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Friday, March 29, 2024

Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys could be named a best emerging artist in a Deli Magazine online poll. (Photo: Justin Martin)

Voting runs through Wednesday on Deli Magazine’s poll of the best emerging artists in New England, with the top spots held as of Monday night by Boston bands Brothers McCann (443 votes, or 17 percent of the total) and The Wandas (404 votes and 15 percent) and Burlington, Vt., band Blue Button (379 votes and 14 percent). Boston’s Love in Stockholm (138 votes and 5 percent) and Somerville’s Abbie Barrett (133 votes and 5 percent) were in the next tier.

Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys, a mainly Somerville troupe heralded for its unique, performance art-style shows, was just underneath (131 votes and 5 percent).

Mali Sastri of Jaggery, seen with Andrew Tarek at a 2009 show, is organizing a Feb. 12 UnValentine’s Day show. (Photo: Prehensile Eye)

But its votes in some six hours since the afternoon had grown 32 percent, while Brothers McCann had seemingly tapped its fan base early on; in the same period, its votes grew by only a single vote, or 0.2 percent.

Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys members are in an honored-to-be-nominated mode, saying via e-mail that the band was “deeply honored and very excited by this amazing opportunity” to be recognized by the online magazine, described as “a 100 percent independent effort born of the love of music in all its many amazing forms. They cover 100 percent independent artists (Like your FAVE Broken Toys) and help them get a wider audience of like-minded music-loving folks.”

But that doesn’t mean the troupe doesn’t want votes.

The band has a 10:15 p.m. Feb. 10 appearance scheduled at T.T. the Bear’s Place before Rob Potylo, the musician and comedian who led the Web reality sitcom “Quiet Desperation” to a run on cable television, and the Army’s Edrie will be performing Feb. 12 at an “UnValentine’s Day Org” event at the Lizard Lounge. The Org performance party series has always been held at the South End artists community Cloud Club, but this one is open to the public, with early tickets for sale online for $10 rather than the $12 admission at the door.

“Don’t have a date this Valentine’s Day? Sickened by the corporatization of this ill-fated emotion? Break two hearts with one poison-tipped arrow and celebrate an UnValentine’s Day this year,” said Mali Sastri, of the band Jaggery, in an invitation e-mail.

She described the so-far six-act event as “songs and stories of love lost, heartbreak, breakups and the wreck love can leave you in.” In addition to Jaggery and Edrie, there will be performances from the surf and go-go band Trabants, which includes the Army’s Kevin Corzett; Lach, described as “New York City’s anti-folk hero”; a new project by Beat Circus frontman Brian Carpenter called Brian Carpenter & the Confessions; and storytelling by massmouth.

“It’s a very special lineup, with each act interpreting love lost or never had in their own way,” Sastri said.

Because the Orgs have been cozy, special performances, holding one in a public place runs the risk of losing what’s special about them, she said, urging participants to therefore bring the feeling with them.

“Bring your broken heart. Bring a broken-hearted friend,” she said. “Let’s make the Lizard Lounge into a cozy, intimate, living room — the kind that breathes.”

Doors open at 8:30 p.m. The Lizard Lounge is at 1667 Massachusetts Ave., between Harvard and Porter squares. T.T. the Bear’s is at 10 Brookline St. in Central Square.