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Time Out Boston was thrilled to be named as the primary media sponsors of the 2010 Boston Music Awards, a yearly event that had been making big waves due to a recent re-branding with the help of (now-defunct) new media contracting firm, Hub Media. Exclusive access and coverage of the December 5 event was an amazing opportunity for TOB, as we had only launched in beta that November. For all intents and purposes, this was our coming out party – and some of the biggest movers and shakers in Boston A+E would be there, not to mention all the Time Out staffers that flew in from New York and London.

My role was to coordinate coverage before and during the event, a multi-pronged attack that included a 16-page printed guide to Boston music, a whole host of videos, and photos of the red carpet, musical performances, and guests in front of a step-and-repeat, as well as roaming photographer snapping shots of the night’s best dressed – all with a goal of showing that the event had really come a long way from the stuffier, more traditional ceremony held just a few years back.

The music guide was our first real task as an editorial team. The 16 pages included a letter from myself and Associate Editor Jenna Scherer introducing Time Out Boston to the local music community and detailing our involvement with the Boston Music Awards; write-ups of our favorite musical acts across all genres, including our pick for the Time Out Boston Editors’ Choice Award; a piece on the DJ scene that saw a resurgence in 2010; a sidebar about some incredible acts coming out of Providence; a “charticle” detailing the changes at eight new or renovated venues; and a timeline of Boston music history inside the back cover. The guide was placed all over the city, in music clubs and a few choice bars and boutiques, as well as handed out during the awards ceremony with a special insert containing the program schedule of the night.

Our on-site pre-event coverage included much of the music guide content (linked above), plus a list of the nominees in each category with links to the Hub Media site for voting and tickets to the event; an article written by me explaining the whole voting process, event, and Time Out Boston’s role.

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See the Firebrand Saints images and more on Flickr.

The team behind Trina’s Starlite Lounge in the Cambridge, Mass. neighborhood of Inman Square plans a new venture for a mid-October opening. Parlor Sports will live in the space adjacent to the Starlite’s 3 Beacon St. location, on the Cambridge and Somerville line.

The “cowboy-style” bar will be a spot for locals to watch Saturday college sports, Sunday and Monday night NFL football, baseball, basketball, soccer and hockey on the bar’s nine flat screen TV’s. The drink list will focus on American craft brews, shots and standard cocktails. Trina’s Starlite Lounge Chef Suzi Maitland has created a list of simple bar snacks to serve alongside the Starlite menu.

The modern, minimalist space has been outfitted with oversized walnut panels in a parquet style and custom acrylic paintings of iconic sports moments created by local artist Brian Haley.

The co-owners behind the project, Josh Childs (Silvertone Bar & Grill), Trina Sturm (City Bar), Beau Sturm (Highland Kitchen) and Starlite’s J. Bellao, have 60 years of collective front-of-house and back-of-house experience. The quartet opened Trina’s Starlite Lounge in late 2009 and the popular neighborhood gathering spot has since developed a favorable reputation for its conceptual cocktails, Southern-style comfort food and retro atmosphere.

“We’re all huge sports fanatics, so this is definitely a labor of love,” Beau Sturm said in a statement. “Not only are we really excited to launch and share Parlor Sports with the Somerville and Cambridge neighborhoods—selfishly, we will all be here every Sunday ourselves!”

Image courtesy of StudioTROIKA

(Originally published on Sept. 21 in the Boston Business Journal)

Firebrand Saints, the highly anticipated collaboration between Central Kitchen / Enormous Room proprietor Gary Strack and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, may be open for business by this week, general manager Morgan Bigley said.

“We have a previous scheduled private event that we are doing tonight with some soft openings on Wednesday, Thursday,” Bigley said over the phone on Tuesday, “We’re hoping to open to the public by Friday.”

According to the restaurant’s Facebook page, Firebrand Saints is “passionately committed to changing the culture of Kendall Square, for the better.” Strack’s collaboration with MIT, artistic technology studio Sosolimited and creative director Adam Nelson means that we can anticipate a high-design and high-tech experience alongside quality and cooking and, most likely, a pretty stellar cocktail list.

Firebrand Saints joins the recent wave of new eateries popping up in and around tech-driven Kendall Square. Recent notables include the mid-June opening of Area IV from the owners of Lumiere in Newton and the now-defunct Achilles Project restaurant and boutique in Boston’s Fort Point; Abigail’s Restaurant, which was opened in August by James Ludwig (The B-Side Lounge) and the recent opening of William Kovel’s Catalyst Restaurant.