Best real local rock reunion
Yeah, the Pixies have been getting all the press for a reunion that's come as a pleasant surprise to the thousands of fans who didn't get how cool they were until long after Black Francis had changed his name to Frank Black and gone off on a solo career, and Kim Deal had joined forces with her sister to become the Breeders. But it's been ages since Black, Deal, or either of the other two Pixies actually lived in Boston. So the local rock reunion that's proven to be just as pleasant a surprise has been Mission of Burma, the trio who were so far ahead of their time before they broke up in the early '80s that it took the better part of decade for bands like R.E.M. and artists like Moby to catch on to how cool their particular brand of avant-post-punk really was. And not only have bassist Clint Conley, guitarist Roger Miller, and drummer Peter Prescott rejoined forces for a couple of tours and a bunch of big festival gigs, they even recorded a great album of new material for Matador, onOFFon. And they all still live right here in the Boston area.

Mission of Burma, www.missionofburma.com.