HubArts.com

Let No Scary Robot Go Unparodied

So many of you tuned into my item on the Boston Dynamics Big Dog robot video, I figure I have to pass along this parody video on the Big Dog Beta. Who says we can't be lowbrow?

BGMC marks anniversary of Matthew Shepard's murder with world premiere

The Boston Gay Men's Chorus will sing out for freedom and equality on Saturday, with a musical dig at George W. Bush along the way. The group's "Words & Music" program at Symphony Hall is scheduled to mark the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard with Lowell Lieberman's "A Whitman Oratorio," commissioned by BGMC member Al Lovato. The work uses Walt Whitman's words to assess "the current state of gay life and American Democracy." No surprise that the final movement, Protest, speaks directly to the president and includes a "maniacal music theme" based on the note equivalents of Bush's name. OK. Also on the bill are Vermont composer Gwyneth Walker’s “Tree of Peace,” adapted from Haverhill native John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “O Brother Man," and composer David Maddux's "Michael's Letter To Mama," based on a passage from "Tales of the City." Tickets for Words & Music are $45, $35, $25, and $15 and are now on sale by phone by calling SymphonyCharge, 617-266-1200., or online at www.bgmc.org or www.bostonsymphonyhall.org.

Tribute To Herb Pomeroy

The cool dude with the smudge of chin whiskers standing over Duke Ellington is Herb Pomeroy, the Gloucester-born jazz trumpeter and teacher who passed away last August. (The picture was taken in 1957, I'm told, when Berklee was at 184 Newbury, now Charlie's Eating and Drinking Saloon.) Pomeroy played with giants like Charlie Parker and Duke, ran his own bands, played the Newport Jazz Fest and many other famous stages, and oh yeah, taught at Berklee for four decades. On April 1, Berklee Remembers Herb Pomeroy with a tribute concert at the Berklee Performance Center, featuring Joe Lovano, Hal Galper, Jack Walrath, and Greg Hopkins and the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra.  Lovano, Galper and Walrath were members of Pomeroy's student groups, and some of his outside bandstand colleagues like Phil Wilson and John Repucci will also perform. Tix are $10 ($5 for seniors) and the proceeds benefit the Herb Pomeroy Scholarship Fund. Details: 617-747-2261 or www.berkleebpc.com.

The future is now: stories you should read

• Jay Fitzgerald quotes our item on the scary scary Boston Dynamics robot Big Dog in a story in the Herald today.
• Some deeply scary shit about Comcast's plans for watching us all as we watch television. (via Universal Hub)
• Also yesterday, and this is good cool, Sidekick had the news that there's now a free Dropkick Murphys track pack for Guitar Hero.

And in the one item that does not seem to belong to the realm of we-live-in-science-fiction-today, Steve Bailey asked some hard questions about tax incentives for filmmakers in his column yesterday.

Reading For The Interim

Some of our best writers will read at Florian Hall on May 29 as part of "Raise The Roof II," a benefit to fund renovations at Interim House, a halfway house in Dorchester for men battling drug and alcohol addictions. Michael Patrick McDonald ("All Souls"), George Pelecanos ("Hard Revolution" and HBO's "The Wire"), Tom Perrotta ("Election," "The Abstinence Teacher") and Joe Pernice (musician, songwriter  and author of "Meat Is Murder") will all take part. Actor Neal Huff of "The Wire" will emcee. There will be a silent auction, with items available for browsing on the web soon. The event will also celebrate, in memoriam, the 75th birthday of Interim House founder Yvonne Linehan. It's a family affair: Her children Joyce, David and Gail are part of the event committee. Tix are $50 here.

Amazing, terrifying Boston Dynamics robot video gets a million views on YouTube

In the last three days this Boston Dynamics video has been viewed over a million times on YouTube, and I have yet to see anything about it in the local media, except for Mass High Tech. Also, Slashdot has an item here. No surprise that Big Dog is a DARPA project for the Waltham company. But holy crap! I kind of wish it was a hoax, but apparently it's not. It's quite a creature, most resembling a giant fly in a 1950s horror movie, complete with eerie buzzing sound, only sans wings. Maybe this is part of SkyNet.

A few items of note

• The DeCordova has hired a new director, age 38, from the Grace Museum in Abilene, Tx. Interesting.
• The 15th annual EarthFest is set for May 24 at the Hatch Shell, noon to 6 p.m. Apparently the organizer now wishes to be called Radio 92.9, not WBOS. Musical lineup won't be announced/leaked until sometime in April.
• Who are all you people who keep coming to my site by googling "David Wade?"

Serving jam at Berklee's Cafe 939

One question was how much the new student-run Cafe 939 would be an educational tool for Berklee College of Music and how much it would simply become another mostly student performance space, albeit with coffee and cookies. The school is always dancing on the line between classroom and public performance, and when it's successful, it's often because working professionals don't treat the students as students but as fellow musicians. That sort of collaboration is on the menu when the Marsalis Berklee Jams series kicks off programming at the club April 2-3. Marsalis Music recording artists the Miguel Zenon Quartet will perform short sets, followed by jam sessions open to participation by all Berklee students. Tix are $15. The complete press release is after the jump. Berklee alum Zenon, not coincidentally, has a new album, "Awake," out April 1. Zenon podcast here.

Boston Ballet from two angles

The Globe broke the news of Valerie Wilder's departure from the Boston Ballet on Wednesday with a Names & Faces item, a day after Geoff Edgers broke it on his blog. The New York Times didn't get anything in the paper until today, and it takes a somewhat different perspective in its story: "Tumultuous times have returned to the Boston Ballet, which said on Thursday that the number of dancers in its main company will shrink by nearly 20 percent, and that its executive director will leave at the end of the season."

Saturday update: The Globe goes deep into the company's troubles today with an arts-front story by Geoff. Included is some maddening detail on just how badly the Ballet was screwed by the Citi/Wang Center's decision to bring in the Rockettes Christmas show and kick "The Nutcracker" to the curb. Not even J. Spaulding's salary would cover the loss.

Perfect: Annoying comedian gets AB with Yankees, strikes out

Best spring training moment ever? Pinstripe groupie and "When Harry Met Sally" star Billy Crystal got himself an actual at-bat with the Yankees, which is like "you got chocolate in my peanut butter," only for evil. And then he struck out. I think I'm finally ready to pay attention to baseball.