AltWeeklies Wire
Glam Geek: Music for People Who Like to Wear Sequins to the Librarynew

"I’m pretty nerdy and my lyrics are pretty nerdy,” Zoe Boekbinder admits. “But the album has a lot of bling ... it’s got horns and keyboards and really fancy percussion. So that’s where the glitz fits.”
Weekly Alibi |
Summer Olsson |
04-12-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Zoe Boekbinder
The Spirit of the Boogie: An Interview With Kool of Kool & the Gangnew
It's a good thing that Mr. Robert "Kool" Bell didn't answer his cell phone when I first tried to call him. Had he picked up, I wouldn't have had the pleasure of hearing his groovy voice mail greeting: "You have reached Kool, and it's kool to leave a message."
Weekly Alibi |
Jessica Cassyle Carr |
02-26-2010 |
Profiles & Interviews
Jazz Singer Claudia Acuna Opens a New Door in Her Charmed Careernew
With her debut for Marsalis Records, she's focused on a personal sound, singing primarily Latin American songs she's known from her youth, plus two originals. Because of its introspective quality, En Este Momento gives up the gifts of its fragrant sensuality only to attentive listening.
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
11-03-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Alto Saxophonist David Binney Paints New Sounds on a Moving Canvasnew
Complicated or not, Binney's jazz compositions also reflect a wide variety of influences. Both as a composer and player, Binney has drawn from many sources to create a highly expressive, highly individual oeuvre.
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
10-06-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Prozac Enemas: A rare chat with Weennew
Despite last year's joyous release of an incredible live show from 1992 (Live at The Cat’s Cradle, 1992), all those early years when Ween consisted of Dean and Gene -- two young, talented and hilarious Pennsylvania kids -- and a drum machine seem like ancient history.
Weekly Alibi |
Adam Perry |
09-08-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Ween
The Grownup Noise Continues to Grow Upnew
The jazzy, low-key folk quartet doesn't fit into any of Boston's music scenes. But despite its varied approach to songwriting, fans have been converted, one by one. The task now is doing that to the rest of the country.
Weekly Alibi |
Simon McCormack |
08-25-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: The Grownup Noise
Bud Melvin Mixes Banjo, 8-Bit Nintendo and Karaokenew
Melvin creates a solo novelty using the banjo and chiptunes -- music produced by older video game and computer systems that generate sound in real time. It's both retro digital and pastoral, an unlikely combination that interacts with the dynamism of yin and yang.
Weekly Alibi |
Jessica Cassyle Carr |
07-28-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Bud Melvin, Popular Music
DJ Forest Green Makes Booty-Shaking, Ground-Quaking Beatsnew
DJ Forest Green started digging for records when she was 13 years old. In her later teen years, Green got into the rave scene where she discovered the healing powers of electronic dance music, or EDM.
Weekly Alibi |
Simon McCormack |
05-05-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: DJ Forest Green, electronic music
Fucked Up Incites Pandemoniumnew

The band elicits visions of a car crashing into a phone pole, or a mob of angry drunks knocking each other to the ground. The melee can be dangerous, but there are some surprisingly tuneful moments tucked away under Damian Abraham's barking.
Weekly Alibi |
Simon McCormack |
02-03-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
NOBUNNY Loves Younew

Several years ago, NOBUNNY was hoping to travel the country as an animal Elvis impersonator. "I figured I could fill the animal niche since there's already like a Thai-Elvis and an extreme-Elvis and all that stuff," he explains.
Weekly Alibi |
Simon McCormack |
12-09-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Unclassifiably Original 17 Hippies Merges East and West in Dance Grooves Galorenew

When you slide Heimlich, the latest CD from 17 Hippies, into the computer, the disc obligingly gives up the expected data: album name, track titles, artist, etc. It's all pretty straightforward until you get to "genre."
What you get isn't even "other"; it's "unclassifiable."
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
09-23-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: 17 Hippies, Heimlich
Who is Zoltan Szekely?new
The self-proclaimed mad Hungarian and leader of Zoltan Orkestar opens up. A little.
Weekly Alibi |
Marisa Demarco |
07-22-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Megadeth: The Rock that Never Diesnew
By the time Megadeth bassist James Lomenzo joined the band's lineup in 2006, he'd built a 30-year career of rock with artists like David Lee Roth and bands like White Lion and Black Label Society.
Weekly Alibi |
Simon McCormack |
04-15-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
John Ralston: The Singer/Songwriter Who Sometimes Wishes He Wasn'tnew
If you've had it with singer/songwriters, you're not alone: Ralston's right there with you.
Weekly Alibi |
Simon McCormack |
03-25-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: John Ralston, Sorry Vampire
A Chat with Wynton Marsalisnew
Over the years, music director, trumpeter and gentleman Wynton Marsalis has maneuvered several smaller craft—a quartet, a quintet and a septet—through jazz waters. Currently, he’s docking a quindectet.
Weekly Alibi |
Mel Minter |
02-05-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews