The BGN News Archive

Wes Eichenwald takes us back to Allston's Johnny D's.

A bright spot in the week was Wes Eichenwald's story A Dive Bar Punk Club, Zines, Bands, Suzy Rust, and Me: A Tale of 1980s Subcultural Boston about on Allston's Johnny D's, Suzi Rust and the Liberty Guardian. (It's on substack but we accessed it without subscribing.) Wes waxes on about friendly neighborhood vibe of Johnny D's.

For a while Suzy Rust, another regular, published club zine named The Johnny D's Liberty Guardian. Wes delves into some of the content of the 'zine. Much of that content was supplied by Suzi Rust, a memorable person, another peculiar personality that the Boston scene produces regularly. Suzi was a Thrift Store aficionado and by all accounts a brilliant person.

Wes links to our page on the closing of Johnny D's in February 1986. It all brought forth memories of Allston and the awesome place Johnny D's became. That section of Harvard Ave was popping. Miss Lyn lived in that hood during those years (1983-86) and hung at the bar even before Rick Paige started booking bands. There were house parties in band houses. Ed Moose Savage had the song "20 Ashford St" about the (in)famous house there.

Like Kenmore Square it was a place to hang out. You would see band people on the street, especially near Mr. Music. It was a place where the music, the scene, the commerce and the creative people combined to make a special era. The bar later become the Common Ground restaurant and in a sad postscript in November of 2018 the top of the façade of the building building collapsed and injured two people.

If you were around then, you will definitely want to read this. If you weren't you will too! It's steeped in some awesome local scene history. And poor Wes will never understand why he felt that Suzy Rust didn't like him.

Sapling posted a very interesting and thoughtful message on Facebook. For a while they've been trying to find a way off Facebook. They joined Bluesky social as a first step. Sapling Bluesky page. In an effort to replace Facebook event pages they are posting shows on the Patch and Worcester Magazine event pages. They also talk about digital flyers. Those are good to use on Bluesky and elsewhere. They even talk about print flyers. There are still places to post and places to leave them (Record stores for one).

We're up against the establishment here, and punks were never comfortable with the establishment. We also realize that many people never really go beyond Facebook. We don't like depending on big corporations that's why we like our website where we have control. Sapling did influence us in the fact that now we have a BGN page on Bluesky…

It's been a long wait for a documentary on Redd Kross, now we have Born Innocent. will be playing at the Regent Theatre in Arlington on January 29, Wednesday. Tickets are here.

Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo) makes one million a year from a twenty second theme song to the cable show Ridiculousness. The theme is just the beginning of "Uncontrollable Urge". The lesson to bands is to get your songs into films and TV shows. Article in the NME

The Regent Theatre in Arlington has a documentary on the Fuzztones tomorrow Thurday Feb 6.
It's directed by Danny Garcia (The Rise and Fall of The Clash, Looking for Johnny, Sad Vacation, STIV, Rolling Stone: Life and Death of Brian Jones, Nightclubbing). The Fuzztones Vs The World features over 30 interviewees including the band's founder and leader Rudi Protrudi, Lana Loveland, Deb O'Nair, Jayne County, Lenny Kaye and more.

Here's the Regent Theatre page.

Here's the Facebook event page.

City Winery informed their customers that with the New Year is a new policy. On top of the ticket charge they want each person to spend a minimum of $25.00.

The announcement: "We're writing to share an important update: starting with this week's newly announced shows and all future shows that go on sale, there will be a $25 minimum spend on food and beverage per person for all events. This new policy is essential to sustaining your experience, which prioritizes giving the majority of ticket sales directly to the talented artists who grace our stage. While we encourage you to spend that or more for our shows that you have tickets or were already on sale, the minimum will not be enforced."

That unleashed a hate storm for the club on Social Media, some of that on their own Facebook page. This is not an unheard of move for a nightclub, but it's also a signal that the club may be in financial trouble. Time will tell. City Winery is not a favorite place...we endured it for a night to see John Cooper Clarke but would rather not go anyway...now with an additional charge?.....

VIDEOS......

The Prozacs have a new video for their title song off the album Obsession. It deals with fanaticism and addiction of all kinds. It applies to our punk music obsession for sure. The video was created by Brazilian punk animator Felipe Guarche. The imagery is inventive and done in various styles to keep your eyes glued to the vid.

The Stiv Baters film by Danny Garcia, Stiv: No Compromise No Regrets is now up on YouTube. It's an hour and a half long. It begins with what Stiv was doing in Paris at the end. It then switches to his life story. He's from Ohio with nice parents. He was in bands early. The first was Mother Goose. They have a clip and Stiv is bare chested, a la Iggy, even then.
Just before the Dead Boys it was the group Frankenstein. Here and all through are great, if rough, videos of Stiv onstage. You get a lot of stories from Jimmy Zero. Jimmy says the end of the Dead Boys was when a high profile manager asked Cheetah Chrome to quit heroin or else. Cheetah declined. There were stories of Stiv 'car surfing' which is standing on top of a car as it's on the highway. There is a long time spent on the slow decline and final death of Stiv. That's very sad.

"Dr. Crippen" by The Spackles seems like an upbeat song but it's about a notorious murderer that has been immortalized at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London. The group now has a video for the song. The animation was done by Mike Howlett with what he says was, "Art swipes, sketchy illustration, and shaky animation". It looks good to us and it tells the story, as the song does, in less than two minutes. The Spackles material is marked by the groups creative searching for different ideas. We think this novel story-telling horror musical is a winner.

RIP David Lynch!!

Lynch had influence beyond films. He was very particular about the music he used in his films. Our local band Diablogato used Lynchian imagery in the video for their song "Lost Highway". Director Shawn Reilly did an admirable job in the set designs. See that above left.

Brooklyn Vegan has an article that features ten music videos by Lynch. They include Chris Isaacs, Moby, Donovan, Interpol and Nine Inch Nails. There is a video for BlueBob who is really John Neff. Lynch has Neff singing in front of red curtains and has scenes with Naomi Watts. This was done in 2001, the same time as Mulholland Drive. See the video above right.

The I Want You have made memorable videos. The current one is for "Chance". The setup is clever and creates an otherworldly aura that illuminates the song. The band is playing poker. Three are moving double/triple speed. The remaining singer is hardly moving, basically just his mouth, as he sings. This reinforces the idea of time that is in the lyrics as the protagonist wants to go back in time and fix his bad relationship. We don't know if it's literal or figurative when he says, "if I had that chance again, I wouldn't stab you in the back". With that question in mind, this becomes the shortest noir film you'll ever see.

RADIO......

Brian Young on A Crash Course for the Ravers played six songs from Live at the Rat on his 1/11 show. They were Willie Loco and the Boom Boom Band with "At the Rat", DMZ doing "Boy from Nowhere", the Inflictors's instrumental "Norkis from the North", Third Rail's "Bad Ass Bruce", The Boize "I Want Sex", and ending with the Real Kids doing "Better Be Good". Earlier he played a cut of Iggy and the Stooges covering The Outsider's 60s hit "Time Won't Let Me" from Psychophonic Medicine, Disc 1. We never heard that before.

A Crash Course for the Ravers show is on WMFO 91.5 FM on Saturdays at 1pm. After that go to the WMFO schedule page Hit the Crash Course for the Ravers show on 1pm on Saturday, then hit the 'archive' button.

Skybar began his 1/14 Rising show with a Geoff Palmer song that we didn't know was out. "Exit Wounds" is a single from an upcoming EP titled Kodak Flash. That's good news right there. Going by the lyrics 'exit wounds' are the hurt one gets from one's love leaving you. Ouch. The music has the rushed feeling of Palmer's upbeat rockers. We have it below.

On checking out "Exit Wounds" we found out that we missed a live album that Palmer released in the summer. Live at Punk Rock Raduno recorded in Bergamo, Italy. The band was Palmer, Tim Spraque (drums) and Kurt Baker (bass). Some stellar tunes are in there. There's "This Monkey" which we still are nuts for and "Many More Drugs" that got a lot of attention upon release. There's one cover of the Pixies "Wave of Mutilation". We have that album lined up below.

Later in the show Skybar had an interview with Chris Conway and Steve O'Brien from the Gypsy Moths. Their first self-released album, Alright, was all covers. They say that process taught them a lot. When they started doing all originals they hooked up with Rum Bar Records. They have a wide range of influences and they move from one style to another on purpose. Skybar played a few album cuts and Chris and Steve did a few songs live in the studio. One was a song that will be released on Rum Bar in a few weeks. Their latest single release is "Heart To Break". We have the interview below.

Skybar's Rising show is on WMFO 91.5 FM on Tuesdays at 8pm. After that go to the WMFO schedule page The Rising show at 8pm on Tuesday, then hit the 'archive' button.

Joanie Lindstrom played a cool garage/psych group the Sound Reasons on her WMBR Late Risers Club show on 1/16. They have a four song EP on Roque Records. This is an excellent release. We have it embedded below.

Another song that stuck out to us was from 1997. It was "The Birdman" by Thee Michelle Gun Elephant from Japan. It's pretty great. You can hear it on the video for the song or the live performance.

To hear Joanie's whole show go to the WMBR archive page and hit the Late Risers Show for Thursday 1/16.

PODCASTS.........

Kenny Chambers of Moving Targets was on Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico this week 1/13. He's a return guest on the show. Steev introduced Kenny and said he was getting better and better and we think that too. The rebooted Moving Targets have been releasing superior material. Kenny was frank and said that the clubs he's playing in Europe now are smaller than the 700 capacity clubs he played touring with Bullet LaVolta back in the day. The current band has been together six years now. Kenny has some cool stories. One was that he played "Pay to Cum" over the phone to the Bad Brains manager to get on a bill with Bad Brains. He has a writing credit on a Lemonheads song and he doesn't know why! He says that Tang Records licensed a Moving Targets' song to some porno film ages ago. Kenny lives in Baltimore now. The next album comes out in fall.

Elastic Glam is now OFF Facebook and Instagram!! Sethy says there's less stress immediately. They are on Bluesky .
The Elastic Glam Show (1/18) lined up a show featuring new releases from new glam artists…but not before a dose of T.Rex with "Rip Off". Silver Glam's song "Rock 'N Roll Dream" was indeed dreamy. The ethereal feeling continued with The Voltz's "Children of the Stars". Things got grittier with Gyasi's "Cheap High". The new kept coming on with Sack, Automatic Shoes (Sabbath cover), Weird Bloom, Somethin' Brewin' and the can't be beat Bobbie Dazzle. This was a very satisfying show.

In the Elastic Glam show for 1/25 Sethy played a new glam artist Ian Donaldson of Glasgow who sang about the glories of glam in "Just Another Rock N Roll Song". That was super and followed by Marmalade! We have that Donaldson song below.

There's more new glam from SilverGlam, Gyasi, The Voltz ("Children of the Stars" = nice.), Jim Lea ("All I Want Is You") and Bobbie Dazzle. Then the classic "Fox on the Run" by Sweet. We embed the show below.

On Sonic Overload on 1/13 Al Quint marked Anita Bryant's passing with a parcel of hardcore tunes. They were Dead Kennedy's "Moral Majority"/"Religious Vomit", Clitboys - "Gays OK", Angry Red Planet - "Mummy From Hollywood", Poison Idea - "Thorn in My Side" and Toxic Reasons - "Destroyer". Hardcore proves again that it has more pointed and meaningful lyrics than a lot of other rock. We have Toxic Reasons embedded below to illustrate that.

Along with that song we have The Blood with their song "Megalomania". That song begins with a slow piano part. It's got clear guitar riff that sounds unusual for a hardcore song. It's from 1983 and the group was English. The third song got us from the title "You're Not A Punk" by the Spermbirds. The lyrics strike out at people the singer thinks are not a punk. We like the righteous rant. They say, "You're not a punk, so just stop tryin'/You're clothes are good but your brain is dyin'/You're an embarrassment to what we believe/Just take your skateboard and - Fuck off!" All the lyrics are here.

On the 1/20 Sonic Overload show Al played "All For the Love of Rock 'n Roll" by Ram Jam. We know it from the Tuff Darts and heard it when they played The Rat and The Club back in 1977. Did we know it was a cover back then? Can't remember now! We have that embedded below with another oddity. It's cover of "Train Kept a Rolling" with a different title of "Lemon Tea" and different lyrics…still good guitar work though by the group Sheena & the Rokkets.
And then you have to delve into the curated hardcore that Al gives. We have two songs. One is from a Rhode Island group Ruin It and the blistering tune "Shamaniac". We finish with a political rant that hardcore was made to deliver, "Welfare for the Rich" by the Nihilistics.

You can hear the whole show on the Sonic Overload web page.

The Miserable Failure Podcast interviewed Kyle Paradis bass player of Oh the Humanity! this week. Kyle lives in Salem. He said that Opus, now rebranded as Hallowed Ground, is starting shows again. (though we don't see any gigs listed yet) Kyle is an independent recording engineer that works from New Alliance and has been in Oh the Humanity since 2021. Since both were Rush fans there's some time to talk about them.

Kyle talked about the recording process for the album which they did in New Bedford. They had one nine day stretch recording the base tracks. When Kyle talks about getting the record on a label and setting up the release you understand how much work and thought goes into that. Kyle reveals some songs are in drop D tuning, even down to C#, which is something to listen for on the record. There's some interesting talk on tuning drums. The band does their own booking. Kyle knows that making a living from playing in a band is not a thing, sad to say that's the reality. The album came out last Friday 1/24. We review the alubm in the next item below.

NEW MUSIC/CDs......

We've been impressed by Oh the Humanity from the very first time we saw them at PA Lounge in 2016. We saw them many times after that and they were always undeniably powerful. You can tell that from their recorded material too, including this new album Ground to Dust.

They have several ways they vary their guitar attack (Guitarists are Silvio and Dileso). One of the things that they do is mix a wall of thrash with cleanly articulated guitar playing; for instance the beginning of "Worth Nothing", "Never Do Another" and "Last Gasp".
Then they break things up with twin guitar riffs and then some straight soloing. This is a guitar lover's album. The great thing is that all that is always subservient to delivering the song.
The group always sounds monumental and that never happens without a tight rhythm section: drummer Santoro and bass player Pardis build a high pedestal for the rest of the group.

Kevin Athas is one of the best front persons around now. He's a focus in the live show. In the recording he brings personality to bear in some melodic emo style singing coupled with screamo sections. All songs are three minutes or less except for the title cut "Ground to Dust" which is six minutes. That gives the guitars time to get almost operatic during the twin guitar soloing.

We like the lyrics to "Worth Nothing". "They keep telling us/ we're worth nothing./ They keep telling us/Keep your heads down/Keep on working." It's a moving portrait of a consumer society and the trap it can be for the poor.
"Circumstances" tells the chilling reality of a desperate mother living on the street trying to provide for her children.
These lyrics are heart rendering tales of social injustice and personal trials. Impactful words if you read them while listening to the music and it will make you feel the power of Keven's vocalizing. The lyrics come with the vinyl version.

It's hard to beat an album like this. Top notch playing, quality recording, meaningful lyrics and emotive singing.

We were so happy to see this new full album Made in Post-Truth America by Circus Battalion. They give us the pure punk hit we are always looking for. Look at "Snorting Glass" where the person informs us, "I live in hell, never well /The end is near, ain't it swell?" Evidently this snorting glass is the worst drug choice ever. They know, "Barely made it to 34/You shouldn't make it/You won't make it". If it didn't reflect reality so closely you could laugh.

It includes previous singles "Destroy this Life" which is a rant against gentrification and "X Acto" and they are still highlights here. "Post-Truth America" is the political reality now, that's why this album was released near Inauguration Day. They have some nice lines in here. The whole album is a solid collection of punk and much of it political punk. We've seen Circus Battalion get better musically and sharper lyrically through these last few years. Now, we look to them to give us the old school punk we love.

With Kurt Baker you have to wonder, how many punk pop gems can he write? In any case he has another with "Warm In The Winter". The song was written with a long time writing partner Wyatt Funderburk. In the lyrics the singer's world is topsy-turvy with it being "warm in the winter, cold in the summer". It's wonderful how the lyrics carry this theme through the song; that along with the guitar and group playing, and the pitch perfect singing style, produces such a warm feeling. It's a nice winter treat for pop fans.

We're going to continue the season's theme with the next song. "I Hate the Summer" is by an Italian (Vicenza) group Hearts Apart. It has a good punk sound with rowdy Oi sounding backup singers. The guitar solo is Chuck Berry riffing which is unexpected amidst the punk going's on. The singer hates the summer, alas, because he's reminded of his lost love. The song is from a soon to be released six song EP Summer Bummer.

Canyons and Locusts' new song is "Anna Save A Life". It's at the point now that we know the Canyons and Locusts sound and look forward to the new material. Their minimal set up of drums, guitar and voice means there's nowhere to hide. The voice and its phrasing are the main drawing points. The lyrics which are ambiguous still hit hard when they are coupled with the pounding beat.

The Woods are a South Shore group. We've seen them a few times at Pinz in Kingston and The C Note in Hull. They're a trio that always sounds full with skillful playing and excellent vocals.
You can hear that dynamic on their latest release Indiscernible Creatures. Some of the songs follow a pattern. They have a 20 to 30 second soft intro, then the first section of song is tuneful, the second cranks up and then the singer gets into screaming mode. That format works for us. Time and time again we found ourselves perking up and getting an emotional boost as the songs kicked into these higher levels.

We liked a lot of the songs, especially, "Learning to Swim", "Thinning the Herd", "Massachusetts" and "A Perfect World" which we have embedded below. Another thing we like is that the band has their own album download service - or it looks like that. No going to Spotify or Bandcamp. They do it themselves! It doesn't look complicated and it works in a very similar way to Bandcamp. Good for them. Hear and buy the album on their website

Here's some good shows coming up .....

February 1, 2024 (Saturday) Minibeast, TELL, Janky Teeth at The Jungle

February 1, 2024 (Saturday) Sandy Clams, Black Helicopter, Bad Verb, and Ghosts & Shadows at  O'Briens

February 1, 2024 (Saturday) Degenerates of Punk, Marianne Toilet, Zombii, Jonee Earthquake Band at The  Midway

February 1, 2024 (Saturday) Electric Street Queens, Blood Morons, Resting Clown Face, The Humanoids at Ralph's Diner, Worcester

February 7, 2024 (Friday) Moon Base One Opening Weekend!!! Mallcops, 5ever and Pintail at 6PM

February 8, 2024 (Saturday ) Circus Battallion, Structure Sounds, The Prozacs, Scotty Saints at The Midway All Ages 3PM Matinee

February 8, 2024 (Saturday) Lesser Birds, The Golden Years of Dutch Pop, Dayillies, Charming Arson at The Midway 9PM

February 8, 2024 (Saturday) Cathedral Ceilings, Bad Idea USA, Answerman, Ruffian Dick at O'Brien's

February 8, 2024 (Saturday) Moon Base One Opening Weekend!!! Clay Pigeons, Lucia and the Lunch Boxes, Tiny the Bear, Cape Crush (solo acoustic) 1PM

February 8, 2024 (Saturday) Moon Base One Opening Weekend!!! New Forms, I have no mouth, Silent Spring, The Promised End - 6PM

February 8, 2024 (Saturday) Circus Battalion, Structure Sounds. The Prozacs. Scotty Saints and The True Believers at The Midway - 3PM Matinee

February 8, 2024 (Saturday) Lesser Birds, The Golden Years of Dutch Pop, Daylilies, Charming Arson at The Midway 8Pm show

February 8, 2024 (Saturday) The Cretins, Samsara, Lost Out West at The Square Root

February 8, 2024 (Saturday) Thigh Scrapers, Huck2, The Stigmatics at The Jungle

February 8, 2024 (Saturday) Kids Like you & Me Presents Nurse Joy, Reklama, G. Gordon Gritty, Target Scammers, ICU at Cambridge Community Center FB page

February 8, 2024 (Saturday) The Cadavers, Classic Ruins, and The Bickersins at Ralph's Diner Worcester

February 9, 2024 (Sunday) Moon Base One Opening Weekend!!! Pregame Rituals, The Modern Faces, Canadian Sailor, Weatherman 1PM

February 15, 2024 (Saturday) A V-Day Matinee with Muck & The Mires, The Carnivals, Stop Calling Me Frank - 3-7 at the Midway

February 21, 2024 (Friday) Tsk Tsk Task, Gut Health, S.C.O.B.Y, Fat Randy at Moon Base One in Salem

February 22, 2024 (Saturday) Huck 2, The Stigmatics, The Thigh Scrapers at The Jungle

February 22, 2024 (Saturday) 10 Year anniversary show for Worshipper also with Summoner and Roadsaw at Widowmaker Brewing in Braintree Wood Rd. Eventpage

March 6, 2024 (Thursday) The Avengers, Lupo Citta Middle East UP 7PM.

March 8, 2024 (Saturday) Abbey Reunion Show with Yes Nanny, Eric Salt & The Electric City, The Grownup Noise at Sally O'Brien's

March 9, 2024 (Sunday) The Surfrajettes are at Taffetta Music Hall in Lowell, MA TIX

March 10, 2024 (Monday) The Surfrajettes and The Black Widows are at Alchemy, Providence RI

March 12, 2024 (Wednesday) Bestial Mouths, Gossip Collar, DJ Vamp Daddy at O'Brien's

March 14, 2024 (Friday) Permanent Blue, The New Noise, Return Address at Moon Base One Salem

March 29, 2024 (Saturday) The Marvels Reunion!!!! with The Downhauls, Bad Terms at Deep Cuts Medford TIX

April 11 - 13, 2025 (Friday-Sunday) Dark Spring Festival at The Middle East Up - check out the Event page here.

April 17, 2025 (Thursday) Dead Boys with Richard Lloyd (Of Television) at Deep Cuts, Medford, MA, 7pm

April 20, 2025 (Friday) Gang of Four at The Crystal Ballroom, Somerville. Tickets.

May 4, 2025 (Friday) One Fall, DNA's Evolution, Type 66, The Mighty Suicide Squirrels at The Middle East UP

May 11, 2025 (Sunday) The Queers at The Middle East UP

June 27, 2024 (Sunday) The Gruesomes, Muck & The Mires, The Chelsea Curve at The Middle East UP EventPage

CONTACT US AT....misslynbgn@yahoo.com Send us your gig listings, your anything else you've got!! You want your CD reviewed?? Contact us for that too.