Lemonheads

Rock The Lemonheads Varshons The End ESSENTIAL “Layin’ Up With Linda’’ The Lemonheads play at the Wellfleet Beachcomber on July 2. Head Lemonhead Evan Dando has always had a magic touch with cover songs. Whether tackling Broadway showtunes or John Prine, or Simon and Garfunkel, the laconic alt-rocker nimbly transforms songs until they sound like they could be his own. That pixie dust extends to “Varshons,’’ the Lemonheads’ first all-covers release.

RIVER FOREST, Ill. - Candy company executive Nello Ferrara lived a sweet life. The man who brought the world Lemonheads and Atomic Fire Balls routinely serenaded people in the restaurants where he dined and held mandatory family dinners every Sunday, said his son, Salvatore Ferrara. Nello Ferrara died Friday at home in River Forest surrounded by his family. He was 93. The Ferrara Pan Candy Co. was started in 1908, and Nello Ferrara took it over from his father decades ago. The company, which also makes Red Hots and Boston Baked Beans, produces 1 million pounds of candy a day, Salvatore...

When they formed in the heady days of the mid-1980s, the Lemonheads drew heavily on the loud-fast-rules ethos of hardcore. With the current incarnation of the group featuring Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson and bassist Karl Alvarez, it seems that Evan Dando, having weathered a stretch of teen idoldom and other problems, wants to come full circle. And Saturday's performance at the Middle East was an often noisy, speedy affair that occasionally bulldozed quality songs in favor of a holy racket.

THE LEMONHEADS At: Paradise Rock Club, Wednesday More so than with other artists, there is always an element of risk in going to see the Lemonheads. While leader Evan Dando is possessed of undeniable gifts as a singer and songwriter of irresistible, almost painfully perfect, pop songs, his history as a performer is more scattershot. He can go from sloppy to stellar, sometimes within the same performance. Wednesday night at the Paradise, on a tour dedicated to playing the band's 1992 alt-pop classic, "It's a Shame About Ray," in its entirety, Dando covered both...

THE LEMONHEADS At: Paradise Rock Club, Wednesday More so than with other artists, there is always an element of risk in going to see the Lemonheads. While leader Evan Dando is possessed of undeniable gifts as a singer and songwriter of irresistible, almost painfully perfect, pop songs, his history as a performer is more scattershot. He can go from sloppy to stellar, sometimes within the same performance. Wednesday night at the Paradise, on a tour dedicated to playing the band's 1992 alt-pop classic, "It's a Shame About Ray," in its entirety, Dando covered both...

When people throw a party in your honor it's customary to show up looking your best. On that front Mother Nature wowed a crowd of thousands at the Radio 92.9 EarthFest on Saturday at the Hatch Shell with a stellar performance. The musical acts were pretty good too. With sets from '90s artists Shawn Mullins, Seven Mary Three, the Lemonheads, and Soul Asylum, the bill played out like a nostalgia-minded blast from the recent past. Mullins stripped down for a solo acoustic set that allowed his narrative folk pop songs to unfurl.

As if to remind us of his great, wasted talent, Evan Dando and the umpteenth incarnation of the Lemonheads performed "It's a Shame About Ray" front to back at the Paradise Rock Club Tuesday night. The band's 1992 breakthrough album, a joyful rush of noisy pop, has just been rereleased by Rhino Records in a collector's edition, begging the question: Isn't 15 years a bit too soon to be repackaging alt-rock pinups for the nostalgia bin? In Dando's case, the answer, sadly, is no. At 41, he's still the proverbial beautiful mess, a gifted artist who could...

RIVER FOREST, Ill. - Candy company executive Nello Ferrara lived a sweet life. The man who brought the world Lemonheads and Atomic Fire Balls routinely serenaded people in the restaurants where he dined and held mandatory family dinners every Sunday, said his son, Salvatore Ferrara. Nello Ferrara died Friday at home in River Forest surrounded by his family. He was 93. The Ferrara Pan Candy Co. was started in 1908, and Nello Ferrara took it over from his father decades ago. The company, which also makes Red Hots and Boston Baked Beans, produces 1 million pounds of...

"I can tell you this story 'cause it's a Boston-related story," director Jesse Peretz said. In town to promote his new movie, "Our Idiot Brother," which opened Friday, the 43-year-old Cambridge native and founding member of the Lemonheads was thinking back to his high school years here, and the time when he first realized he wanted to become a filmmaker. "I was a busboy at Rebecca's on Charles Street the summer between, like, my sophomore and junior year or whatever. I was 15 years old. I remember I had the biggest crushes on all the older ladies - a.k.a., 21, 22 - who were the...

POP & ROCK MATT NATHANSON If you've heard this Lexington-bred singer-songwriter's buoyant 2009 hit "Come on Get Higher," chances are you had trouble getting it out of your head. He hopes the same will be true of tunes from his new album, "Modern Love," which features a duet with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland. Vanessa Carlton, whose latest album, "Rabbits on the Run," is getting great reviews, opens the show. Oct. 8, 6 p.m. Tickets: $25-$39.50. House of Blues. 800-745-3000, www.livenation.com SAVES THE DAY/BAYSIDE The complementary rockers - of the...

POP & ROCK MATT NATHANSON If you've heard this Lexington-bred singer-songwriter's buoyant 2009 hit "Come on Get Higher," chances are you had trouble getting it out of your head. He hopes the same will be true of tunes from his new album, "Modern Love," which features a duet with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland. Vanessa Carlton, whose latest album, "Rabbits on the Run," is getting great reviews, opens the show. Oct. 8, 6 p.m. Tickets: $25-$39.50. House of Blues. 800-745-3000, www.livenation.com SAVES THE DAY/BAYSIDE The complementary rockers - of the emo/power pop-punk variety - swap the...

"I can tell you this story 'cause it's a Boston-related story," director Jesse Peretz said. In town to promote his new movie, "Our Idiot Brother," which opened Friday, the 43-year-old Cambridge native and founding member of the Lemonheads was thinking back to his high school years here, and the time when he first realized he wanted to become a filmmaker. "I was a busboy at Rebecca's on Charles Street the summer between, like, my sophomore and junior year or whatever. I was 15 years old. I remember I had the biggest crushes on all the older ladies - a.k.a., 21, 22 - who were the waitresses at...

Here is what Jesse Peretz remembers: late nights over drinks at Café Algiers in Harvard Square, listening to the avant-garde director and film theorist Raúl Ruiz tell sweeping stories of his craft. Peretz was an undergraduate at Harvard University, and the Chilean-born, Paris-based Ruiz, who died Friday, was one of his thesis advisers - the sort of filmmaker Peretz dreamed of becoming. "But, you know, I didn't know anything," says Peretz, a down-to-earth 43-year-old who back then was still the bassist for the Lemonheads.

Rock The Lemonheads Varshons The End ESSENTIAL “Layin’ Up With Linda’’ The Lemonheads play at the Wellfleet Beachcomber on July 2. Head Lemonhead Evan Dando has always had a magic touch with cover songs. Whether tackling Broadway showtunes or John Prine, or Simon and Garfunkel, the laconic alt-rocker nimbly transforms songs until they sound like they could be his own. That pixie dust extends to “Varshons,’’ the Lemonheads’ first all-covers release.

When people throw a party in your honor it's customary to show up looking your best. On that front Mother Nature wowed a crowd of thousands at the Radio 92.9 EarthFest on Saturday at the Hatch Shell with a stellar performance. The musical acts were pretty good too. With sets from '90s artists Shawn Mullins, Seven Mary Three, the Lemonheads, and Soul Asylum, the bill played out like a nostalgia-minded blast from the recent past. Mullins stripped down for a solo acoustic set that allowed his narrative folk pop songs to unfurl.

As if to remind us of his great, wasted talent, Evan Dando and the umpteenth incarnation of the Lemonheads performed "It's a Shame About Ray" front to back at the Paradise Rock Club Tuesday night. The band's 1992 breakthrough album, a joyful rush of noisy pop, has just been rereleased by Rhino Records in a collector's edition, begging the question: Isn't 15 years a bit too soon to be repackaging alt-rock pinups for the nostalgia bin? In Dando's case, the answer, sadly, is no. At 41, he's still the proverbial beautiful mess, a gifted artist who could...

Here is what Jesse Peretz remembers: late nights over drinks at Café Algiers in Harvard Square, listening to the avant-garde director and film theorist Raúl Ruiz tell sweeping stories of his craft. Peretz was an undergraduate at Harvard University, and the Chilean-born, Paris-based Ruiz, who died Friday, was one of his thesis advisers - the sort of filmmaker Peretz dreamed of becoming. "But, you know, I didn't know anything," says Peretz, a down-to-earth 43-year-old who back then was still the bassist for the Lemonheads.

Oct. 7 Madeleine Peyroux at Berklee Performance Center. www.livenation.com Oct. 9 Hanson at House of Blues. www.livenation.com Oct. 12 The Lemonheads at the Paradise Rock Club. www.livenation.com Oct. 13 Yo-Yo Ma (pictured) Joins the BSO and Guest Conductor Juanjo Mena at Symphony Hall through Oct. 18. www.bso.org Oct. 14 Oberon and the Gold Dust Orphans present Richard O'Brien's "The Rocky Horror Show" opening at Oberon in Cambridge. www.cluboberon.com Oct. 15 "Weird Al" Yankovic at the Orpheum Theatre.

When they formed in the heady days of the mid-1980s, the Lemonheads drew heavily on the loud-fast-rules ethos of hardcore. With the current incarnation of the group featuring Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson and bassist Karl Alvarez, it seems that Evan Dando, having weathered a stretch of teen idoldom and other problems, wants to come full circle. And Saturday's performance at the Middle East was an often noisy, speedy affair that occasionally bulldozed quality songs in favor of a holy racket.