HubArts.com

Pops announces season

Keith Lockhart will lead 29 concerts in the Boston Pops 2007 season, beginning May 9 with guest Ben Folds (left). Other big dealios include the Jazz Fest with Dianne Reeves, Gary Burton and Chick Corea (May 29-June 2), Pops on the Edge with an indie rock band to be named later (June 23-27) and the usual July 4 festivities. Marvin Hamlisch and John Williams will also return to the podium. Tix go on sale Monday at 10 a.m. See www.bso.org for details.

More music at the ICA

From the ICA: "The Institute of Contemporary Art presents the New England premiere of ...but not simpler..., a music program curated by MIT's hi-tech music guru Tod Machover, and performed by the Ying Quartet. The program includes Machover's string quartet, ...but not simpler..., commissioned by the Ying Quartet, surrounded with music by composers as seemingly different as Beethoven, Bach, Elliott Carter, John Cage, William Byrd, and Lennon/McCartney, held together with interludes composed by Machover. Called "the perfect program for the age of the iPod shuffle" by The New York Times, the concert will take place Friday, April 6, 8 pm. Tickets are $20 reserved; $15 ICA members, students, and seniors, and can be purchased at icaboston.org, by phone at (617) 478-3103 or at the box office during museum hours, and one hour before program."

***BLOG UPDATE***

The pneumonia or bronchitis or whatever it is - the diagnosis changes with every doctor visit - seems to be receding at last and I hope to resume a decent amount of posting later today or tomorrow. Thank you all for your loyalty during this time of trials.

A nice rant

I work at a Web 2.0 company that embraces user-generated content and where I am jokingly referred to, mostly by myself, as the token old-media refugee. So I am doing my best to embrace the new, but I am in fear of what abandoning the old might mean for our society. And I think this rant nicely delineates some of my concerns.

In tune, out of tune

I've got a big honkin' Globe feature this morning on singer/actress Leigh Barrett and the Lyric Stage production of "Souvenir," about Florence Foster Jenkins, whose woeful singing made her the William Hung of her day, and then some.

Fall Out Boy, morning reads etc.

Fall Out Boy will lead the Honda Civic Tour into the Tweeter Center on may 21. Tix, $23.50-$39.50, on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. ... Otherwise, The Shins top this week's concert list from LiveNation, with a March 15 gig at the Orpheum. Tix, $30, go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. Also coming to town are G3 featuring Joe Satriani (April 6, Orpheum), Great Big Sea (April 12, Orpheum) and Loreena McKennitt (Wang, April 21). ... North Shore Music Theatre's artistic director is latest local theater figure to step down. It's a perfect storm. ... Geoff updated the Landmarks Commission vs. the Gardner bout y'day. ...

'Roxanne' underwhelmed Grammys audience. But.

Billboard says the Police reunion tour will indeed touch down at Fenway Park. Tix will be $50-$90-$225 and will go on sale for the Boston shows on Feb. 20, although there will of course be some sort of members only online presale. UPDATE: Details here.

Will loves Steve, again

A few months back I wrote a Globe feature about the terrific cabaret singer Will McMillan and his heartfelt "Will Loves Steve" show, celebrating the music of composers named Steve (like Sondheim and Wonder) and his 14-year  relationship with his partner Steve. He debuted it at Sculler's, and now he's doing the show again in a more intimate space, Friday and Saturday at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. Tix are $15 and info is at 617-562-4111 or www.ccae.org.

Mooninite to media: *%$@ you

Slightly off-topic, but here's a really good read from the Phoenix: Adam Reilly's deconstruction of the media's performance during last week's Mooninite debacle. Bonus: it's pretty funny.

Gardner podcasts feel the love

You've got to say this has been a good week for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which has been trying for a long time to shake its fusty image. First came support from Alex Ross for the Gardner Museum's classical music podcasts; he noted they're beating Barack Obama on the iTunes charts. Then came Tuesday's paean from Alex Beam (bottom of the the column). Now Geoff links us to a Fast Company story on the podcasts and notes they've topped 100,000 downloads. 'Bout time for Steve Jobs to use them in one of those iTunes adds, wouldn't you say? The silhouetted figures could glide around to the Borromeo instead of jumping spastically to the alt-rock fave of the moment. (A sign of the Gardner's success is that I got through this item without mentioning the big robbery. Well, almost...)