Jim Boggia

Wed., Aug 6, 7:30 p.m., $20, with Ben Arnold, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.


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Published: Jul 29, 2008

rock/pop

Jim Boggia hasn't always been an easy musician to love. Yes, he's a smartly sardonic singer-songwriter with a raw rasp and a Tin Pan Alley-pop sensibility, whose work easily could have been born from those McCartney/Costello pairings of the '90s. But Boggia hasn't always done the right thing. Though he started out strong with 2001's magical, self-released Fidelity Is the Enemy, his teaming with Philly fellaheen Ben Arnold, Scott Bricklin and Joseph Parsons in 4 Way Street left something to be desired. And 2005's Safe in Sound was solid Runt-like pop but yearned to be more. His new CD, Misadventures in Stereo (Bluhammock), makes up for everything with some of the most pixie-ish power pop to come down the pike since the Raspberries turned sour and the Knack lost its knack. If Boggia's new "To and Fro" isn't the genre's new national anthem, I'll eat my Jellyfish and cut holes in my Shoes.

Listen, You!

Wed., Aug 6, 7:30 p.m., $20, with Ben Arnold, World Café Live, 3025 Walnut St., 215-222-1400, worldcafelive.com.