PERSONALS
CLASSIFIEDS
ADULT
ASTROLOGY
PHOENIX FORUM DOWNLOAD MP3s



Sundrops 
The Polyphonic Spree get orchestral, the Cramps survive, Quakers do hip-hop, and Chick Corea goes electric again



Let the sunshine in

The choral repertoire is probably not quite yet ready for the Polyphonic Spree, but then again, neither is rock and roll. Formed by former Tripping Daisy frontman Tim DeLaughter after the overdose death of that group’s guitarist, Wes Berggren, the Spree are a mind-altering orchestral-pop group 23 members strong — there’s a 10-member standing chorus, strings, brass, woodwinds, farfisa, gong, and the odd guitar — and all dressed in flowing white robes. Their music suggests the Danielson Famile if they were the Flaming Lips, or Godspell as rewritten by the Elephant Six collective. And their album, The Beginning Stages Of . . . (Good Records), may be the most corporeal sonic experience since Phil Spector’s famed " Wall of Sound. " A breakout hit at this year’s South by Southwest festival, the group — yes, all of them, in a caravan that is said to number a dozen vans — arrive at the Paradise, 969 Commonwealth Avenue, for two nights, June 6 and 7. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10 a.m.; call (617) 423-NEXT.

Staying sick

The Cramps once played a mental institution, and on the video of the gig it’s hard to tell the band from the inmates. It’s something of a miracle that pleather-suited frontman Lux Interior is even ambulatory at this stage of the game. Next to Iggy Pop and Keith Richards, he’s the aging punk most likely to appear on your death pool, and yet the Cramps continue to put out records every few years with a consistency and utter lack of sonic evolution that only the Ramones could’ve matched, if Joey were still with us. It’s been five years since the last Cramps disc, but they’ve got a new one, Fiends of Dope Island (on their own Vengeance Records, which has helpfully reissued most of their catalogue), just in time to catch the latest permutation of the psychobilly/garage-rock revival they kicked off, oh, 25 years ago or so. And they’ll play the Roxy, 279 Tremont Street in the Theater District, on May 19 with Detroit’s latest garage-punk sensations, the Von Bondies, who’ve been signed to Sire by Seymour Stein for a rumored seven-figure deal. It’s an 8 p.m., 18-plus show, and tickets are $15; call (617) 931-2000.

Peace beat

As far as we can tell, no religious group in America is more psyched about underground hip-hop than the Quakers. The American Friends Service Committee was behind a hip-hop conference in Cambridge last year that brought Dead Prez to the Somerville Theatre, and on May 13 the neighborhood Friends are backing the " Beats for Peace " tour, which brings backpacker-friendly cult stars Slum Village, Pharoahe Monch, Medusa, and a typically lengthy undercard to the Somerville for an evening of grassroots peace-and-justice networking. That’s at 55 Davis Square; call (617) 661-6130 or visit www.beatsforpeace.org.

Electric Chick

Legendary pianist (and favorite son of Chelsea) Chick Corea has reunited the core of his mid-’80s fusion outfit, the Chick Corea Elektric Band, for the first time in a decade. And on June 24 he’ll bring the group — drummer Dave Weckl, saxist Eric Marienthal, guitarist Frank Gambale, and bassist Mike Pope (filling in the slot once held by John Patitucci) — to the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square. Tickets are $35; call (617) 931-2000.

Issue Date: May 2 - 8, 2003
Back to the Editors' Picks table of contents.