NEWS!
The day after we posted last week’s news we got the word that Leroy
Radcliffe died. His work with the Modern Lovers and
Robin Lane and the Chartbusters would classify him as the ultimate
sideman. He must have been privy to lots of amazing moments on stage and off
in his career.
Also a big loss for long time Boston music fans was the death of DJ
Little Walter. He died from covid on his 73rd birthday. He played the
‘oldies’ when they were hardly even old on his Time Machine radio
show that moved from station to station. He got his start on radio at WTBS (now
WMBR) He also had a record store in the Combat Zone where many of us bought
our early records.
The long delayed Nervous Eaters/Barrance Whitfield/Willie Loco and
the Boom Boom Band and Carissa Johnson Show at the Paradise has been
scheduled now for Thursday September 30th. That seems possible now.
Here's The Facebook Event page!
Joanie Lindstrom was on the
Bradley Jay’s
show on January 13. The twist here was that Joanie interviewed Bradley. Bradley
went to Poland/Berlin as has Joanie so she was able to give some leading questions.
These are two constant travelers and their conversation goes deeper into traveling
alone or in an unusual place than a regular traveler would know about.
Bradly
takes plentiful photos and videos to illustrate. In times when we can barely
leave the house these travel shows fit the bill for entertainment.
Tim Kelly is back on the Late Risers Club.
It’s been a decade since he was in the line up. Tim's now in Chicago but
since the corona virus shutdown is making remote recording the new norm he can
do a show that way. He was one of our fave DJ back in the day because he had
great taste in new music. Listen to Tim on Tuesdays 10am to noon at
88.1 fm or online at: https://wmbr.org/www/listen
Corin Ashley did his interview on Oh
Hello Boston. We wished they archived these interviews but they
don’t. Corin went over his early times with the Pills
and had some great touring stories. He explained how he ended up in Abbey Road
studios to do a few tracks. They also gave him time to spin some songs, and
he had some good ones like: “She Cracked” - Velvet Crush (from Providence),
“Bloom” - Gigolo Aunts, “Something Growing Inside” -
Gravel Pit and “Not So Bad At All” – Candy Butchers.
Oh, Hello Boston is a nice set up. It’s on 24/7 and
has no commercials. The songs are a variety of local music. There’s only
a few people running this. Like everyone out there they need help keeping things
going. They want to remain ad free. You can help by contributing to their Patreon
page HERE. :
Red on Red Records is having a Virtual Showcase on February
12. Included int eh line up are their two newest bands The Jacklights and LInnea's
Garden. Here's the
FB page.
Boston Emissions announced this week that they've started
a YouTube channel called BE TV. Anngelle Wood
has done video shows for Once Virtual Venue so she is well versed on the medium.
Check it out at BE TV.
In this week’s Boston Emissions Anngelle played a new
song by former Bostonian Bleu called “Golden Child”.
It’s a a full blown Beatle-like production. It deals with the guy who
just left Washington on Wednesday. There’s probably going to be more of
this as time goes on. The Video for the song is here: Golden
Child
She played “You’re the Worst “ by In the Meantime,
one of the many great ones off their latest Adolescent
Purgatory album. This weeks Boston
Emissions show can be heard here.
Crow Follow and Linnea’s Garden did
a combined video shoot called Band 4 Band Video Drop. Crow Follow
began the show with the already done video for “Wrong Devil” which
is a good showcase for their style. Then
Linnea’s Garden
did their song “Friends” in a recent video. They then moved to the
outside setting and the bands switched off doing songs.
Linnea’s Garden did “Business” which
had a attention getting sound achieved on guitar by playing a wide interval
of two notes. It was sparse yet had character. It seems like we have
spent the covid shutdown seeing Linnea’s Garden getting better
and better every time we see them!!
Crow Follow have benefited from having a trademark sound and
knowing it. They make the videos, like the two on this project, reflect the
feeling in a visual translation.
In the end the two bands got together and played “Doom Buggy”.
The idea of two bands getting together and interacting is a great one. They
should do it again or others should take the hint and try to something similar.

Back Porch Carousel had another session last Sunday. It had
that same warm, welcoming vibe they always achieve. This time Woody Giessmann
(Del Fuegoes) was guest talking about his Right Turn organization
that would benefit from the fund gathered from the night.
They began with a prerecorded song “Long Fall Down” which sounded
so much like an Adam Sherman song that it must have been. Everyone
in the Back Porch line up sings a verse. What a strong beginning. Adam later
did his “Knock Down Day” which is another hard hitting song. Adam
has a new album imminent.
Eric Martin did a Roky Erickson song and a song from the Neat’s
era.
After 10 months of no live music it’s interesting to see a few of these
live streams become a regular viewing habit, Back Porch Carousel is one of those.
You can watch
it on their Facebook page.
The Chet’s Last Call documentary is going to be shown
on the Once Virtual Venue site, on Saturday February 20th at 8PM. If you haven’t
seen it yet this is the time. You get Chet’s story along with the story
of the Boston scene in the '80s along with a lot of familiar locals. Our
review of the documentary is here. Tix· $5 - $20 via Eventbrite.
Here is the Facebook
Event Page.
Yet another record store opens! This one Wanna Hear It Records
in Watertown at 7 Main St. That is so great!! The store carries new and used
punk, hardcore, indie, emo, rock, metal, hip hop and more. Even in the shutdown
people are starting record stores. It’s a little miracle! An article on
Vanyaland
article is here. Here's the Wanna
Hear It website and Facebook
page.
Boston Hassle posts Part 2 of Ethan Weinstein’s
The Jonathan Richman Files. Ethan tries to grapple with Jonathan’s
turn toward child simplicity. The article includes a Richman letter printed
in Cream Magazine in 1973. “ I love the Four Seasons. I don’t think
rock’n’roll needs ‘masculine arrogance’ “ writes
Jonathan. You can read it on the Boston Hassle site: Jonathan
Richman Files.
Michael Grecco got a great review of his book, Punk,
Post Punk, New Wave: Onstage, Backstage, In Your Face, 1978–1991,
in the Boston Herald this past week. You can order
the book on Amazon.
The Dictators have managed to record and release a new song
with a video called “God Damn New York" It’s that familiar
Dictators sonic blast. When they sing about the rain washing away the scum they
mean the rich people that are taking over, not the street people.
Patti Smith continues to keep busy. On January 20 she was
part of a video from Circa Art. She sang “People Have the Power”.
The video is of here performance interjected with images of the political movements
of the last few years. They go right into a poetry reading from 1978 that is
hard hitting and exciting. She reads sections from Just Kids
and Year of the Monkey. She ends by singing “Grateful”
which is about Jerry Garcia. Patti has made herself count today as much as she
did in the early seventies when she seemed so novel and born for that time.
Watch Patti on Circa Art.
Radio Shows….
There’s been a few songs about Punk Rock Girls but this week we got a
song about the “Punk Rock Boy” by Juniper on Crash
Course for the Ravers. They song came out in June of 2020. It’s light
and bouncy and impossibly catchy. The rest of the album all falls in a similar
groove. “Everybody’s Got a Crush on Chad” is a title that
tells you what that is about. The
album Juniper is on Bandcamp.
Brian Young also played “Magdalena” by Little Billy
Lost. It popped out of the set with it’s drive and the
big chorus of “My Magdalena” with all voices ganged up.
It ramps down at the 2:25 mark and gets quiet with just an acoustic
guitar like a Who song sometimes does before sealing the deal with another
“My Magdalena” chorus. But even that isn’t enough
as they punctuate it all with a few stacato “Hey, Hey Hey’s”
Choice stuff!!
Podcasts..............
The latest podcast from Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico has
an interview with Tom Lyle of Government Issue. GI were a DC
band and Tom talks a lot about the early DC scene. He gives lots of credit to
Bad Brains. He talks about their early shows in Boston at the Gallery East and
other places.
The Boston Beat has a new interview posted of Barry
Marshall of the Marshalls. His first gig with the Marshalls was at
Scituate High in 1975 with Jonathan Richman playing with them for a half hour.
Barry was in a band called Mong with Andy Paley
in 1975/76 and played at CBGB and Max Kansas City on bills with Television and
Talking Heads. The Marshalls recorded for Live at the Rat II that never
came out. The pop end of punk never gets the attention it deserves and Barry’s
contribution isn’t as well-known as some others but this interview shows
his long involvement with Boston punk.
Also on Boston Beat is some episodes called Rat Radio
where they play some Boston Music. Episode #13 is all Lyres/DMZ. Way to go!
Boston Beat also have a video component and they just logged a new interview
with Larry Newman who talks about his Asa Brebner tribute album
I’m Not Gone. You can access
that here.
CDs/ Music..........
See This World’s new album The Future is
2020 is out. The nine songs are short and even the titles are
short (one or two words). Ten months of Covid shutdown have left us feeling
fragile and battered. Not so for See This World they are still raging and ranting
and that kicks us in the ass and helps us stop feeling sorry for ourselves.
And all that ranting is Dave Tree of course. He’s one
great front man. He can scream but he sings so you can hear the words. He gives
all the lyrics a sense of urgency and immediacy. The song “The Sky”
is like a hardcore nursery rhyme. It’s apocalyptic which makes it fit
the current world situation just perfect.
Our fave is "One" which is punctuated with a trebly guitar
riff.
They do one change up and that is with the song “The Bell”. It's
like a folk song. The repetitive lyrics do their job. We wouldn’t have
guessed that they could pull this off. It required some nuances you wouldn’t
think they had.
Paper Tiger, who we have been on about for a few months because
their live streams, have captured our attention every time we've seen them.
They eschew labels and let their music inclinations fall where they want. The
band puts down an intense and thick bed where the singer adds an emotional element
on top.
They have released Mononoke, four song EP that gives
us a chance to get a better grip on the group. More than even one song, we like
letting the whole EP play through and getting that experience. You can catch
their unity as a band in bringing an emotional element to every song.
There’s no doubt after to listening to this that Paper Tigers are a great
new band that we should all be jumping on. They have the songs and they can
deliver it all in a live situation (even live stream).
“Cherry Blossom” has a monumental sound. We love the drums on this.
The drums are again a highlight on “Spirit Folk”.
Here’s the Paper
Tigers’ Facebook page. Here's Mononoke
on Spotify.
Brad Marino has another a new album called Looking for
Trouble on the way. He released a single of “What Do You Know?”
as a primer for the album. It'd a tight rocker that clocks in at 2:21- there’s
nothing extra to muck things up. Brad has all the right instincts when it comes
to songwriting and performing. Everything might be upside down and crazy in
the world but you can depend on Brad to deliver the rocking goods every time.
Listen to it
on on Spotify.
Destiny Street by Richard Hell and the Voidoids was
originally released in 1982 but it never got the massive attention of the first
LP. In 2009 they released Destiny Street Repaired where Hell redid
his vocals and the guitars (by Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Ivan Julian) over
the original rhythm tracks. Not much attention then either. Now it’s a
third try with Destiny Street Remixed. They had the
original 24 track masters and with Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s
remix it anew. It’s on vinyl and CD. The CD is a two disc set with the
original mix remastered, bonus single, demo versions and "Destiny Street
Repaired," the 2009 version of the album.
You can
buy Destiny Street Remixed at Collectors Choice Records.
John Keegan reviews the new song released by Anthony Kaczynski callted "Today".
I don't know about you, but since I opened my first copy of TMWSTW (The
Man Who Sold the World) I've been a fan of posted lyrics. They're like
a key into your head - not to minimize the music, love me a good hook and a
big riff, but the lyrics always bring me in deeper. This is especially true
when they read like you could have written them yourself.
Fireking's new single, Today, is
a stellar example. Anthony Kaczynski pulled this one out of
the finished pile for Speedway, the long-awaited follow
up to Fireking's delicious, sprawling, twenty-two course, Double Trouble
disc. It may ring a bell as it was part of Fireking's later day sets.
The tune sets up a redolent, push-pull-push tension between the bittersweet
lyrics, power pop smarts and Kaczynski's Verlaine tenor. It's lyric rumination
on aging and rock will strike a chord with many if not all BGN readers.
How'd Kaczynski get that key into my head? No, that's not a tear, I just got
something in my eye. Why do I have a compulsion to blast "Today" out
of the tune box of a car I no longer have while the Jibs chase us around a town
I no longer live? Why do I know that down the road there will be another song
playing and I'll remember this feeling?
Anthony says three quarters of the disk is in the can. If Today is any indication,
Speedway is another thing to look forward to post
Zombie Apocalypse. Like a lot of things on hold for the past year, better late
than never.
You
can listen to /purchase Today here.