Tag: 2026
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by Michael McCarthy Last night I saw The Carpenters Songbook performance at Nashua Center for the Arts in Nashua, New Hampshire. I’ve been a big fan of the Carpenters for years and they obviously aren’t around anymore, since Karen Carpenter sadly died decades ago, so seeing a good tribute is the closest you’re going to…
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…AND A FEW WORDS ABOUT MONSTER: THE LIZZIE BORDEN STORY by Michael McCarthy SPOILER WARNING: This review discusses major developments in UNABOMBER, particularly involving the young Ted Kaczynski and Henry Murray storyline. If you haven’t seen the film yet and want to go in knowing as little as possible, you may want to watch it…
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by Michael McCarthy I’m getting really tired of older rock musicians taking shots at Taylor Swift—and, more broadly, acting like the success of younger pop artists is somehow evidence that music has gone to hell. The latest is Todd Rundgren, who recently called Swift the “apotheosis of mediocrity” and said there’s an argument to be…
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Today, New York City rockers Nicotine Dolls have released the new single andmusic video “Here to California,” a joyful, breezy anthem about “choosing forward motion over regret,” from their self-titled sophomore album, which will be out October 23 via BMG. The single was co-produced by frontman Sam Cieri and renowned hitmaker Marti Frederiksen (Aerosmith, Ozzy…
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by Michael McCarthy photos by Rob Loud; used with permission Last night on the 23rd of September, 2026, I finally caught a solo performance by Brandon Flowers of The Killers. The Killers are one of my favorite bands and I’ve seen them several times, but circumstances had prevented me from catching either of their two…
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by Michael McCarthy Last Friday night, September 18, 2026, my parents and I saw The Billy Joel Legacy: A Tribute Experience at Lynn Auditorium in Lynn, Massachusetts, and it was a rather invigorating show, to say the least. The set kicked off with an electrifying rendition of “My Life,” accompanied by video of an animated…
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by Michael McCarthy I recently had the opportunity to watch Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires, Daniel E. Catullo III’s new documentary feature about Hollywood Vampires, the supergroup featuring Alice Cooper, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, actor/guitarist Johnny Depp and guitarist/music director Tommy Henriksen. The band’s touring lineup also includes keyboardist Buck Johnson, who…
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by Michael McCarthy Please note: I could not find any videos from last night’s show on Youtube yet so I have included a few videos from Robyn’s recent European dates. Last night I attended Robyn’s show at Agganis Arena in Boston. I had previously seen Robyn live at the House of Blues in Boston in…
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by Michael McCarthy Last Friday night’s sold out August 28th Kacey Musgraves show at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts came just shy of two years since I’d last seen her live at TD Garden on September 6th, 2024. The difference is that in 2024, she performed two sold out nights at TD Garden but this…
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by Michael McCarthy I’m going to be entirely honest here and tell you that Chat GPT introduced me to this song this morning. I was talking to it for my ideas about a book and we were talking about Bon Jovi and I said I wish Butch Walker would produce a Bon Jovi album. And…
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by Michael McCarthy Last night I saw Matthew and Gunnar Nelson perform at City Winery in Boston, Massachusetts. I’ve seen Matthew and Gunnar Nelson perform quite a few times during recent years. They frequently play The Wolf Den, the free club venue at Mohegan Sun Casino, but the last three times I saw them there…
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by Michael McCarthy On Sunday, July 26th, 2026, I finally saw Bon Jovi live again for the first time since Richie Sambora parted ways with the band in 2013. Honestly, when Richie left the band, I just found it so frustrating and depressing that I just needed a break from Bon Jovi. For one thing,…
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If you like electronic pop music, I highly recommend the new album by Pussy Riot, the Russian protest group. The album is called CYKA, which Russian for “bitch.” Well, it’s Russian for bitch but saying it is also akin to saying fuck you. I had GPT translate a lot of the Russian lyrics after I…
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by Michael McCarthy I recently decided to watch the Korean series Teach You A Lesson, which proved to be one of the most challenging series I’ve ever seen. For better or worse, this series seems to keep changing genres on you from one episode to the next. And it does it so often that you’re…
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by Michael McCarthy Last night on May 23rd, 2026, I finally saw the influential doom metal band Pentagram in concert for the very first time. And it will likely have been the last time because the band’s current tour, The Last Rites Tour, is being framed as a farewell tour. And given frontman Bobby Liebling’s…
