The BGN News Archive

Boston fanzines at Copy Machine Manifesto at Brooklyn Museum CLICK PHOTO for the BGN report on the show.

Hey big news - the BGN is now on exhibit in a museum!

We were surprised to get an email from The Brooklyn Museum asking for BGNs for an exhibit on Fanzines. We were contacted, as was Willie Alexander and Marc Thor, because of our association with Mark Morrisroe who, along with Lynelle White, produced the dishy DIRT magazine.

The exhibition is called Copy Machine Manifesto: Artists Who Make Zines and it runs through March 2024.

Miss Lyn went to the opening celebration especially for the zine makers involved in the show. There was a champagne toast, speeches and then we got to see the show. It's huge, filling at least 5 gallery rooms!

It's the first exhibition dedicated to real fanzines, covering 50 years of zines from the present back to the 70’s! Fanzines "have given a voice and visibility to many operating outside of mainstream culture. This exhibition documents zines’ relationship to various subcultures and avant-garde practices, from punk and street culture to conceptual, queer, and feminist art.” There are loads of punk and hardcore zines included like Search & Destroy, Slash, Bikini Kill, Destroy All Monsters, From the Boston contingent they've included Willie Alexander's Nervous Reader, Marc Thor’s Sleaze, Miscarriage and of course several issue of Dirt.

Check out Miss Lyn's write up by clicking on the link above and here at the BGN Copy Manifesto Exhibit report.

Roger Miller will have his first show of 2024 on Friday, January 12 at the Hawks & Reed, 289 Main St, Greenfield, MA.

He'll be playing his Dream Interpretations for Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble. The ‘guitar ensemble’ is the group of guitars that are at Roger’s control, along with a parcel of stomp boxes. The compositions are inspired by his dreams. Tickets here

The Dogmatics finally got their money from Brown Ticket! They had a segment on NBC Channel 10 on Thursday. Here’s the story on the NBC Channel 10 website

John Lydon has had a tough year!! He lost his beloved wife Nora and now he has lost his best friend and road manager Rambo!

JohnLydon.com posted this: :We are devastated to share the news that John Lydon’s best friend and long term manager John Rambo Stevens has passed away after suffering an aortic heart dissection yesterday. In true Rambo fashion he battled until the very very end, long past the doctor’s predictions. There never has been, and never will be, anyone remotely like Rambo. He had unwavering loyalty to John, and his beloved Arsenal. He lived life to the fullest and he enriched the lives of many."

And ... John is interviewed about being a caretaker for Nora in the December issue of AARP's bulletin! (Photo on the right) "You couldn't write the songs I do if you didn't care"

Social Distortion and Bad Religion have announced a joint tour. That’s exciting!! Better yet they'll be playing Boston, at the MGM Music Hall in the Fenway on Tuesday, May 7, 2024.

Social Distortion will be playing the whole Mommies Little Monster album on this tour. Mike Ness had a brush with cancer but he says the chemo has helped him enough that he can tour now. Info here

Meanwhile, Mommies Little Monster is being rereleased in a 40th Anniversary edition. It is remastered in all analog formats, no dirty digital at all! It is pressed in five different colors. Man, vinyl is back big time. Read about the reissue on Consequence

Patti Smith got sick and had to cancel some shows in Italy. The nature of her illness has not been revealed but she ended up in the hospital.

She posted a photo of her and her doctors in Italy on her Instagram page There was a story on Pitchfork and Billboard

Now you can own a bit of a classic punk venue! The legendary 924 Gilman has a fundraiser selling 5 inch pieces of their interior side wall. 924 Gilman in Berkeley, CA is where Green Day and Rancid got their start. Photo to the right shows the group Spitboy playing the club.

They need new side doors because the size of the exit doors dictate the capacity. The current 225 capacity will go up to 500 with the new doors. They need help to raise the money to get the new door installed. Here’s the fundraiser Own a Chuck of Wall! The story on KQED website

Want List Records in Newton will move to Belmont in 2024. They will be at Cushing Square, 113 Trapelo Road. They'll be in their Echo Bridge Mall location up to December 23. More info on their FB page

BOOKS......

There's a new graphic novel out now about Peter Laughner of Rocket from the Tombs and Pere Ubu. Peter died when he was 24.

Ain’t It Fun; Peter Laughner and Proto Punk in the Secret City, is written and illustrated by Aaron Lange. The ‘Secret City” is Cleveland. The book initially delves into the city’s history with some of its characters like Ghoulardi. Then it gets into the punk history and Laughner.

You can get the book at the Stone Church Press website There’s an interview with the author at the Cleveland Press

VIDEOS......

The latest Canyons and Locusts song/video is “Art Bell.” Art Bell was a NYC disc jockey who talked about fanciful theories. The group says about Bell’s show: “It was this glorious mishmash of chupacabra and Bigfoot and reverse speech and exorcism and not anything like what we think of as 'conspiracy theory' today. And his voice was just perfect for the middle of the night.”

Knowing that should help to explain some of the imagery in the video. We like how the visuals continuously unfold like an endlessly scaling fractal. Here’s an article on Art Bell

Canyons and Locusts limit themselves to two instruments but their imagination is unbounded.

If you were on the scene in the eighties you will remember the Duplex Planet fanzine. David Greenberger, who worked in a nursing home called Duplex Planet, interviewed the residents there. Their answers were often oblique to the point of being surrealistic, or they could reveal humanity in a way we were not exposed to before. The fanzine was very popular and had 187 issues.

Later David turned the interviews into musical pieces and does that to this day. Now the whole story is becoming a film by Beth Harrington called Beyond the Duplex Planet. Harrington sang with Jonathan Richman for many years.

The latest news is that the filming has been completed. Here’s the website for the movie You can also donate to the film We have the trailer to show you now.

Crow Follow have released a video for their song “In Between.”

They've said that the image of two riders approaching in the song “All Along The Watchtower” was the genesis of the song.

That a good subject for this band that goes for brooding and mysterious subjects. The band has their western noir sound down pat.

In this recording the bass player (Carolyn Jean Corella) steals the show. The bass is jacked up all through the song. The driving bass line in the verse is so effective that when it’s relieved in the chorus you notice its absence most of all, but the bass in the chorus is cool too. When the bass comes back in you feel like you, the song, and everything else is getting dragged along with it. What a great job!!

Bradley Jay had long time critic Jim Sullivan on his show. Sullivan has compiled his interviews from decades of reporting into two volumes titled Backstage and Beyond. On this show they are talking mostly about volume two.

Jim tells of how he ended up at the first Sex Pistols show in America in Atlanta. He later interviewed Lydon at several points through the years and found him both engaging and prickly at different times. He saw the Pogues in London at a very memorable show.

The great thing about Jim is that when asked about a group, say Gang of Four, he talks about them when they first came out, later in reunion tours and even currently at their last show at the Crystal Ballroom. Almost nobody else can do that with such a large section of the rock world.

Bradley makes the point that these two books make great Christmas gifts if you need a last minute gift. so... you can get Volume 1 from Trouser Press. and you can get both Volume 1 & 2 on Amazon.

The in-studio live performance of Linnea’s Garden on WERS is now up on YouTube. It is a very simple straight on video with good sound. This is a perfect opportunity to see the group and hear their latest material from the Mirrors EP.

J Mascis has a new song/video titled “Set Me Down.” It’s from the upcoming album What Do We Do Now on Sub Pop due out on February 2, 2024. The video is a very colorful cartoon with odd animals and shapes.

The song is mostly acoustic until the 2:20 minute mark when the distorted guitar comes in. We love when it does that. From the beginning you zero in on Mascis’ voice which is so identifiable. We have loved his work these last few years.

The whole album will be like this, acoustic with band with ripping electric guitar solos.

The story in Brooklyn Vegan

RADIO......

Skybar had Shiverlane on his Rising show. From their band’s name to the subjects for their songs, this group is anything but predictable. It made for a lively interview.

They performed some songs live. It revealed that their vocals were more accomplished than you might expect from a rocking group. They have lots of material so current and upcoming songs will be for a full album.

Listen to the show go to the WMFO schedule page Hit the Rising show on 8 to 10 pm on Tuesday, then hit the ‘archive’ button.

This week on Tuesday at 8pm Skybar will play his Top Ten songs of the year.

PODCASTS.........

Blowing Smoke interviewed Pete Cassani from The Peasants. Like a lot of people The Beatles started his interest in rock music. He played in cover bands in college in New York. He moved to Boston in 1987. He started by just busking around town and he has a lot of stories about that. In 1988 he started The Peasants, originally called the Velcro Peasants. In the nineties Pete got tendinitis and had two operations to fix the problem.

Pete tells stories of his AC/DC cover band Beefy DC. Here they are playing in Harvard Square. He said he made more money playing with that group than in The Peasants.

Pete’s playing with the False Positives at the moment.

Another week, another Elastic Glam show. They played an Eddie Japan Christmas song from a few years ago, but we hadn’t heard it before. We like Hammered Satin with “Planet Boogie” with a glam sound you could throw a copywrite on.

DJ Sethyspice says Slade’s “Merry Christmas Everyone” is the greatest glam Christmas song and who would disagree? I never heard Iggy doing “White Christmas” where his voice is so low it seems like a 45 rpm played at 33 rpm. They played Sweet where they went back to the sixties and covered “Peppermint Twist”.

Get in on the Elastic Glam survey for the best songs of the year which will be played on a countdown show on New Year’s Eve.

NEW MUSIC/CDs......

Sharp Class made local fans with their shows in the East Coast here. They can make more with this new song they have titled “Ivory Tower.” It swings and rings out like a classic Jam tune. We can’t get enough of it!!

We have it on our Top Ten Songs.

The Mal Thursday Quintet do up the Treat Her Right song “Picture of the Future.” Original member David Champagne is playing on the recording. One of the things that hits you is that harmonica playing. That was such a calling card and large part of their sound, along with that languid tempo that seemed to emanate from the deep south. The harmonica is by Jim Filling also the original Treat Her Right member.

This is as satisfying as it is unexpected. It was recorded at Woolly Mammoth. It seems we write that after so many new and well done recordings.

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

December 18, 2023 (Monday) Johnnie & The Foodmasters, The Wailin Milfs, Delons at The Silhouette

December 20, 2023 (Wednesday) Show Wrap Party and Gallery Talk for JJ Gonson's Photo Show - The show closes at the end of December. so here's a party and gallery talk. Doors open at 6pm At 7pm JJ will talk about her experience shooting bands and her history with touring and photography. After that there will be snacks and entertainment until about 9:30. FB event page. and to buy JJ's merch and photos go to her website

December 23, 2023 (Saturday) LAST MINUTE GIFT SHOPPING at Small Mart Holiday Market at The Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theatre 11-4 - The vendors have been carefully chosen and their goods are unique and small batch......FB page

December 23, 2023 (Saturday) Already Dead, The Ungraded, Degenerates of Punk and COB at Thirsty First in Lowell.

December 27, 2023 (Wednesday) Bike Thrasher, Miracle Blood, Neck Dive at Faces Malden

December 28, 2023 (Thursday) Shiverlane and Freeloader at Notch Brewing Brighton

December 29, 2023 (Friday) A Celtic Christmas with The Gobshites and Force Us To Stop at The Burren -FB page.

December 29, 2023 (Friday) Tree, They Will Be Done, Inverter at Alchemy, Provi.

December 30, 2023 (Saturday) The Manglers at The Square Root

January 5, 2023 (Saturday) Black Mold Market Presents- Last show before Koto renovations! Come out and celebrate! with Troll Milk, Freak, Dental Dames, The Downhauls, Brix'n Mortar at Koto. FB page

January 6, 2023 (Sunday) Double Star, The Jacklights, Fox Canadian at The Jungle for a 3PM matinee show

January 6, 2023 (Sunday) Bim Scala Bim 40th Anniversary show at the Crystal Ballroom TIX

January 8, 2023 (Monday) OrangePeelMystic, Scove Cone, Blazers Over Turtlenecks at The Silhouette

January 11, 2023 (Thursday) Punk Rock Karaoke with members of (Bad Religion, Circle Jerks The Dickies, Pennywise, Goldfinger) Pick a song, they give you the lyrics.They call your name and voila! you are the singer in a punk rock band backed by the finest hand picked side men.Simple...there will be a sign up sheet at venue - The Middle East Down. We went to one in 2015 and it was loads of fun!!

January 13, 2023 (Saturday) Kid Gulliver at The Square Root

January 14, 2023 (Sunday) Stop Calling Me Frank, The Spackles, Screw Cart, Jay Allen and The Archcriminals at The MIdway - MAtinee show at 3PM.

January 14, 2023 (Sunday) Chris Brokaw's new band Lupo Sita with Hidden Fountain and Pledge Pins at O’Brien’s

January 19, 2023 (Friday) O Positive and Three Colors, are reuniting at the Paradise Rock Club (show at 8pm) for WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS-A Benefit Concert For A Friend In Need. The evening will raise funds for a friend’s medical bills in her battle against brain cancer. FB event page.

January 24, 2023 (Wednesday) Sweet Petunia, SiMoN (On Tour From Japan), Ivy Boy, Daphne Blue Underworld at The Silhouette

January 26, 2023 (Friday) Hooligan Holiday Night 1 - Suited and Booted with DJ Boss Hooligan, Stress The White Boy, DJ Ruben Doc Marten Soundsystem

January 27, 2023 (Saturday) BikeTrasher, Miracle Blood, Neck Dive at Faces Malden - tix here!

January 27, 2023 (Saturday) Hooligan Holiday Night 2 - The Templars, Battle Ruins, Merauder, Violent Way, Powerhouse at The Paradise

February 7, 2023 (Wednesday) Pledge Pins, Nice Guys, Andy California at The Silhouette

February 8, 2023 (Thursday) The Dreadnoughts, The Gobshites, Mickey Rickshaw at The BUrren - 7-9PM show.

February 10, 2023 (Saturday) Gretchen Shae & The Middle Eight, Ex-Hyena, Looking Glass War at Faces Malden

February 10, 2023 (Saturday) The Dreadnoughts, Mickey Rickshaw, The McGunks at Askew in Provi, RI

February 17, 2023 (Saturday) Warthog (Ramones Tribute), Tsunami of Sound, Bikini Whale (B52s Tribute), The Angry Debutantes at The Midway

February 25, 2023 (Sunday) LøbøHømbre, Pint Killer, The Hagglers, Shuriken at The Midway for a 3PM matinee show

March 2, 2023 (Saturday) Negative FX, Wrecking Crew. Wound Man, Savage Heads, Please Die, Eye Witness at The Middle East Down - all ages 1PM matinee show

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.