Last night, Bostonist received the unsettling news that the add-value machines at T stops weren't accepting credit or debit cards. On the last day of the month. As in, prime time for adding passes to their Charlie Cards. A tipper said that, after delivering the news, an MBTA employee yelped, "Don't kill the messenger!" The employee had reason to be concerned, as finding out one's card has been denied repeatedly makes people snippy. Real snippy.......

Manchildren Founder of K Records and former member of Beat Happening, Calvin Johnson mastered precious naivete decades before it became the default indie mode. His off-kilter baritone is what sold it, and he's bringing his voice and an acoustic guitar to Cambridge tonight. Teenbeat Records founder Mark Robinson also performs as Cotton Candy. Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Square, 7:00pm, $10. Men With Children Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers is returning to......

Win or lose, we'd always planned on evaluating the best and the worst Super Bowl commercials. In general, 2008 was a bum year for commercials since most of them seemed to forget to tell the audience what it is they're actually promoting, but a few broke away from the pack. The Best 1. The Doritos commerical with the huge rat/person dressed as a rat. So the word "Doritos" wasn't mentioned, but the rat-person was a......

All the Bostonists got together and thought of how to deal what is admittedly a rough day. 1. Let's start with what NOT to do. Do not under any circumstances say to anyone "It's only a game" or "There's always next year." 2. See the first rule. 3. Look to the Red Sox. At Porter, the BostonNOW newsie was handing out copies of a paper that featured The Debacle on the front cover. Rather than......

----------BEGIN TRANSMISSION---------- Gumshoes: Listen up. We have an important mission for you. Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots, is missing. New England media is asking questions. Fans are gettin' nervous. It's up to you to find him. The dossier: Thomas Brady. Grew up in California. Attended Michigan. Plays in New England. Cavorts in New York. Likes knit caps, Stetson, white flowers, cowboy boots, and throwing touchdown passes. Keep your eyes peeled for a......

Boston, you did Kimya Dawson right on Thursday night. So right, in fact, that we can't even tell you about it. Bostonist had fully intended to be able to report back to you today about how Dawson, the quirky and kickass singer-songwriter now captivating music fans with her work on the Juno soundtrack, performed during her 7 p.m. in-store at the Newbury Street music shop. We arrived on the scene a little later than we'd......

Music Kimya Dawson has long been one of those buried indie-rock treasures, at least until the release of Juno. The former member of the Moldy Peaches and avid livejournal diarist contributes a large part of the soundtrack, and stars Ellen Page and Michael Cera cover one of her songs, "Anyone Else But You." In fact, Page suggested that Dawson be on the soundtrack since she felt Juno would be a Moldy Peaches fan. Bostonist......

If you were looking for a titanic defensive struggle, last night wasn't a game to remember. If you were looking to see two patient, methodical offenses chew up yards back and forth all night, you're probably pretty pleased right now. Most importantly, if you're a Patriots fan, you're extremely relieved this morning. The first half was an amazing display of mirror-image drives, with Tom Brady and David Garrard piloting their teams down the field back......

A year ago, this particular Bostonist tore into Hot Stove, Cool Music with a ferocity most often seen perhaps in rabid dogs. An event billed as top-notch synergy between Boston's sports and music circles left us wondering if we'd missed the tabletop covered with Kool-Aid in Dixie cups, because we viewed the night as a musical an uninspired, over-hyped musical event. We refuse to believe that we've mellowed in a mere year's time, but it's......

Bostonist had the wonderful luck to talk to some big-time talents in all fields this year. And, no, we're not sure how we tricked these people into talking to us. Here's a look back: Authors Diane Rapaport, The Naked Quaker, 11/20 Jonah Lehrer, Proust Was a Neuroscientist, 11/13 John Fulton, The Animal Girl, 10/22 Jonathan Messinger, Dollar Store Series and Hiding Out, 10/9 Shalom Auslander, Foreskin's Lament, 10/9 Steve Almond, Not That You Asked, 9/11......

For the past few months, Bostonist has engaged in a scientific experiment. We've been sniffing around T stops to find out which ones are the most pleasant and which ones are an offense to the olfactory nerves. Each day this week, we'll evaluate the odors you will find at various T stops. And here it is--the complete list of T stops with the most distinct odors: Aquarium: High tide, dolphin pee Airport: Pleather luggage,......

For the past few months, Bostonist has engaged in a scientific experiment. We've been sniffing around T stops to find out which ones are the most pleasant and which ones are an offense to the olfactory nerves. Each day this week, we'll evaluate the odors you will find at various T stops. The Red Line offers so much variety that you just might get dizzy--or drunk: Central Square: 40s, vodka, burnt rubber, more 40s,......

For the past few months, Bostonist has engaged in a scientific experiment. We've been sniffing around T stops to find out which ones are the most pleasant and which ones are an offense to the olfactory nerves. Each day this week, we'll evaluate the odors you will find at various T stops. Today marks a trip down the Orange Line. You might get the munchies on this one: Downtown Crossing: Fried food, mouse poop,......

For the past few months, Bostonist has engaged in a scientific experiment. We've been sniffing around T stops to find out which ones are the most pleasant and which ones are an offense to the olfactory nerves. Each day this week, we'll evaluate the odors you will find at various T stops. Today, we'll breathe in the Green Line--slowly: BU Stops (all of them): Natty Light, vodka, wet UGGS, Acqua di Gio cologne, raging......

For the past few months, Bostonist has engaged in a scientific experiment. We've been sniffing around T stops to find out which ones are the most pleasant and which ones are an offense to the olfactory nerves. Each day this week, we'll evaluate the odors you will find at various T stops. Today, the Blue Line: Aquarium: High tide, dolphin pee Airport: Pleather luggage, SFO-BOS redeye sweat, pee Government Center: Dunkin Donuts, stale cigarette......

Mike Doughty proved Saturday night that the Hannah Montana scalping uproar could be easily solved if Miley Cyrus and her target audience were old enough to drink. While welcoming his audience of about 75 people to the intimate basement space of the Lizard Lounge, the singer-songwriter and former Soul Coughing front man explained that tickets to the evening’s show had sold out in one minute. There had been postings on Craigslist charging $100 a ticket.......

They rode before us on Duck Boats and flat-bed trucks, with microphones and punk bands, flags and signs. Some came with camcorders, others with disposable cameras. Your 2007 World Champion Boston Red Sox lineup consisted of a group of men united under a team name and cause, but let's face it: we had one really eclectic bunch of characters. Tuesday's Rolling Rally celebration gave the fans quick opportunities to see just how different the guys......

--Well, that didn't take long. The BPD announced that it arrested 18 people during today's Red Sox Rolling Rally. All the arrests were for disorderly. For the record, Bostonist saw absolutely no disorderly along Boylston, unless people refused to climb down from trees and the tops of the public toilets. --The Red Sox fans who were arrested after celebrating Game 4 against Cleveland were arraigned yesterday. Some admitted to bad behavior, while others, according......

The Red Sox returned from a little trip of consequence out West on Monday and found several thousand fans waiting to welcome them back and get a taste of the victory parade planned for Tuesday. A caravan of buses rolled up to the park shortly after 5 p.m. Monday afternoon and those in attendance didn't have to wait long to see the hardware they'd been lusting after all post-season long: Tom Werner, John Henry, and......

--The BPD has issued another warning asking Red Sox fans to "play it safe," and they have announced that they will shut down the Fenway area one inning early. The last time they announced a warning, before Game 7 against the Cleveland Indians, they said they would shut things down for the 7th inning, but for tonight's Game 4: If you are not already inside an establishment, be it a bar or restaurant, you will......

Bostonist had been holding out with the hopes that tickets to tonight's game would magically fall out of the sky, but we're finally accepting the fact that that's not going to happen. What to do? Live Blog, of course! We here at Bostonist HQ are going to be online and posting about the game in real time tonight, beginning around 8 p.m. We'll be offering up our running commentary and we encourage you to join......

We did our best to spread the word on Sunday that Boston Police would be cracking down on debauchery outside Fenway Park during Game 7 of the ALCS, but let's face it: we're naturally curious. We wanted to see with our own eyes what the scene was like down by the ballpark, given the likelihood of stories running wild about who was going to take it too far: the crowd or the police. Police had......

Imagine, if you will, sitting with a few hundred people clamoring for space around a campfire. Two storytellers are perched by the flames, spinning their tales. The language is unfamiliar to you, but that doesn't matter - the words are flying out of their mouths too quickly for anyone to be able to string them together into clear sentences. You can get the gist of what's happening in the story plot, largely due to the......

LAist began the month with a new food series exploring the popular and unknown late-night eats around town. If a Top Chef winner opened up a late-night spot in Los Angeles, denizens would flock to it, yet the LA Times and other media might be wary. Turning to sports, the Dodger season was quite memorable in the way that it imploded and the LA County Sheriff's Department made some games of their own such as......

Congratulations, Sox fans! You made it through approximately three minutes of the Red Sox Rally Monday festivities at City Hall Plaza before the first chants of "Yankees Suck" filled the air. New record! Well done! A few thousand fans descended upon the plaza early Monday afternoon to cheer on their hometown baseball team (and decry the arch rivals) for the Boston version of the shindigs going on across the country. Rally Monday was a tradition......

The Boston Globe assembled yet another online photo album that is custom-made for workers to peruse during lunch break. Only this time around, the Globe tackled a touchy subject - "What makes a true Bostonian?" As opposed to what? A false one? And how long do you have to live here to get your credentials? Not to pick on the Globe, but any kind of list such as this is going to have its problems,......

A phalanx of U-Haul vans driven by college students has descended upon the city. Eventually, one of these vans will get stuck under an overpass on Storrow Drive. That's when you know fall is here. So Bostonist's writers have compiled a list of tips so both students and year-round residents can learn to coexist. 1. If you plan on attending the Sox game on Labor Day weekend, brace yourself. Some nitwit set up the schedule......

Vermont's big buzz band, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, released Tuesday its second full-length and major label debut, "This Is Somewhere," yesterday - the band kicked off the big day in New York City for an appearance on "Good Morning America" and wrapped it up with an intimate hometown release party in Burlington, Vt. last night. We'd be pretty tired today, were we in the band, but Potter (vocals, organ, guitar), Scott Tournet (guitar), Bryan......

Ah, the New York/Boston debate. While many point their fingers at Boston for stoking the flames on a regular basis (chants of "Yankees Suck" heard everywhere might have something to do with it), we can now point a little of the blame back to NYC. Gawker, having decided that they'd chastised Britney Spears' parenting techniques enough, shocked readers across the globe today by turning its typically New Yawk-centric eye beyond the boroughs. But, in characteristic......

No offense to the other locations at which Harry Potter celebrations were held on Friday evening, but it was clear that if you wanted to get Boston's ultimate HP countdown experience, you had to whisk yourself off to Harvard Square. With a cluster of bookshops steps away from each other and a courtyard concert headlined by Draco & the Malfoys and Harry & the Potters, the Square served for a night as the local center......