yes, some places are calling any country/roots music peopel "alt country" if they are not mainstream. Although, I have never heard of that group, so I am just guessing.

I swear to god, there's a plot to name musical styles things that sound like I won't like them. I'm always doing that: "Ohhh! That's deep house? That's alt country??"" etc.

OK, what the hell is alt country, anyway?

Whateverthefuck the PR person wants it to be. I really hate labels.

Shows in Boston also start at varying times. At regular over-21 clubs, the headliner usually goes on between 11:30 at 12:30, depending on the bar closing time and the day of the week.

The $2 Pistols are definitely old-school country. They're just called "alt" because John Howie used to be the drummer for June and Finger.

Hayden -- Make sure you get there early enough to see the Places. It's basically just this one woman named Amy, with another guy helping out on bass. Some good stuff.

Will do.

OK, a coupla more summer tuneage:

• Guided By Voices - "Motor Away"
• Pavement - "Cut Your Hair"
• Superchunk - "Slack Motherfucker"
• X - "The World's a Mess, It's In My Kiss"
• The Blasters - "Marie, Marie"
• The Flaming Lips - "This Here Giraffe"
• The Soft Boys - "I Wanna Destroy You"

Gotta run. Later, y'all.

Also X's Fourth of July, natch.

I made a summer mix CD last year (or, man -- maybe it was the year before). It is in no way hip and cool, but it's fun:

Summertime -- Sam Cooke
summerfling -- kd lang
Talking Softball -- The Simpsons Soundtrack
Cruel Summer -- Bananarama
Dancing Barefoot -- U2
Ex Factor -- Lauryn Hill
Tell It Like It Is -- Aaron Neville and the Neville Brothers
Summer Wind -- Frank Sinatra
Take Me Out to the Ballgame -- Los Straitjackets
Shame On You -- Indigo Girls
Deadbeat Club -- The B-52's
extraordinary thing -- kd lang
Every Ghetto Every City -- Lauryn Hill
it's happening with you -- kd lang
Fiona -- Lyle Lovett
And It Stoned Me -- Van Morrison
the consequences of falling -- kd lang
June Bug -- The B-52's
Summertime (Alt) -- Sam Cooke

The preponderance of kd lang is because they're all from her album "Summerfling," which, completely unto itself, is a great summer album.

Pavement - "Cut Your Hair"

Hey, "Summer Babe."

"Theme From Lawrence of Arabia" by Teisco Del Rey

"Don't Go Back to Rockville" by REM seems like a summer song to me.

As do most Allman Brothers songs in the "Sweet Melissa" vein.

"Starless Summer Sky" - Marshall Crenshaw

"Dancing in The Streets" - Martha and the Vandellas

Tell It Like It Is -- Aaron Neville and the Neville Brothers

Summer Wind -- Frank Sinatra

Inspired combination.

Every Ghetto Every City -- Lauryn Hill

I love this song so much. The whole album, but especially this song.

I was just poolside at my apt. complex and some youngins had the new Beastie Boys album blaring. I wasn't loving it as I had expected to. Bummer.

OK, what the hell is alt country, anyway?

There are few music genre labels as insidious as alt country, but it tends to be useful at times when tellling people about something they've never heard before if it fits perfectly. Explaining Uncle Tupelo as punk meets country meets folkie roots punk-y rock can get silly.

What time do club shows start where y'all live?

Most bars in Lawrence, headlining acts come on around 11.

I was totally shocked when I saw Spoon the other night that they started at 9 and the show was over at 11. I don't think it was all ages. That almost never happens here.

Lollapalooza got cancelled for poor ticket sales.

checks calendar

Yep, the Nineties are over.