25 Years Of On The Town With Mikey Dee with Butterknife, Corin Ashley, The Wrong Shapes, The Rationales and The Shods | TT The Bear's | Tonight

A great number of things conspire to hold the vibrant Boston music scene aloft like Lando Calrissian's Cloud City. Sure, people and even institutions do come and go, but certain of them endure, and constitute a superstructure that lifts all of us invested in the music community here. A key piece of it all is local radio -- often college radio, but we can't forget our friends that have festooned the commercial spectrum past and present. We're, of course, talking about our beloved Pipeline on WMBR, Anngelle Wood's Boston Emissions on WZLX, and even the upstart VanyaRadio. And we simply can't have this conversation without talking about WMFO and its long-running program On The Town with Mikey Dee. The show, which sadly lost its namesake due to illness in 2003, tonight celebrates at TT The Bear's Place a quarter-century of providing a platform for local acts to perform live on the air and cast their sizzle across the airwaves to the rock and roll people, the kids, and the occasional interested hound dog, even. Sound engineer and polybandist (we just made that up) Joel Simches has curated tonight's bill, which features the classic power pop of Corin Ashley, the dreamy and tribal ruminations of The Wrong Shapes, the anthemic emo of Class of 2014 Rock And Roll Rumblers Butterknife, the ready-steady rock of The Rationales and punk rock from the nearly-as-old-as-the-show The Shods.

As part of the anniversary celebration, the audio vaults were raided and the result is a two-CD compilation of songs recorded live on the show; not coincidentally that collection, titled Live From Studio Dee: The Very Best Of On The Town with Mikey Dee, is available starting today. Rock fans can stream selections from the set via the Bandcamp embed below. Proceeds from the sale of the CDs get poured right back into the coffers of WMFO, which in turn will pour more music right down your earholes daily, so everyone wins, right? Right. Here's the Facebook event page for the show, which we heartily endorse. Those interested in receiving extra credit are directed to the second embed below, via which you can stream an electrifying, cello-fied 2009 live set performed for on On The Town by Clicky Clicky faves Varsity Drag.

Today's Hotness: Ringo Deathstarr, Boston Does Boston

>> The 2014 album announcements are coming fast and furious these days, with Clicky Clicky faves Speedy Ortiz, Krill and The War On Drugs all making (albeit expected) disclosures of this sort in recent days. We noted yet another over at the Clicky Clicky Facebook page Monday, but given our enduring love for noise-pop heroes Ringo Deathstarr we wanted to reiterate here the news: the Austin-based trio will release a new collection, Gods Dream, in the U.S. in 2014. The set is being released first in Japan Dec. 18 via the Vinyl Junkie label, so if you are in Japan, feel blessed. A preview track, "Flower Power," is already available to people of all nations; in addition to being awesome, the song features guest guitar work from the legendary Swervedriver fronter Adam Franklin (we should note here that Swervedriver also issued to the wilds of the Internerds recently two new songs that are terrific). "Flower Power" opens with two barking guitar chords and a rhythmic red herring; after the first half-minute the song explodes into a four-on-the-floor belter that re-centers the beat and then gets progressively heavier and more manic with each passing bar, until an oasis of melodic, calm interrupts the frenzy and resets the song, allowing it to establish a slow, elegiac groove. This being Ringo Deathstarr, the serenity persists but unsurprisingly crumbles, giving way to a final 40 seconds of grind. "Flower Power" is an auspicious taste of a record we expect we will listen to quite a lot in 2014; there is as yet no information about a label or release date for what is hopefully an inevitable domestic release. Vinyl Junkie's web site indicates the record has nine tracks, including three that are exclusive to the Japanese release, so maybe Gods Dream is actually an EP? Hard to say what a domestic release will look like until it is announced. While we wait, stream "Flower Power" via the Soundcloud embed below. We reviewed The Deathstarr's 2011 debut full-length Colour Trip here, and its 2012 collection Mauve right here.



>> It's the sheer magnitude of the effort that impresses us most about Boston Does Boston, a new, two-disc benefit compilation that features local independent rock combos covering one another's work. Proceeds from the sale of the set will be donated to the Animal Rescue League of Boston, which means the set gets our vote pretty much right out of the gate. Besides the production costs of the CDs, everything else related to making Boston Does Boston happen was donated -- right down to the studio time, the art and the mastering -- which is pretty wonderful, and speaks to the kindness in the music community in our fair burg. The running order of the formidable collection is daisy-chained across 26 songs, with each artist or act covering a song by the next artist/act performing the following track. So, for example, Clicky Clicky fave Ted Billings (who is actually now based in Brooklyn) covers former Elevator Drops guitarist Garvy J.'s "Celebrate," then Garvy J. covers Sarah Rabdau and Self-Employed Assassins' "Pavement Prophet," and so forth. The biggest hooks might just be in I, Pistol's blazing version of The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library's anthemic "Amylee." Relatively new power-pop act Parks' take on Corin Ashley's "Badfinger Bridge" is another one that will have you hitting the "back" button on your IPod (or having you root around in there for Mr. Ashley's criminally-lost-in-the-shuffle-by-us 2013 collection New Lion Terraces -- hear it at Spotify). Boston Does Boston is a lot of music to take in all at once; perhaps that makes the holiday season the best time to release it, a time when folks might have a chance to put their feet up and really dig in. There will be not one, not two, but three CD release shows, beginning tomorrow night at Brighton Music Hall. Full details of the three events can be found here, here and here, and you can purchase the collection via this Bandcamp page. Can't make it to the show? Want to do more than just buy a CD? There are lots of different ways to support the very good work the Animal Rescue League performs. Read more about that right here.

Crash Safely Multiple Sclerosis Society Benefit Shows featuring The Upper Crust, Parlour Bells, Corin Ashley, The I Want You and many more | Sept. 13-14, 20-21

Maybe you are new in town. You'd have to be, at this point, to not be familiar with some of the great things the Boston music community does to help those in need. Anyone living in the area last spring in the aftermath of the marathon bombings will recall the amazing way bands and music people pulled together to raise money for the One Fund and related causes. There's a long history of that here, and this weekend marks the return of one more recent effort, Crash Safely. Now in its third year, the event comprises a series of shows that each aim to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and raise awareness about the disease, which is commonly diagnosed in those afflicted between the ages of 20 and 40. So, prime rocking ages, right? Not only the event's organizers but also all of the bands involved this year have been touched in some way by the chronic, unpredictable neurological disease that affects the central nervous system. Read more about MS here, if you like.

This year's Crash Safely features four nights of something-for-everyone shows in three different towns. Our compulsive desire to categorize and organize -- and, well, general laziness -- makes us wish all our favorite acts participating were slated to play a single venue on a single night, but hey, that's our baggage. What you should know is that strewn across the four nights and three venues are Clicky Clicky-approved acts including The Upper Crust, Parlour Bells, Corin Ashley, The I Want You and Cotton Candy. A digital comp featuring all the participating acts has been put together by the organization, and you can stream that at the bottom of this piece. But before you dig in, click open the four Facebook event pages into new tabs so you can look over the great bills and consider your rock options (roptions?) while you rock out. Maybe tomorrow, Friday the 13th with The Upper Crust and John Powhida International Airport is your night. Maybe you thrill to the prospect of seeing Corin Ashley and The Unholy III back-to-back at the Midway next week. Whatever your proclivity, there's a show for you. And if there isn't, well, you are a very difficult person, aren't you? Well, difficult people can just click this link and make a donation via one of the event co-founder's bike-a-thon pledge page, and then go back to incinerating ants with a magnifying glass or whatever it is they were doing. As a treat for reading this far, here is a link to The Upper Crust playing their stone-cold classic "Let Them Eat Rock."

Crash Safely Night #1: 9/13/13 at Oberon

Crash Safely Night #2 9/14/13 at Davis Square Theatre

Crash Safely Night #3 9/20/13 at the Midway Café

Crash Safely Night #4 9/21/13 at the Midway Café