Joey & the Boston Pops perform for Children’s hospital

Source: [ 7NewsWDH.com ]

BOSTON — New Kids on the Block star, Joey Mcintyre, spread holiday spirit at Boston Children’s Hospital on Tuesday when he teamed up with some of the musicians from the Boston Pops for a special concert.

Ella Belanger, one patient at the hospital, was having a four-hour surgery after Mcintyre’s performance — the holiday concert was the perfect distraction for the 6 year old. It helped her forget her inherent bladder defect, if only for a moment.

“First, they’re going to check my breaking and they’re going to fix me up and stuff,” said Ella.

Mcintyre belted out Christmas carols with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, which took dozens of children’s minds off cancer, chromes disease and heart conditions.

“If we can put a smile on their face, especially right before surgery, that’s a blessing,” said Mcintyre.

Ella’s parents probably needed the distraction more than she did.

“We weren’t expecting it. We walked in and saw one of the fliers that they were coming and it’s been perfect, rather than just sitting here starring at the fish tank,” said Cyndi Belanger, Ella’s mother.

“Boston and this hospital, I used to come here when I was a kid and nothing — just a broken leg or something like that, or my tonsils out, stuff like that, but there’s a huge connection,” Mcintyre said.

Harrington: Here are my Top 10 concerts of 2011 – #1 NKOTBSB

Source: [ MercuryNews.com ]

There were a lot of late nights for me in 2011, but looking back at the 100-plus shows I reviewed — and the dozens of others I just tweeted or blogged about — it’s pretty hard to complain about my schedule.

After all, I got to see a ton of great shows, representing so many different kinds of musical flavors, held in the Bay Area this year. My Top 10 list, narrowed down from what I believed to be roughly 20 very worthy candidates, contains equal amounts of pop, hip-hop, rock and R&B/soul. (Sorry, country fans, your favorite genre only got one nod.) The tally could have been even more diverse, had I decided to also draw from the numerous jazz shows I saw in 2011.

One interesting thing to note: All of my top gigs happened in the San Jose and Oakland areas — underscoring what regular concertgoers have known for years — the Bay Area’s live music scene is no longer dominated by San Francisco.

Here are Top 10 concerts of 2011. Next week: my picks for the best records of the year.

1 NKOTBSB, July 2, HP Pavilion, San Jose: Quit laughing. I’m telling you that NKOTBSB — the cleverly named co-headlining tour by the New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) and the Backstreet Boys (BSB) — was 2011’s top show. I’m a sucker for expertly paced pop spectacles that sweep fans away from beginning to end. And that was this show in a nutshell. I’m not a big fan of either band, but that didn’t stop me from singing along with
true Backstreet Pride on “Shape of My Heart” and acting like a New Kid nut on “Step by Step” on this night.

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