Tom Morello: the Nightwatchman

For a Harvard chap, Tom Morello certainly offers plenty of plebian dissent. The Ivy Leaguer's accolades are nearly too numerous to mention, and he's certainly one of the few rock guitarists to carry as much political notoriety as musical fame. Rage Against the Machine shouldn't waste too much precious ink or paper—their impact upon an impressionable youth, both musically and culturally, is as extensively documented as Sarah Palin's campaign spending. What merits the most pertinent attention is Morello's acoustic turn as the Nightwatchman. Gone is the emulated turntablism that Morello eked out of his six-string in Rage, forgotten are the thudding power chords that padded his treasury in Audioslave. What remains is something much more naked and intellectually invasive. For all of Rage's romping and stomping, it's Morello on a beat-up Epiphone that makes his diatribes all the more percussive and real. With Boots Riley of the Coup. 18+.
Tue., Nov. 11, 7 p.m., 2008