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Music: Live 8 is Destiny

Add Destiny's Child to the more than 80 acts offering $18 tickets to their summer concerts at Clear Channel venues, in support of this weekend's Live 8 global anti-poverty concerts. The special tickets are only onsale July 2-4, and each purchase includes a Live 8 donation, a Live 8 wristband and a chance to sign The One declaration against global poverty. Destiny's Child plays the Fleet Center -- excuse me, the TD Bank North Garden -- on Aug. 6. Tix at Ticketmaster.

Museums: Science of hiring

Looking for a museum gig? The Museum of Science yesterday posted 17 JOBS on HireCulture.org, from security officer to event operations coordinator. Purge? Expansion? Wild coincidence? Anyone?

The morning papers

In the Herald, Terry Byrne previews the Publick Theatre's production of "Arcadia." ... Ted Medrek talks to POPSearch winner Frances Botelho-Hoeg. ... Sarah Rodman says there are still tickets available for  James Taylor's show tonight at the Tweeter Center, and you should go, because last night's show was a sublime "cure for the summertime blues." 

Poke around both papers' gossip columns and you'll find different tales on the maneuvering around getting a big yacht for "The Departed." The Inside Track also covers Bronson Arroyo's CD release party.

The Globe's Names & Faces says former Del Fuego turned family rocker Dan Zanes is going to have a gig on the Disney Channel this fall. ... Also, says Lance Armstrong says Cambridge's own member of the "Departed" cast, Matt Damon, is interested in playing him in a movie. ... Christine Temin gives a mixed review to a batik show at Mass. College of Art. But Lawrence Johnson enthuses about Sunday's Pops Gospel Night.

The Herald's Mark Perigard has an hilarious review of the reality series about Roxbury's unfavorite son, "Being Bobby Brown," debuting Thursday at 10 on Bravo. "A window on a nightmare" -- namely marriage to Whitney Houston. Ouch. ... Names & Faces meanwhile complains that Brown decided it was his prerogative -- Get it? Get it? -- not to talk to the Globe.

In the Berkshire Eagle, reviewer Jeffrey Borak is no fan of Stephen Sondheim's "Follies," but he says Barrington Stage's production is "riveting." ... In the Patriot Ledger, Jody Feinberg tells Cohasset residents to keep an eye out for Garrison Keillor, who's performing at the South Shore Music Circus Thursday.

Music: Drama in Poland for BGMC

By the time you read this, the members of the Boston Gay Men's Chorus should be on buses headed for Prague to continue their European tour, but Poland won't soon forget them. The chorus was all over the newspapers and television in Poland after controversy erupted before the group's performance in Wroclaw, Director Steven Smith says. It seems the first performance there by an openly gay group could not go unopposed.

In an email sent early this morning from Poland, Smith recounted that a right-wing group called the League of Polish Families - believed to be backed by conservative elements of the Catholic church in Poland - vowed to stop the show by blockading the Philharmonic Hall. A large police presence, including an armed escort from the hotel to the hall, kept that from happening, and only about 20 protesters turned up - to be met by a counterdemonstration by activists. Still, the First Lady of Poland blew off the concert, as did the mayor.

And the police action doesn't mean the authorities are on the BGMC's side. Local organizer Jaroslav Blandzinski, who runs the city's only openly gay club, was arrested the day before the concert for handing out promotion flyers outside the hall, Smith says. He was later released without charges - or an explanation.

The League also vowed to screw things up by buying all the remaining tickets for the show and occupying the hall, but organizers outfoxed them by stopping sales - only to resume them just before the concert. Smith says 200 advance tickets were sold, and more than 250 more went at the door, bringing the audience close to the hall's 500-seat capacity. The ovation at the end of the concert lasted 10 minutes and required two curtain calls.

You don't get action like this at choral concerts in Boston, and I suppose that's a good thing. But doesn't it say something about how Europeans feel about the arts, too?

(Smith's Euro-tour blog is here, but it hasn't been updated with the Wroclaw events as of Tuesday morning. Photos are promised.)

The morning papers

The Globe and the Herald both have takes on the new 50 Cent/Manny Ramirez ads for Reebok, crafted after 50's original effort drew controversy for allegedly glorifying violence. I can't find a link to the Herald's story, but here's the Globe's. ... The Herald's Inside Track reports that Gov. Romney may be settling the state's film bureau dispute by creating yet another agency not run by Mark Drago OR Robin Dawson - although Dawson sure sounds happy.

In the Herald, I think Bob Nesti liked "Pugilist Specialist" at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre, although the Jerry Bruckheimer reference is a shot, right? ... In the Worcester Telegram, Scott McLennan introduces us to violinist Joe Deninzon, a lover of jazz and rock whose group Stratospheerius hits Worcester's Plantation Club on Thursday. Here's hoping they play the "jammed-out" version of "The Simpsons" theme mentioned in the article.

Arts: 'Stunning' South African images at Mass MOCA

In the Berkshire Eagle, Joel Stonington has a review of an unusual film event at Mass MOCA in North Adams over the weekend. South African artist William Kentridge's "Nine Drawings for Projection" was presented with live accompaniment by longtime collaborator Philip Miller and other musicians.  Stonington writes that the films offered "truly stunning expressiveness, showing movement, joy and haunting brutality."  In one, for example, a developer is served coffee and when he pushes down on his French press, the plunger continues down through his bed and into the mines where the oppressed masses are working. Unfortunately, this was a one-time deal.

Music: NEC adds jazz guitarist

Jazz guitarist and composer Brad Shepik will join the New England Conservatory jazz faculty at the beginning of the 2005-06 school year. Where he'll find the time to teach, I dunno - the press release lists by my count 10 ensembles he plays with, and a few more he joins in the studio. Shepik's current working band, NEC says, is a trio with organist Gary Versace and drummer Tom Rainey, which will perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival before hitting the recording studio.

Music: Get behind me Satan, in the Ticketmaster line

The White Stripes have added a third Opera House show on Sept. 22 to their gigs on the 20th-21st. Tickets, $37.50-$47.50, are on sale now at the box office, Ticketmaster, (617/508) 931-2000, or (617) 228-6000 and by logging on to teapartyconcerts.com.

Music: Clear Channel provides Live 8 aid

Clear Channel has added a bit of promotion for Live 8's push for African debt relief, which has as its centerpiece a series of concerts in eight international cities this coming weekend. In support, from July 2-4, some 80 different acts will offer special $18 tickets to more than 400 summer concerts at Clear Channel venues including the Tweeter Center and Bank of America Pavilion. Acts participating include Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers,  noted humanitarian 50 Cent, Backstreet Boys, Johns Mellencamp and Fogerty and the sensitive caring souls at Ozzfest. Those purchasing the tix (at venue box offices and through Ticketmaster) will be providing a donation to Live 8 and receiving a white Live 8 wristband to show their support for debt relief and eliminating extreme poverty around the globe. They'll also have a chance to sign The One Declaration.

How it all helps, I'm not quite sure, but Live 8 is a bit different than its Live Aid predecessor anyway -- the goal is awareness, not fundraising. Live 8's Bob Geldof, Bono, et al hope to put some pressure on First World nations at the upcoming G8 summit. How 50 Cent or Tom Petty fans wearing white wristbands is going to affect the G8'ers, I'm also not sure. But maybe it will help fill some of those empty lawn seats this summer, huh?

Music: Bang on the drum all week at Berklee

I'm remiss in not telling you before now, but...it's Percussion Week at Berklee! Our favorite Back Bay college of music is hosting its annual weeklong festivities for drummers, vibists and percussionists of all stripes to learn all kinds of rock, jazz and world music styles. A series of public performances is included. There are already a couple getting underway, so start this evening with Victor Mendoza at the David Friend Recital Hall, 921 Boylston, at 7 (free), and Ralph Peterson’s Fo’tet and Yoron Israel at Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass. Ave., at 8 ($5). A Latin night and a faculty blowout are among the week's other events. See Berklee's site for details.