The BGN News Archive

Bob Syring RIP

Tough week folks…we’ve lost two friends.

Bob Syring…. Known by many names but we knew him best as Bob of “Wendy and Bob.” Both long time scenesters who loved the local scene and its people. They had the infamous Sleazy E Ranch in lower Allston. Bob passed away from Parkinson’s disease this past week at the age of 68. He was one of the sweetest guys you would ever meet. He was at every show, at every party, always open to something new.

Wendy says Bob was happy … they went to Spain in October and Wendy says he was at the Prado Museum looking at paintings of his favorite artists just before he passed. We will all miss Bob very much.

Andy Paley died on November 20, he was in hospice care for a short while.

We know Andy from his local bands, The Paley Brothers and the Sidewinders but it’s Andy’s work with high profile musicians, like Brian Wilson, Madonna, Jonathan Richman, NRBQ, Little Richard, Jad Fair, Elton John, and The Ramones, that received a lot of attention. He was also known for his work in television and film, composing music for popular animated series such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Ren & Stimpy as well as many well known movie soundtracks.

In 1972 the Sidewinders had their one amazing album produced by Lenny Kaye. In the Paley Brothers era (1978), Jonathan and Andy were very active in the CBGB’s scene. They showed up in Hit Parader magazine (later Teen Beat) and had Boston as a base for a while holding parties in their Beacon Hill apartment as they got ready to play live with the Paley Brothers record.

Andy worked with the Modern Lovers for many years starting in 1979 and the Real Kids for a short time.

Brian Wilson called him the "most frighteningly talented person that I’ve met." Rest in peace, Andy. That whole story is told on Blowfishs website.

There is a Funding page to help Andy’s sons Jackson and Charlie to pay for their college educations.

Carmelita, among others, are putting together a memorial for Johnboy Franklin that will also be a benefit for Music Drives Us AND a reunion for anyone involved with The Channel.

They have a “stellar line up for bands” and there will be a massive display of Johnboy’s photography and memorabilia which will all be auctioned off to benefit Music Drives Us.

So save the date – Saturday December 28. More info to come!!

We’re used to Cheetah Chrome continuing the legacy of the Dead Boys in concerts. We saw one version in 2017 at Once. Photo from that at right.

Now there‘s new Dead Boys album on Cleopatra coming out sometime in 2025. To hook you right away they give the band line up: Cheetah on guitar and vocals, Clem Burke (Blondie) on drums, and Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) on bass, along with guest performances from James Williamson (The Stooges) and Michael Monroe (Hanoi Rocks).

On top of that they have recordings of demos with Stiv Bators from a studio in Cleveland. They will use those vocals and Cheetah’s with the new band. They promise “raw, visceral energy.” There will be a tour (vocalist not chosen yet) and videos in Spring of 2025.

The story got more complicated this week as Jake Hout, who was the singer for the touring Dead Boys, quit the group. He said that they wanted to use his voice to prime up an AI version of Stiv Bators’ voice to be used on the records.

Cheetah replied with a statement that didn’t directly deny what Jake said but pleaded his case that they were still figuring out what to do and Jake was being unreasonable.

All that info can be found on the Punk News website.

We don’t think you could have dreamed this scenario up in 1977 when Stiv was crawling through the drum set at the Rat.

Little Steven’s Underground Garage has a contest to pick the Coolest Song in the World for 2024. There are three Nervous Eaters songs and a Shang Hi Los song. So many good groups and songs in there.

You can vote once every 12 hours from now to December 20 on the Underground website.

BOOKS......

There’s a new book on punk with an intriguing premise. Punk Beyond the Music: Tracing Mutations and Manifestations of the Punk Virus by Iain Ellis (from England, now in Kansas) metaphorically treats punk as a virus. With that he shows where punk’s traits have shown up everywhere you look.

His premise agrees what we show all the time here at the BGN. We see punk alive and well in the world all the time. The Punk Rock Flea Markets show the lifestyle is alive and well. We see punk fashions all the time. You can even exercise with Punk Aerobics.

American punk has been characterized as apolitical compared to British punk but Ellis disagrees and points to the Dead Kennedy’s, Minor Threat, Riot Grrls and Queercore.

There is a chapter on punk teachers teaching punk. That reminds us of Nancy Barile, a teacher/author who brings her punk sensibilities to the classroom.

There seems to be so much in this 270 page book. You can get an idea on this article in Pop Matters.

What doesn’t seem so punk is the price of the book. A quick look finds it going for $150 with the eBook at $50.

There is an article in the Kansas Reflector that spotlights the local author and has a podcast interview, which we embed below.

VIDEOS......

Great news! Chet’s Last Call the documentary about the club is finally on the streaming platforms. It’s so well done and there is plenty of live band footage done later at Once with the band reunions. The Vitale brothers captured what Chet’s Last Call was all about and that involved the spirit of the whole Boston scene in the beginning of the eighties.

It’s a mere $2.99 on Amazon right now.

RADIO......

Skybar played “Just the Way She Goes” by The Drowns from Seattle on his Rising show (11/19). We liked that and headed to their Bandcamp page . Their latest album is Blacked Out (2/24). We liked the song “All Charged Up,” the way those background voices pile up on the chorus is a killer. The roughly hewn guitar solo is a hit too.

We have it on our Top Ten Songs.

On Skybar’s 11/25 Rising show he had Hilken Mancini as a guest. Hilken came to Boston in 1988 and started a band after seeing the Neighborhoods at Bunratty’s. According to Hilken everything just clicked for her group Fuzzy.

Skybar played six songs off the extremely good Hilken Mancini Band album. Hilken talks a lot about making that album. You can hear some of the songs in the embedded link below or go to the Bandcamp page.

Then there was the whole Punk Rock Aerobics phenomenon that Hilken started.

With the help from Melissa Gibbs Hilken played a few songs live.

Mike on the Mic on WMFO, Saturday 10am had a bunch of guests in the studio. There was all of American Ocelot and Jen D’Angora of the Shang Hi Los. Jen explains the background behind “Morganatic Panic.” American Ocelot relates their origin story and plays a new song in the studio.

Both groups are playing the Burren Backroom on December 5.

We have the interview below.

The Mike on the Mic show is on WMFO 91.5 FM on Saturdays at 9am. After that got to the WMFO schedule page. Hit the Mike on the Mic show on 9am on Saturday, then hit the ‘archive’ button.

PODCASTS.........

Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico had Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eights on the show. Steev Ricardo mentioned that Gretchen Shae has gone through a few groups and seems to have landed with the Middle Eight as a comfortable creative place.

This week their three song EP Inside a Dream was released in its entirety. Hear it below. Catch how the guitarist positively hijacks the title song “Inside a Dream” with his well-constructed solo, and that’s hard to do with Gretchen Shae’s commanding voice.

Gretchen’s first band was called Black Barbie. They opened for Jane County at Mama Kin’s. We first saw Gretchen in the Knock Ups. We saw them for a few years, here's one in 2018, and as Steev mentioned they had a buzz. Covid and other circumstances put an end to the Knock Ups.

The drummer, Nick Mehos, was in the Gala for a while. Gretchen had words of praise for David Minehan and his help in the recording studio. The group talks about the rehearsal space problems in Boston. Gretchen works at Berklee and she talks about what the students are like. She named The Ghouls as a new local band that she listens to.

Another episode (#354) for Blowing Smoke had Tim Shea of Black Helicopter. Tim‘s father was an ambassador so Tim grew up around the world: Liberia, Japan, Turkey, England and Brazil. He ended up in Mass and went to Framingham State. Early music for Tim was glam and metal.

He got a guitar and slowly taught himself to play. His first band opened for the Stompers in Lowell and his next band was Green Magnet School. They knew Joyce Linehan and got good gigs and signed to Sub Pop through her.

When Green Magnet School ran its course, Black Helicopter started soon after.

Tim talked about the song “King of Wormtown” off the That Specific Function album. The song is about the rantings of a local character in a convenience store where Tim worked.

Their new song “Charlestown Burning” is about gentrification. They have 9 songs recorded and will have an album in the spring. Black Helicopter have been together for over 20 years now and still have a cutting edge to them.

The Elastic Glam Show (11/22) started, as it always does, with a T.Rex song, but what a neat song it was. “Sinister Sister and the Queen of the Hop” was a seven minute long live cut with plenty of guitar. It was not released during Bolan’s lifetime. It’s now on the album The Salvador Dali Of Rock 'N 'Roll.

Local artists this week were Jennifer Tefft & the Strange, Little Billy Lost and Tell. Seventies glam throwbacks were obscure picks from NY Dolls (“Subway Train”), Mud (“Last Tango in London”), The Sweet (“Sweet F.A.”) and Suzi Quatro (“Stranger With You”).

A nice new find was the group Girl Tones, a sister duo. They’re garage rock all the way. Here’s a page with a few videos of the group.

On the 11/29 show there were quests DJ Rosie & DJ Bex. They began with a nice T.Rex cover of “Ballrooms of Mars” by Kelly Reilly. Then a sweet Sweet cover of “Hellraiser” by The Sirens which had all those hysterical enthusiastic vocals that are hard to duplicate. We like every Slady song we hear. This week it was a live version of “Know Who You Are”.

They dished out “Queen” by Vancouver’s Clone which is a real modern day glam classic. There were locals Sapling and Girl With A Hawk and throwbacks by Velvet Underground and Suzi Quatro.

Al Quint began his 11/18 Sonic Overload by playing a set in memory of Jeff Ata of Middle Class, which was one of the first hardcore groups. He also did a set to salute the 45th anniversary of the Metal Box by PIL.

We’re going to give you a representative hardcore hit with White Pigs doing “Victims of Society.” Then a demo version of “Demolition Girl” by The Saints Al took off the new boxed Saints set of the first album. Then Rocks doing “You’re So Boring” from Where Birdmen Flew.

Al did an all cover version of the show on 11/20. There are some wild ones. “Warm Leatherette” by Destruction Unit, GG Allen’s “Drink, Fight and Fuck” by Doc Hopper, “Cherry Bomb” by the Cat Burglars, The Breeders with “Lord of the Flies.” There were covers of Boston groups like SSD, Slapshot and Jerry’s Kids.

We give you small example below where it’s Death From Above covering “Better Off Dead” by LePeste and then a local group Puppy Mill doing up “Automobile” by the Rings. We haven’t heard that song in a long time. Here is the Rings version on YouTube.

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

NEW MUSIC/CDs......

It’s always interesting to hear what Sapling can come up with. Their new song “Hoping Mechanism” is a flip on coping mechanism and they confirm the connection with a note: “This song is about trying to be resilient when you have no idea what the fuck is going on”.

The music bed sounds like a simple jazz vamp, and how does Sapling get away with doing that? Hey, they’re Sapling.

Some of the lyrics sound like the pastiche of captured phrases that were used in their first song (“The Ballad of Ned Ludd”) on their album amor fati. Here they fit the coping theme. What we love about this is that they capture that surrealist/Dadaist feeling. They even have a line in the song, “The world is a dadaist bullshit generator.” One of few other groups that deals in this…Mission of Burma.

Some other lines that we liked: “Mike Watt is the fine wine of punk rock,” "I went to jail for engaging the Stop & Shop robot in fisticuffs," and “get a subscription to entropy.”

Sapling is in such an exciting artistic place now. They are forging their own way.

With this release, Galaxy Cake have cemented their position as the main proponents of flute rock. The album The Void Above and the Bog Below starts with a solo flute, has a flute instrumental as the second cut and four out of the six songs have flute in them.
We don’t think we ever heard flute bumping against distorted guitars until now. Maybe some Flower Power sixties groups mixed fuzz and flute. The instrumental song from the album “Mollie’s Rainy Day” could fit into that era.

“Ex Sex Videos” is a fun and bouncy tune, more than its salacious theme would indicate. “It’s just sex,” the background vocals chirp.

We like the garage sound and the garage chord progressions. The opening of “Sand Reckoner” is a good example.

The EP closes with “Pick Me Up”, previously released, which still stands out in this line up. Our favorite moments are when Mollies’ vocals pile on the flourishes as in this song, and the opening tune “Mushroom Eyes”.

Rum Bar – the label that keeps on giving. Now they have a huge 38 cut sampler titled Second Shot. You need this to try and keep up with Rum Bar releases, but of course they add in some extras to keep you on your toes.

They start with The Slamdinistas, who we’ve come to love, doing a seasonal “Santa’s In a Punk Band Now.” Is that the first Christmas song we’ve reviewed this year? We think it is. Then a neat rocker from Hellflowers from 2016 “Come On Let’s Dance.” There is a new Tom Baker song called “Category 5.” Just hearing Tom’s voice makes us feel all warm inside. This song about a girlfriend with an explosive personality is one of Tom’s best.

There are a few covers: The Dogs with Eddie and the Hot Rods’ “Do Anything You Wanna Do”, Tony Marsico with “Starry Eyes” and Stop Calling Me Frank taking on the Stones with “Off The Hook”.

There are songs we’ve raved about in here: The Glimmer Stars doing “Pictures of You”, “Walking With An Angel” by the Hollywood Stars, The Dogmatics with “Library Girl” and Gene Champage’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Boy”.

There’s all the locals: Jittery Jack and Amy Griffin, The Shang Hi Los, The Hi-End, Rick Barton, The Amplifier Heads, The Wynotts, The Cretins, Jay Prozac, Muck and the Mires, Diablogato, The Spackles, Hotbox and Girl With A Hawk.

We love the Yum Yum’s and Paul Vermin songs …. and on and on.

Richard Mirsky gives us the second Christmas song of the season for us. Rich names this "A Cognitive Dissonance Christmas."

It begins with static white noise. It takes about forty seconds before you hear a bass playing "Little Drummer Boy" low in the mix. That's it, for four minutes. It's like an aural equivalent of one of those yule log videos.

David Greenberger published The Duplex Planet back in the day. The magazine documented the surprisingly revealing dialog from residents of a retirement community. All the local punks subscribed to that and it became popular way beyond the Boston scene.

Now David has another project; My Autobiography Vol.1, an album that documents some of his own short pieces. There are 30 cuts, each has a bed of sound by Tyson Rogers, a much recorded and acclaimed keyboard player.

David's monologues are all done by guests. That's half the fun here. The most recognizable voice is Penn Jillette.

There are musicians like Marshall Crenshaw, Geoff Muldaur, Kimberley Rew, Ira Kaplan, Mike Watt, Peter Blegvad, Beth Harrington and Chandler Travis.

The pieces are just short observations of oddities in life with wry humor. David titles this Volume 1 and knowing him that's a promise.

The latest Screwcart song is the balls. This band just has it all together now. The songwriting, the playing and the recording are all impressive.
The song is based on an odd twisty riff but the band rocks it. The lyrics seem like a paranoid on the edge. There are some jabbing asides like "Or perhaps that pounding is coming from inside your skull". Vocalist Mark Kennedy is made for making insinuating remarks like that.

The band is cooking and the guitar work by Adi Luv is both cutting and inventive. No stock riffs here, and the tone - the best.

We heard the Embrooks from London on Nick Wang's Monday Late Risers Club show. The song "Terry and Julie" takes two characters from the Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset" and imagines a further story for them.

The song has garage and psychedelic elements to it and best of all is loaded with 12 string guitar action.

The other song in this digital single is The Yardbirds "Heart of Soul"

We had a video of the French pop band Alvilda doing their song "Angoisse." Now their whole first album titled C'est D?é?jà L'heure is out.

It reminds us a lot of The Nerves. It's pop that hasn't been glossed to a shiny finish. A little rawness goes a long way to stamp this as authentic garage pop. "Angloisse" is still our standout song because of its unique sound but everything else is worthy.

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

December 5, 2024 (Thursday) The Shang Hi Los , American Ocelot at The Burren - Early show 7-9PM

December 5, 2024 (Thursday)  Happy Little Clouds,  The Jacklights, Double Star, DJ Panda at The Jungle 8PM

December 6, 2024 (Friday) Heavy Holidays '24 - Disassembly Required- art & music at New Alliance Gallery with music by Uma Thermos and MK Naomi - along with works several artists FB page 7PM, music at 9PM. 

December 6, 2024 (Friday) Squallie Greenthumb's annual fundraising show, MIRACLE ON COMM AVE to benefit Child's Play. This year features Amy Griffin, Express Checkout, and Coffin Salesman at Faces in Malden.

December 6, 2024 (Friday) Warrior Soul, All Sinners and Speed Teeth at Koto Salem

December 9, 2024 (Monday) Kids Like You & Me celebrate Mickey Bliss on his Birthday!!!! with Peace Humper, G. Gordon Gritty,  Slow Job and ... Mickey Bliss Solo!! at O'Brien's 8PM FB page.

December 12, 2024 (Thursday)  A Rockin' Night to benefit Dana-Farber Cancer Institute's Cancer Care Equity Program.with Vapors of Morphine, The Chelsea Curve, Muck & the Mires, The Ray Liriano Experience at Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theatre, Somerville, MA, 6:30PM

December 13, 2024 (Friday) Murphy's Law, Neighborhood Shit, Scumbari, and Poor Impulse Control - Middle East Up

December 14, 2024 (Saturday) Kid Gulliver, Big Limo and TELL at The Square Root

December 15, 2024 (Sunday) Series Finale - The Final Mess Around - yes folks the final Mess Around after 8 years..... with Bob Cenci's Orange Guitar, Tad Overbauugh And or course your hosts Tom Baker and Jay Allen - 4-6PM FB page

December 15, 2024 (Sunday) O'Brien's Annual Toy Drive & Holiday Party  with Speed Teeth and The Scrooges bring an unwrap new toy for free admission. 9Pm FB page

December 15, 2024 (Sunday)  Have Yerself a FUNdraising Little Xmas! with Tanya Donelly, Merrie Amsterburg, Chris Brokaw, and members of Buffalo Tom, Fuzzy, Scruffy the Cat, The Upper Crust', Muck & the Mires, Other Girls, and more at The Burren, Somerville, MA, 7:30PM 

December 17, 2024 (Tuesday)  Salem Wolves, Baby Got Backtalk, Roland Highlife, Orbiter - O'Briens

December 20, 2024 (Sunday)   Kids Like You & Me  presents... HUNGOVER FOR THE HOLIDAZE!!! with Johnnie & The Foodmasters, Whyte Lipstick and Puke Pisstols (members of Monsieurs, Andy California) 7PM, ALL AGES, $10-15. All proceeds will be donated to Rosie's Place, a women's shelter - it's at The Lilypad Inman Square

December 21, 2024 (Saturday) The Del Fuegos at The City Winery - TWO Shows 3PM and 7:30 PM TIX 

December 21, 2024 (Saturday)  THE HOLIDAY SPECIAL with Gene Dante, Freeloader, The Daylilies, and  pecial guest Joey Wit  at The Midway 8PM- this is also Anngelle Wood's 12th Annual Spectacular Gift Drive for the Mass Dept of Children & Families (DCF) Wonderfund! We are collecting unwrapped gifts for local foster families. Check out the Midway page for lists of gifts wanted. 

December 23, 2024 (Monday) Leon Rich, Larry Newman, Butterscott, Captain Easychord at The Jungle  

January 4, 2024 (Saturday) The Instamatics, The New Frustrations, The Pleasing Terrors at The Jungle  

January 11, 2024 (Saturday) The Bags with The Croaks and Gymnasium at The Crystal Ballroom - FB event page 

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

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.