Nerds gather, drink, and listen to presentations on subjects that are ostensibly of great interest to nerds everywhere. Our esteemed volunteer presenters give 20-30 minute talks on a variety of nerdy topics. Be there and be square!
Mary mentioned this at the last Nerdnite —
We hope you’ll consider checking out the first-ever “Jamaica Plain vs. Somervile Dance-Off” this Saturday, November 20. It’s a benefit for Girls Rock Camp Boston.
The event takes place at Fourth Wall Project
132 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA
Doors at 8:30
$12 at the door
21+
Set your DVRs, folks: Nerdnite Boston will have at least several seconds of televised airtime tonight (Tuesday November 16) at 7:30 pm on Channel 5, as part of the Chronicle show’s “Night Out” episode. Yes, we will be juxtaposed with a club that serves Jell-O shots. Good times all around. Check it out!
In case you were wondering what DJ Claude Money was doing on the turntables, here’s the playlist from last week’s Nerdnite:
Nerd nite sept 27
I’m always drunk in San Francisco. Nancy Wilson
Here he comes drunk again. Bird rollins
Drunk. Jimmy liggins
Janos revenge. Los sospechos.
The wolf. Menahan street band
Tanz der vampire. Draculas music cabinet.
Romantic rhino. Ananda Shankar
I believe in miracles. Mark capanni
I like it. The emotions.
Bill withers. Lovely day.
Can’t get enough of your love. Richard ace.
Slow run. Byron lee and the dragonaires.
Louie Louie. Richard berry
Have love will travel. Richard berry.
Mom won’t you teach me how to monkey. Little Emmitt sutton
Influx. DJ shadow.
First speaker
Ada Brunstein
Bonnie and Clyde. Serge gainsbourg
Liberte. Marc Aryan
I’m comin home. Mel torme.
Trouble will remain. Amnesty
Let the good times roll. Shirley and lee
boredom pain. MFB
Come together. Ike and Tina turner.
Surfin bird. The trashmen.
Second speaker
Courtney Humphries.
Soul chicken. Bobby Allen and the exceptions
Make it real (ride on). Betty Adams
Money. Barrett strong
You got what I need. Freddie Scott
Shimmy shimmy y’all. Prince fatty
96 tears. ? Mark and the mysterions
Jonny und Joe (German). The supremes
Ain’t got no home. Clarence Henry.
Third speaker.
Tim Lillis
Zombie. Fela kuti
Is that all there is? Peggy lee
At last month’s Nerdnite, we had some technical problems that kept Ada Brunstein from showing her videos of weird technology/fashion hybrids. As promised, here are the links.
Ada’s talk was based on her article “The Little Black Piezoelectric Dress” in the Atlantic Monthly.
The videos:
“Intimate controllers” by JennyLC Chowdhury. This is the video game you play by touching your partner in special places.
Sound reactive nightgown by Sarah Soriano. This is the nightgown that lifts up when your lover whispers sweet nothings to you. Or shouts them, in the case of the current iteration of the technology.
And the Grand Finale: Hussain Chalayan’s Spring/Summer 2007 collection. FYI: Video ends with a moderately NSFW moment. More stills of the same fashion here.
There was one more video for Suzi Webster’s Barking Mad garment, but the video was broken when I surfed on by. There are other interesting videos of odd garments on her site though…and maybe it will be fixed soon…so it may be worth checking it out.
Last, but not least, all three of our great speakers from last month have their own websites. So if you want to know more about their work, check out these links:
Ada Brunstein
Courtney Humphries
Tim Lillis
Hello blog readers,
We love DJ Claude Money’s nerdy music so much, we’re going to post the playlist after each Nerdnite. Thanks to Sean for keeping track of everything! And for playing MC Solaar.
Here’s the playlist from April:
Donald Byrd places and spaces
Eddie palmieri. Harlem river drive
Doris ebong. Boogie trip.
Althea and donna. Oh dread
Biz markie. It’s spring again.
Freddie Scott. (you) got what I need
Stevie wonder. Hey love.
Sir jablonsky. Juck juck part 1
Mc solaar. Nouveau western.
Serge gainsbourg. Aux armes et caetera
Lee Dorsey. Workin in a coal mine.
First speaker.
Tv on the radio. Halfway home.
Portishead. Wandering star.
Gangstarr. Words I manifest.
Harlem underground. Ain’t no sunshine
Second speaker
Betty Lavette. What condition my condition was in.
Ernie k. Doe. A certain girl
The remains. Diddy wah diddy
The del Vikings. Cool shake
Marc Aryan. Liberte
M. F. B. Boredom pain
Co real artists. What about you (in the world today)
Stevie wonder. Bang bang.
Incredible bongo band. Inna gadda da vida.
Nina Simone. The pusher (live version)
Be there and be square tonight at the Middlesex. Full details in this post.
And while you’re at it, check out the write-up we got in the nightlife section of Boston.com (scroll all the way down to the last blurb).
Dearest nerds and friends of nerds,
The next Nerdnite takes place this coming Monday, February 22, at the Middlesex lounge in Central Square (see below for address). As usual we’ll be featuring nerd-appropriate tunes by DJ Claude Money
The talks:
1. Cross-Cultural Revolution: Contemporary Chinese Music in Exile
by Danny Liss
After graduating from Amherst College with a degree in Music Theory and Medieval Literature, Danny Liss moved to China for a year in order to escape the constant harassment of recruiters offering him lucrative employment. In between teaching lessons about the difference between “like” as a verb and “like” as a modifier, he explored some of the country’s many contradictions. He currently lives in Cambridge, where he works in non-profit administration.
Talk 2: The Neurobiology of Zombies — Updated for 2010
by Jeremy Kay
You might think of zombies as lowly B-movie material, but scientists have discovered many instances of zombie-like behavior in nature. Updating my talk that I gave several years ago, I’ll give some creepy examples. Jeremy is a postdoctoral fellow in neurobiology at Harvard — and the organizer of Nerdnite. He loves referring to himself in the third person. His professional work concerns vision… his fascination with zombies is purely recreational. Really. Like, your brains will totally not get eaten if you show up. We promise.
Be there and be square!
Monday Feb 22, 8pm
315 Mass Ave
Cambridge
$5
Welcome to the new Nerdnite.com website and the Nerdnite Boston blog. Surf around and check it out. How can we improve this place? Let us know in the comments.
One exciting change is that now we’ve got Nerdnite t-shirts available online! No more leaving a post-it note in a bowl on stage during the show. See here to see our nerdtastic design.