Harry and the Potters |
Nothing screams Christmas like children dabbling with sorcery. Which is why Harry and the Potters' annual Yule Ball is such a howling success every year. This Sunday, the fourth installment will kick off at the Middle East downstairs right as darkness sets in (i.e., 5 pm doors for the all-ages constituency), and the line-up will leave young and old agog with giddy delight. Plus, three bucks from each ticket sale will go straight to the Harry Potter Alliance, a grass-roots organization of Potterphiles who fight rape in Darfur and genocide in Burma. Specifics can be a real downer, so we'll follow the HPA's lead and just call them "the Dark Arts in real life." Below, a sampling of what's in store.
Harry and the Potters
"PHOENIX SONG"
You really haven't rocked out till you've seen a Harry and the Potters show. Little kids lose their shit and roll around on nightclub floors, parents attempt to dance, hipsters relax a little, and you leave with a strange desire to quash evil. We picked this song with a flicker of hope that it was about us, but it's not — it's about all of us. Sniff.
The Whomping Willows
"WIZARD ROCK HEART THROB"
Rhode Island seems to be a hotbed of this wizard-rock business. At the top of the Rhody heap stand Draco and the Malfoys (also on the bill), but Providence's Whomping Willows are becoming fast favorites. This track tells the origin story of the band, with Draco himself advising the young Matt Maggiacomo that "wizard rock bands/Are the sweetest bunch of bands/And most of them are girls/And you're basically a man."
The LeeVees
"HOW DO YOU SPELL CHANNUKKAH?"
The LeeVees' mission, as we understand it, is to create a catalogue of high-quality Hanukkah songs — because, really, how many are there? This one addresses a question that had our heads spinning like a dreidel just one sentence ago, and the answer remains far from clear. As singer Adam Gardner (of Guster!) details: "Back in elementary school/A Spanish kid told me/That it starts with a silent 'J'/But Julio was wrong."
Jason Anderson and the Best
"LINDSY"
Jason Anderson doesn't sing about wizards, potions, or Jews (well, not specifically), but as far as we can tell from his free downloadable EP For the Ladies, he does have at least one topic worthy of multi-song concentration: the ladies. "Caitlin" and "Juliet" are both fine little ditties, but we like "Lindsy" — even though she probably doesn't even know we're alive.
