Willie "Loco" Alexander's 81st Birthday

Wow! What an incredible night at The Cut in Gloucester to celebrate our own Willie Alexander at 81.

I honestly cannot think of any other event I’ve been to that was as jaw dropping as this one! First of all, it highlighted all the great music/songs Willie has given us over the past 50+ years. And it was a chance to see many of the Boston punk/garage stars in action, if only for 2, but very notable, tunes.

YES!! 81 and still a rocker!!

Aside from the private invitation list, there were to be 150 tickets available at 7PM when the show started – no presales! There was a lot of social media chatter about getting in to this show: “How early should we stand in line” “Get there early folks!” “How can I be sure I’ll get in??” Nevertheless there was a long line starting at around 5:30. There was that air of a special thing happening on Main St in Gloucester – we all felt it.

From 6-7PM was the private event. Willie was sitting on the edge of the stage and various people came up to tell stories about how they knew Willie – piano lessons, support for various causes and events; teaching kids, supporting poets and local Gloucester charities. That’s all besides the music he has given us.

At 7PM the show started…but first was Oedipus, whose been around since the beginning, as WTBS/MBR DJ, BCN DJ and program director … he opened the evening with a thanks for Willie.

Then the music….each band did at least one WA tune then one original

Richie Parsons opened up with a sweet version of “Everybody Knows”

The Darlings (Simon Ritt & Kelly Knapp) did the soulful, dreamy “Gin.”
Simon noted “I love this song so much I did a video of it.” The Darlings second song was Johnny Thunders' “You can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” apropos since Simon knew Johnny and because tonight was all about memories.

Classic Ruins covered “Dirty Eddie” and their original, a big favorite, “Nyquil Stinger”

The Devotions (Andrea Gillis & Marc Pinansky) did a couple of tunes and Andrea sang "Trash" with Willie’s Persistence of Memory Orchestra.
Then Willie finally hit the stage to do the song Trash with Andrea and POM

It was great to see Reddy Teddy up there!! For me they were my intro to Boston rock…another veteran of the scene, Rick Berlin gave us a couple tunes…next up was Senior Moment who did WA’s song “Hair” ... do the baldy do the bald oh woah woah woah yeah….

Photographer and Willie’s wife Annie Rearick said a few words. And props must got to her for putting this amazing night together! That had to have been a load of work!

Now came some killer sets!!

The Neighborhoods did two fantastic WA tunes – “Gourmet Baby” and “Melinda.” This was the original Hoods, with Michael Quaglia, all the way from Costa Rica on drums! Minehan was in fine form practically bouncing off the walls. He radiated infectious high energy from the first note to the last.

Willie joined them on stage and Minehan aptly put the blame on WA calling him the “gateway drug for a kid from the suburbs” then kissing him on the cheek and yelling “It’s all your fault!!” So wonderful to see. That was so good I stood there thinking…'Woah that is a hard act to follow!'

Oedipus came out for another few words then it was …

The Boom Boom Band… Sev Grossman, Bily Loosigian and David McLean!

Jon Macey got up on stage to do one of my personal favorites of the night “Lookin’ Like a Bombo” with the original chorus lyrics being “Lookin like Jon Macey!!” That was PERFECT!! Seeing Macey up there brought back the days of seeing Fox Pass at The Club…he still had the same moves.

The out sauntered Kenne Highland to do “At The Rat.” Kenne was called to do that song coz Willie says “Kenne is the only person who can do it right.” That’s got to be quite a compliment.

Now WA finally hit the stage to do some Boom Boom tunes – “Mass Ave” and “Rock’n’Roll ‘78/PupTune”

WA was joined by Mission of Burnham….which was Roger Miller, Clink Conley and Gang of Four's Hugo Burnham on drums. MOB is one of the bands everyone wants to see again (since they broke up) and we got “Hit Her Wit de Axe” with Willlie up there too!

Randy Black and The Heathcroppers did deep reaching, heart-grabbing version of “Pretty When.” It’s a beautiful song anyway but Randy did it a la his “Sadness Comes” style. It was impressive that he could make a wonderful tune really shine out in his own way. I was floored!

Now was the much much much awaited appearance of the night - John Felice. No one has seen John in ages. Our interview with him was seven years ago and shortly after that The Real Kids did a couple shows at the Spotlight and The Midway. But that was the last of it.

Felice was the topic of a lot of conversations and speculations “Will he show up?” “when’s Felice coming on?” “How long has it been”, “I wonder how his health is.” Needless to say Felice has become mysterious of late and everyone was thrilled to see him up there! He looked great too! His hair, a trademark, was a nice grey and super silky looking and garnered a lot of comments.

This version of the RKs had a special guest – David Robinson. You could say “David Robinson of The Cars” but he was up there with Felice because of an earlier connection –Jonthan Richman’s The Modern Lovers. They both were in the band when they were wee lads! Robinson is looking a little lumberjackian with a big white beard and ponytail but he is still a rocker, no question!!

They did a Real Kids fave “Who Needs You” John has written some anthems in his time and this is one of them! The next tune was Jonathan Richman’s “Roadrunner” talk about anthems. “Going faster miles an hour!” -“I’m in love with Rock’n’Roll” I remember the Stop & Shop on Route 9. I grew up near Natick too!

Everyone would have loved a few more tunes but John did go on to give an appreciative thanks to Willie for everything he has done
over the years. Then he said "If none of us die in the next year, I expect you all to be here to do this again!" and that was, yeah, sadly indicative of the general sutuation but also great to hear.

Jen D’Angora followed Felice. Of special note was her covering the Ronette’s “Be My Baby.” Willie loves Ronnie Spector and asked Jen to do that song.

There were a couple “house band” songs then the eye opener and big surprise of the night was the local Gloucester band The Boyfriends - holy moly – these young kids, who all work at Mystery Train, did spot-on killer versions of “Radio Heart” and “Bass Rocks”

Now that says a lot … that these kids would know the tunes and do them so well is really a testament to Willie and his songwriting.

Willlie came out after that to thank everyone and comment on how amazing the night was for him and how lucky he is. So many love and appreciate Willie Loco Alexander so much, and rightfully so!

He is often referred to as “The Grandfather/Godfather of Boston Punk” is he? was he ever punk? Not really coz there’s nothing like Willie Alexander or his music. He is most certainly one of a kind and we are so luck to have had to …to HAVE him.. .in our corner of the universe. We can proudly boast that he was a huge influence and big cog in the awesome machine that is Boston punk rock.

Let’s hope we have WA (and all of us) around for a lot longer!! And again Thank You Annie for putting on this wonderful show!