Half the reason I love Ben Pilgrim is this photo of him with his cat, Sylvia.  The other half is his excellent music.  With or without his Free Union Band, Ben is quietly and consistently good, and he’s opening tonight for Clint Niosi at Local 121. Clint, a fellow Useless English Degree holder, acknowledges some influences that completely clash with his self-categorized acoustic/folk label, meaning this Texan should offer an interesting sound whether solo or with his “extended live performance family.”  Plus, his/their Summer Tour 2009 promo photo also (actually, only) features a cat.  I am going to like this show.

free, 8pm, Local 121, 121 Washington Street, Providence

[Photo swiped from myspace.com/benpilgrim]

As previously noted, last night was the final installment of LOADED, the Britpop-heavy night at Local 121 that Eric’s been co-DJ-ing for the past two years or so.  Despite the fact that I’m downtown a lot on Tuesdays and also am probably the only person in this city besides Eric to fully appreciate Menswe@r, I only ever got down there a couple times.  Last night I was lucky enough to dance my patootie off one last time, though, and boy oh boy if I wasn’t thrilled to publicly rock out to one of my all-time favorite songs, Rod Stewart’s Maggie May.*

But, in honor of the fact that the British sounds of the nineties are slowly fading from memory now, here’s the Blur version, which was a b-side to their Chemical World single back in 1993.  I actually like it about the same as the original, which is to say a whole lot.

(*Okay, I know Rod Stewart is kind of the worst thing ever these days, but he really did have a couple of good singles back before he got all old-farty.  This one, for instance, and Young Turks.  And, um, I don’t know… Maybe there were some others.)

Friends, the end is nigh: tomorrow’s LOADED! will be the very last. For almost two years it has been our pleasure to share with you our record collection and to dance and drink away the pain of having worked a whole two days into the week, and we would be honored if you could make it out one last time to hear all the awesome shit we’ve enjoyed playing for you lo these many months. It’s been a struggle, Tuesdays have always been a little early in the week to start drinking seven dollar goddamn rum ‘n cokes, and the fact that most of you are now unemployed doesn’t make it any easier, we know, and we’ve always appreciated you guys coming down as well as the fantastic staff at Local 121. There have been some great times, and we’ll never forget that historic Tuesday when, because of our impeccable song selection and choreographed dance moves, we elected Barack Obama President of The Universe Forever. So, find it in your hearts to come down one last time and throw some money around like you have it, and we’ll promise to knock the socks off your ass with the purest-driven indie rock, Britpop, glam, punk, Brazilian psychedelia, yacht rock, afrosurf, and all that other shit you guys request, and just maybe we’ll show Mr. Miller what he’s gonna miss. Thanks guys, see you at LOADED! 121 Washington st, Tuesday, 10pm ’til 1, FREE!

In case you’re looking to shake your groove thing this weekend, there’s three different chances tomorrow.

The (second) kickoff party for the FAM Collaborative is taking place at the Wolcott Eco Building. The collaborative is committed to supporting youth programming in fashion, art, and music, and you can learn more about them here. The Wolcott Eco Building is in that netherworld in the vicinity of River and Valley Streets, slightly up the hill from the coke den flea market.  That starts at 9.

At Tazza there’s the second Top Shelf Nite, with a bunch of DJs and proceeds going to CommunityWorks RI.

And, if you hate paying for things, even good causes, then dance for yourself and yourself alone to tunes spun by Eric and JR at Local 121.

Look who’s on Page Two of the Providence Journal! That’s our own Eric Smith (in a different picture we can’t use.) Rick Massimo has a piece about the intersection of music, politics, and the Dose this past year. DJs spin every night in the Tap Room of Local 121, and on Tuesdays it’s always the Cold War DJs featuring Eric, Pete Lima, and Kevin F. Leavitt. Tuesday nights have been significant this past year.

“I don’t know what it is about Tuesdays and politics,” Smith says, but in addition to Election Night, the Rhode Island primary and some of the bigger debates of the primary and general-election seasons happened on Tuesdays.

And now Smith, who also is a cofounder of the Web site Providence Daily Dose, and his co-DJ, Pete Lima, are anchoring the Inauguration Jubilation at 121, a day-long celebration of Barack Obama’s ascent to the presidency. . .

more »

Jason Tranchida and I will be hosting our second annual Holiday Extravaganza at Local 121 tonight.  I have no idea what the hell I’ll be playing but you’re bound to love it, so head on down, grab a festive cocktail, and dance the night away.

(We start at 10, so if you’re one of the Goosebumps crowd there’s still time to come early before you go listen to that thumpy house music at Lot 401.)

Local 121
10 pm - 1 am
Free
We might bake, too.

Drinking Liberally and the Daily Dose are combining forces for a Holiday Extravaganza!!!!

Tonight (THURSDAY, December 11) 9pm, in the Local 121 Tap Room (yes, because we are lazy). It’s FREE (just help us blow $400* at the bar).

Matthew Lawrence, spinning Chipmunks holiday songs on loop. Other things too.

*(Ed. Note: Just to clarify because the figure ‘$400′ is sort of close to the word ‘free’. What it means is we need YOU to bring $400 to the bar and spend it, but you can get in the door for ‘free’. We can not afford an open bar. We can barely afford a candy bar. This crew couldn’t put $400 together if our lives depended on it. Most of us will be selling blood today to pay for our own drinks tonight. So bring money.)

Kudos to Mayor Cicilline and the following restaurants for their enlightened thinking regarding bottled water. According to the ProJo,

Cicilline and the owners of five local restaurants announced yesterday that they are joining national efforts to curb the use of bottled water.

The owners of Providence establishments Local 121, Benders Caffe, the Hot Club, Trinity Brewhouse and the Garden Grille in Pawtucket announced that they will offer customers tap water, not bottled water.

Cicilline said he will sign an executive order on Tuesday phasing out the use of single-serve plastic water bottles in city government. Some larger bottles will be allowed in some buildings where the pipes are old, he said.

Buying bottled water, which is frequently tap water from other cities, is a total waste of your money and harms the environment in many ways.  I’ve gassed on about this before.  Stop thinking about it — just do what I say.

It’s Tuesday, it’s time to get LOADED! Come down and join Handsome Pete, Kevin Leavitt and myself for a whole lot of awesome, up to and including Nuggets era garage psychedelia, baggy-trousered British pop from the day-glo years, trashy 70’s glam and whatever else you want to hear. This clip is from when bands had dancers that were men, which was fashionable around 1989. (see also Happy Mondays) Now, not so much. LOADED! at Local 121, 10pm FREE

I don’t have time to post all of it right now, but:

Tuesday night there’s a fundraiser State Rep Art Handy, Chair of the Progressive Caucus, 6-8pm, at Local 121.

There’s also a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island, over at the Hi Hat in thr Jewelry District.

More info later on the WRNI open house, the Woolly Fair, the Environmental Council’s fundraiser, the Jobs With Justice annual celebration, downtown Halloween festival, and much more…

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEKju2-eOUA]

What You Don’t Know might hurt you, so Let Me Be The One to invite you to the Local 121 tonight, where Tim O’Keefe and I will be taking you to the Point of No Return (ah, ah, ah) at his weekly Listening Party. It will be delightful.

Tonight at Local 121, Timothy “cozy music” O’Keefe and Jason “LLAMAproduct” Tranchida and my “The World’s Slowest Dance Party” self will be playing music for you.  It will be a lot like this video, but with fewer pastel-painted oil barrels:

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=rh1HacSZgZI]

Tonight’s Listening Party at Local 121 is a meet und greet for Providence Community Radio, celebrating its 10th anniversary of “Working to bring non-profit community radio to greater providence since 1998.” Sadly, as of right now their website is not working. Dudes! But come down tonight for special guests; burrito slinger Tyler Long, Cynthia Reed, and your gracious host Tim O’Keefe. Local 121, 10pm, free.

On the last Tuesday of every month, the Armageddon Shop DJs break out their IPods and head to the E&O. What do they play? Um, hard to describe. When I caught them at the Fez last month it was some weirdo metal, some scary/awesome satanic stuff from Norway, probably, and I think they played some Stooges. The point being it was really good and you’ll be perplexed and entertained. Buy them a drink and request some Pentagram. But don’t stay too late, because you have to head down to Local 121 for our weekly shiteshow Loaded! where we also play stuff you won’t hear anywhere else, like lost forgotten classics by the Charlatans UK, Chameleons UK, the London Suede, British Sea Power, basically any band that incorporates something English into their moniker. And The Jackson Five, because you can’t not play The Jackson Five, am I right or am I right?

Sen Jack Reed is having some kind of mini-fundraiser/hanging-out tonight at Twist at 500 Angell St. He’s asking people to join him for, “A little fun, lite fair, and conversation.” and to donate a contribution equal to your age — “or any age you’d like to be.” 5-7pm.

Then, tomorrow there’s the rain-date for the snowed-out Young Dems fundraiser from December. 6-9 8-10 at Local 121.

I keep on forgetting to post about Sundays at Local 121 — The Colonel spins R&B, reggae, and new wave, and the whole Sunday night crew formerly of Talk of the Town hangs out a bar-tends. Best way in town to spend a Sunday night.

10pm-1am, 121 Washington St.