The Winter Survival Guide
12. Rock out.
Like college kids, touring bands are scarce in Boston from mid-December through late January. This month, then, marks the return of good shows. Some of February’s top visiting acts (who, unlike students, won’t overstay their welcome):
2/5: Illinois at Great Scott
They’ve got an addictive music-video series on YouTube and an obvious debt to mid-period Wilco. This is your opportunity to secure I-saw-them-at-a tiny-venue-before-they-were-big bragging rights.
$9, 1222 Commonwealth Ave., Allston, 617-566-9014, greatscottboston.com.
2/13: Los Campesinos and Titus Andronicus at Paradise Rock Club
Double features this exciting are rare. Young, loud, and literate, Los Campesinos chant post-punk like a scrappier Go! Team, while their co-headliners sound like a less wounded Conor Oberst.
$14, 967 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, 617-562-8800, thedise.com.
2/20: Delta Spirit at the Middle East Downstairs
Making a lot of best-of-2008 lists without trying too hard, Delta Spirit boasts a sound that’s laid-back à la Beck’s low-key stuff, but with a hint of Violent Femmes urgency.
$12, 480 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-864-3278, mideastclub.com.
2/24: Tapes ’n Tapes at Paradise Rock Club
With rhythms that echo Modest Mouse, Tapes ’n Tapes’ albums are solid. But live shows are where the Minneapolis quartet really kicks.
$16.50, 967 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, 617-562-8800, thedise.com.
13. Adopt a pet.
photograph by istockphoto
Around this time of year, the realities that accompany those furry, wriggling holiday gifts have begun to set in. “People return animals like they return shirts that don’t fit,” sighs the MSPCA’s Brian Adams. The happy result for would-be pet owners? According to Adams, February brings a veritable bumper crop of already-potty-trained companions.
MSPCA-Angell, 350 S. Huntington Ave., Boston, 617-522-7400, mspca.org.
14. Finally write that novel.
photograph by henrik sorensen/getty images
You’ve always felt you had a book in you, but haven’t gotten down to writing it. For help in facing that first, scary blank page, we got five local literary bigwigs to donate the following opening lines:
1. “Last night I read my father’s journal and his words on the page were like a flashlight shining back on the path we had walked, illuminating, finally, why those years had been so hard.” —Rishi Reddi, author of Karma and Other Stories
2. “The medical technician’s words bled in time-distorted spurts through the haze of morphine: ‘I feeeel…azzzif I’m juzzzzt….about to recognizzzze what…. theezzzze… are fragmentzzzof.’” —Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked
3. “Vodka, Red Bull, repeat; that’s Vegas in a nutshell, and if you don’t understand what I mean then you probably never will.” —Ben Mezrich, author of Bringing Down the House
4. “With false hope, the beginning writer put onto the page his long-imagined first sentence, unaware that effective openings often end up among the very last parts of a narrative to fall into place.” —Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs of a Geisha
5. “This is how it all started.” —Tom Perrotta, author of Election
15. Detox.
illustration by jameson simpson
Two just-hard-core-enough options for jump-starting the healthy new you:
The Star Trek–esque “infrared” dry sauna at Isis Boston is touted to burn up to 600 calories an hour with fat-busting rays. Staff therapists offer a seven-day cleanse complete with an eating chart, an exercise regimen, and liver-flushing herbs, in conjunction with daily sauna sessions.
$225 per week, One Harvard St., Brookline Village, 617-734-4708, isisboston.com.
Diana Cullum-Dugan of Namaste Nutrition steers away from invasive colonics in favor of fruit-and-veggie-heavy plans. The registered dietitian visits clients’ homes to tailor three-day cleanses involving a mix of protein, carbs, and fats paired with special elixirs (which include cod liver oil—yum!).
Consultations, $150 per hour, 617-393-2200, namastenutrition.net.