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David Johansen RIP

David Johansen died this last weekend. What a huge loss this is!!!

The whole situation with David came to the fore this last few weeks. A fundraising campaign to help with his home care came as a surprise to most. It turns out that David has been in treatment for stage 4 cancer for most of the past decade. Five years ago he developed brain cancer and then a few months ago fell down the stairs and broke his back. In the New York Dolls and even more as Buster Poindexter he seemed larger than life which puts his mortality in more relief.

Miss Lyn saw The Dolls in 1973 in Ashland at the Cricket Lounge, it was life changing and was the first step toward punk rock. (read about that here and here.) Blowfish saw the Dolls at the Orpheum in '73 also.

For punk, Johansen was a giant!! and he was the last living Doll.

Here's an article on the People Magazine website that goes over David's career. David is a Staten Island native. Here's an article published when it was first noted that David was sick. On the fundraising site there is a video of David sick in bed. It will break your heart to see and hear him talk. And here's an article in Louder Sound website.

RIP David Johansen!!

Rick Buckler, drummer from The Jam, is dead at 69, after a short illness. The Jam were monumental in those early punk years. They played Boston a few times. We saw them at the Paradise. Article on Louder Sound web site. Article in the Brooklyn Vegan with a few videos.

Brian Seltzer of The Stray Cats has revealed that he can no longer play guitar. He can barely tie his shoes. He says he has an autoimmune disease. That’s so sad for one of the greats. He is getting help at the Mayo Clinic. Story in a Syracuse newspaper.

For some local news:

We've been waiting for this…The Dogmatics, a Dogumentary is now available on DVD. It will be on streaming services soon. It's official release date is March 4. Here it is on Amazon.

The Burren - There was on open meeting in Davis Square, Somerville so the public could hear and comment on the plans to build a Twenty five story building on the site that the Burren sits on now. The building will have 500 apartments and retail space. That means The Burren will be closed for two years. Anklin Dan who books shows there was at the meeting, says flatly that, "The Burren is doomed… it will never survive and if it does return, never will be the same." Randy Black was also at the meeting. He added that the 500 unit building has zero parking planned currently. Randy went on to praise The Burren as a welcoming club. Article in the WBUR website.

Boston has lucked out, we're on the list of cities for the Patti Smith Horses tour! She'll perform the Horses album in full. She will be at the Orpheum Theater on Monday, November 24. Tickets here. Lenny Kaye and Jay Dee Daugherty will be in the group. .... The starting price is around $150.00.

We saw Patti play the Horses album at the Jazz Workshop in 1975. That was a wild night. A lot of punks were there but they didn't really know each other yet. Mark (Morrisroe) and Linnelle Dirt were there, right in the front table. We could see Mark pouring some nips into his coke, to save money. Mark would gag at the $150.00 current ticket price!
Just before the show Mark threw up from all the nips. The opener Garland Jeffreys joked about it by changing some lyrics to, "…with my scarf, I clean up your barf". John Cale was the guest for the encore of "My Generation" and shoved his bass through the suspended ceiling. Quite a night.

The story on Patti's tour in Far Out Magazine. Article in the Brooklyn Vegan.

Chris Parcellin, who was in a few bands, is known mostly for the film Boys From Nowhere died in April last year. DJ Michael Stewart (who was in the band The Brigands with Chris) did an interview with Chris a few months before his death. It shines a light on what Chris was planning to do next.

As far as future plans Chris mentions that he is starting a project with TJ Welch but does not say what it is. Michael Stewart said that Chris talked about a few ideas he had. One was write a book on either The Joe Perry Project or The Real Kids. Some movie ideas were documentaries on Barrence Whitfield, Mary Lou Lord or Jonathan Richman. He also talked about doing a podcast.

Great Scott posted an update on their Facebook page. They're going to the next step in getting approval for their new location with O’Brien’s. They had an open virtual meeting for the public on February 24. They were asking for public comments to the city up to February 27.

O’Brien’s has a Spotify playlist of the groups that will be playing their club from Feb 28 to March 6. Great idea…all clubs should do this. It makes for good listening and you may find a new group you like.

The NY Times has a Spotify playlist where they assign a punk/emo song to every hockey team. Mission of Burma's "That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate" was picked for Boston. It's good to see MOB getting attention like this. You can see how they are a band that will resonate for years to come. The playlist is below. MOB is the number 24 song in the list.

VIDEOS......

SSD got inducted into the New England Music Hall of Fame. SSD are certainly having their time these last few years. They got little respect from the establishment when they started which makes something like this so satisfying. The band accepted the induction on stage with Springa flying around. Al Barile was not able to make it.

is always a fascinating interview. Drew Stone gets the full story on his Merle interview on the NYHC Chronicles. Merle talks about the scene in Kenmore Sq where the disco fans and punks used to fight outside the Pizza Pad. Merle talks about seeing The Police at the Rat. He talks about Thrills/City Thrills. Then the story of the Murder Junkies and how they lasted after G.G. died.

We have been spotlighting songs by the Australian group Last Quokka. They're a wild bunch. For the first time we have a video of their new song release off the upcoming album Take The Fight To the Bastards.

"Save Our Pubs" is a sentiment us Bostonians can certainly relate to. We love our clubs and old bars. Will we ever stop pining for the Blue Moon in town or Johnny D's Allston or The Abbey (or all of them)?
The Last Quokka take their pubs seriously. They hate the renovations and the expensive food that follows. It costs "an arm and a leg just for a chicken parmy", don't ya know? They want to "bring back the sticky carpet". Actually the pub they shot the video in looks better than some of the pubs we hit.

RADIO......

On the Rising show on Tuesday 2/11 Skybar had Smitt E Smitty in as a guest. Smitty always has a lot going on and a lot to say. He said that in 2020 during the Covid times he got into New Alliance Studios and recorded 10 songs. He has been releasing those one song at a time. That is good strategy and has worked to keep his profile up all this time. At some point he plans to have a release with all the material.

He also mentioned that his family was involved in the art scene. They actually lived near Edward Hopper, who was a friend of the family. Hence, Smitty was pushed toward art too, but like a lot of people, everything changed with the Beatles. Music became the thing, and punk was another opportunity.

He was the drummer of Figures on a Beach in Detroit and the group decided to go to Boston to further themselves. The Fezztones' latest release is "#1 Most Likely" which will soon have a video. Smitty will be back at New Alliance Studios to record with the Fezztones and also for Little Billy Lost, he's a drummer. We have the interview embedded below.

Skybar's Rising show is on WMFO 91.5 FM on Tuesdays at 7-9pm. After that go to the WMFO schedule page The Rising show at 8pm on Tuesday, then hit the 'archive' button.

PODCASTS.........

Blowing Smoke with Twisted Rico had Lee Harrington of the Neighborhoods and Shang Hi Los in for a second interview.
Lee talks about his upbringing in Braintree. His older sister introduced him to rock at an early age. The Who, Bowie and Lou Reed were faves. Lee started playing in bands and as he saw the Boston scene at the Rat and Cantone's decided he wanted to make music his career.

He eventually became part of The Peytons and became friends with David Minehan. After a time with Richie Parson's Future Dads he accepted an invitation by David to fill in for the departing bassist, John Hartcorn. Lee talks about how and where some of the recordings where done, and then their month long tours on the road. Lee reviews some of his most memorable shows. It looks like there will be no Neighborhoods reunion in the foreseeable future.

He then talks about how he ended up playing with the Shang Hi Los. Lately he's been collaborating with Carissa Johnson on a project. A lot going on with Lee.

The ever busy Steev posted another show which was an interview with Astral Bitch, a new group, but even the little material they have out is impressive. Steeve played "Haunting You" and that is a stunner. That was their second single that came out in September. We have that embedded below.

They do an excellent cover of "Pretty In Pink" off an album Now That's What I Call Heartache, Volume 7: Songs from Movies, a compilation album with the proceeds going to the Salem space Moon Base One. Here it is on Bandcamp. Hear "Pretty In Pink" below.

In the interview we were surprised to hear that Sam Coren was in the group Sleep Crimes, which we saw at O'Brien's in 2014. At the end of the set they used to fall to the floor one by one. We have photos of that in our write up of the night (Bottom of the page). Steev runs down how the band got together and how they write songs. Their range of musical influences is wide ranging. They are writing songs with the intention of releasing an album next.
We agree with Steev, this is a band on the rise.

Steev coupled up with WMFO and had Tom Baker in the radio studio with Mike of Mike on the Mic. Tom (along with Tad Overbaugh) did a few songs from Justine & Me, his memorial album for Justine Covault. They talked about Justine. Tom talked about the album, who played on it and how the songs were written.

It's nice to hear Tom's stories as he works his way through the loss of Justine, and that helps all of us in the Boston music community to process the loss too. It was a lively conversation when Steev got Tom talking about his recording history and his escapades in different studios. Later they all talked about the clubs they have played that have come and gone.

Sethyspice started the Valentine Elastic Glam show (2/15) with T.Rex singing "Hot Love".
Some of the songs for this "hot high holiday of love" were: The Rubettes - "Sugar Baby Love", Queen - "Love of My Life", Kiss - "I Was Made for Lovin' You", Kate Person - "Evil Love", Foreign Films - "Cosmic Lover" and Sack - "Do You Need Love".

The 2/28 Elastic Glam show the show's 4th Birthday Bash! They have made themselves essential listening to us.
Sethyspice played Slade's "Let's Have a Party" to get in the glam celebratory mode. Some new glam from Sir Prize & the Tomorrow Knightz with "Glide To Arrive". The Struts doing "I Hate How Much I Want You" was slamming and glamming. Sethy also played one of our faves, David Essex doing "Gonna Make You a Star".

Sonic Overload on 2/10 began with Sham 69 doing "Hurry Up Harry". We had forgotten how we loved them. Those pre-song talk ups were the best. Al Quint played a few songs in memory of Rico Petroleum. We have those below. It's a Kilslug demo of "Kill the Commies" and the Groinoids doing "Empty Skull".

Later Al played a set for Sue Seiven who died this week. She managed the Blanks 77s and ran the Regeneration spaces and tattoo parlor. Al played her favorite groups. They included Showcase Showdown ("Fuck You, Norway" and the Anti Nowhere League ("So What?). We have those two songs below.

On the Sonic Overload 2/17 show Al marked Presidents Day with the hardcore attitude and songs in the vein of "No More Presidents" by The Briefs.
There was a punky song that got our attention. It was The Nervous doing "Kopfweh" from 2015. The singer can't do much because "my head hurts".
Al played Spizzenergi with "Where's Captain Kirk" a real radio fave in 1979. That was followed by 1978's "Don't Care" by Klark Kent aka Stewart Copeland from the Police . We haven't heard that in so long. That is the second song embedded below.

Then we had to include the hilarious "Green Light, Red Light" by Plain Wrap where when the singer sings "Green Light" the band plays, when he sings "Red Light" the band stops. The band is not fooled by calls of "Pink Light", "Blue Light" or "Bud Light". Those three songs are below.

There are always some great finds on Sonic Overload. You can hear the whole show on the Sonic Overload web page

On the Wormtown Underground Radio show DJ Mike played Willie Alexander covering the Lyres "Don't Give It Up Now". That combo brings back the golden age of Boston punk luminaries. It's from the compilation album Crawling from Within from 1987, put out by Bang! magazine's Rocco Cipollone. Later he played some Muck and the Mires ("Saturday Let Me Down Again", Morphine, Sapling and the Outlets. The Outlets song was "A Valentine's Song". We have the Willie Alexander Lyres cover and the Outlets "A Valentine Song" below.

The show is four hours long but we had to listen to it all. Mike has great taste. He even played "Sea Sick" by Nick Puenti & The Complicated Men (Detroit) which we are big on. Here's their Bandcamp page. Hear the whole show below.

NEW MUSIC/CDs......

How's your life going? Seems like Steve Prygoda was in the hospital with advanced heart failure! He now has a pacemaker.
That explains the title "Our Hearts Need Electricity" of the new Cold Expectations song. The lyric "there's a broken radio underneath my skin" becomes clear too. (wait, does he now have a Radio Heart?) If you didn't know the origin of the title, the desperate urgency of the song would clue you in that something threatening was being addressed. The overall intensity gives the song its own dynamic.

We kept repeating the song and it only got bigger and better. There's a lot in Steve's vocal - give that a close listen. There's some Spanish flair in the beat and guitar lick in the chorus that we listen for every time it comes around.

J Prozac has a new single coming out in the spring. It's going to be out on vinyl from Lighthouse Records in Germany. The songs are "Take Me Away" and "On My Own" a cover of a song by The Bates.

Rather than just being poppy and zippy "Take Me Away" starts with some harmonizing guitar lines that set the stage for the lyrics which have some emotional heft. There's a nice moodiness to the song. It's very satisfying. "On My Own" is right in Jay's pop rock territory and he does a fantastic job with that.

Sapling has a new EP titled Full Moon. Another EP coming out will be titled New Moon. Together they comprise Ferrous Wheel…so says the band on their Bandcamp page. Full Moon is mostly material from bass player Rainy and New Moon is material by guitarist Amber. There are five songs on Full Moon. "Eris Worship" and "Hoping Mechanism" have been released before. Both are impressive works. That's true of everything Sapling does.

You can't just lay back and let the music play you have to be alert and actively engage with it. "Eris Worship" was inspired by Jitterbug Purfume a book by Tom Robbins.

"Hoping Mechanism", which is about uncertainty, is peppered with surrealistic non sequiturs like " I ascend the ziggurat in search of vintage Donnie Darko trading cards." Taking that in is part of the fun of Sapling songs.

"Power Fault Theory" is about the dynamics of relationship control. This begins more tuneful than most Sapling songs but gets to an anarchic noise section soon enough.

Chris Brokaw of Come is one of our most interesting guitarists. His last album, Live At The Decommissioned Power Station In Florli, Norway, was an atmospheric experiment of sorts. He's dialed it back some for his new work, Ghost Ship.

There is one song released on Bandcamp. "8 or 9 Things" is just voice and solo electric guitar. Chris says, "You need to listen to GHOST SHIP from beginning to end. Stand too close to the speaker holding a plastic cup of seltzer with lime and really crank it up."

We love the sound of the guitar, it has a light and chiming tone with reverb. There's lovely chording going on. Very appealing. We didn't want it to stop.
It was recorded and mixed at Woolly Mammoth. Shows you that Woolly Mammoth can handle any sonic profile. You can order the vinyl or pre-order the digital album on Bandcamp.

We came across Gum Parker, a group from Portland, ME. They'll release their album The Brakes on April 11. They have two songs released on Bandcamp now. We got hooked on "The Hive".
The first two lines were funny, "I got too old to leave the house/I pulled the stuffing from the couch." There seems like there more than simple agoraphobia going on. We love the humor in the lyrics.
The music is a roar of grungy noise, still there is more definition and melody in the singing. The album can be ordered on Bandcamp. The song "Hive" is embedded below.

It's late for Valentine's Day but Cleopatra Records promotes their Punk Rock Valentines album as anti-Valentine Day music anyway. Punk Rock Valentines is a 30 cut album of anti-love punk songs.

They have a lot of high profile punk groups on this. There's: The Damned, Skids, Dead Boys, Slaughter and the Dogs, Samiam, NY Dolls, Johnny Thunders, Iggy, Fear, Queers and more. Some later punks like Blink 182, Smash Mouth and The Ataries. Some cuts are not the original recordings, like those of NY Dolls and Johnny Thunders, but sometimes those are interesting in their way too.

The first song is "Baby Baby" by the Vibrators which was a great choice. We loved the Dickies doing "Pretty Ballerina". Other covers are The Queers with "You Rock Me All Night Long", Fear doing "Honky Tonk Woman", The Vandals go back to Grease with "Summer Love", Iggy puts his low voice to "Sea of Love" and Slaughter and the Dogs do T. Rex's "Bang a Gong".
It's a fun listen.

You can get the CD version on Collector's Choice Music.

Skybar began his Rising show last week with Geoff Palmer's second single off his upcoming EP Kodak Focus.

"Teenage Memories" has Geoff pining for the teenage years where he remembers "Broken hearts and broken bones / Loose change for payphones". He likes that more than today where he says, "I'm so uninspired with the world today." We're with him on that.

The music is Palmers signature sound - a headlong rush of Ramones rock. He throws in a twist at the two minute mark, the music slows and softens as if he's mulling the memories, then back to full band to close. It's classic Palmer and we love it.

Dream of Man in a Top Hat (ex-Native Tongue) continue to create sophisticated synth art rock that sounds very modern. "I'm Your Man" is recorded very well. The bass pushes everything forward, the synths dig in and make a mark and the last section ups the ante with some sharp guitar jabs. The whole song captures a mood that only a synth driven song can give you.

What we have here is the 16th entry in the Detroit covers series from I-94 Recordings. The Strains do an original and then cover a 1979 gem "Checkin Out" from Detroit's Torpedos. They do a great job. With modern recording they beef up the original and make it live again. A real worthy effort. The band will have a release party with Handsome Dick Manitoba in Detroit on March 8. You can get the record at the I 94 Record website. Here's the original Torpedo recording on Soundcloud

It's been a while since we've heard some new rockabilly. The group Voodoo Tones is on Cleopatra Records which is a score right there. The group includes Slim Jim Phantom from The Stray Cats. The album art is super cool.

The title song "Livin' Ain't Easy" shows all their strengths. They cover the Doors' "Break on Through (To the Other Side)". They speed it up which gives it a different feel. They do a fine job covering CCR's "Sinister Purpose". It's a tad less swampy and more snappy.

A few weeks ago we reviewed the song "I Hate the Summer" by Hearts Apart from Vicenza, Italy. Now their six song EP Summer Bummer is out. All the songs a propulsive punk just like "I Hate the Summer."

They say they recorded these songs fast and direct and you can feel the frisson from that. They state on Bandcamp that they are - "Channeling all the teenage distress of being close to forty through punk rock and rock and roll." Hey, that's what we're doing (plus 30 years).

The EP on Bandcamp is here . We love "You Better Let It Go" the best and gave it repeated listenings. They layer the vocals on the chorus of "you better let it go" and that's the big payoff that hooks you if you haven't given in to the rest of it. We have that embedded below.

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

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

March 6, 2024 (Thursday) Rum Bar Records Rumble at The Root!! Brad Marino "On The Brink" Album Release Party, Brad Marino Band, Gene Champagne Band, Tom Baker's Double Down at The Square Root

March 7, 2024 (Friday)“Greasy UK garage” band The Lotts are coming to the Parlour in Providence with openers The Atlantic Thrills.

March 8, 2024 (Saturday) Pledge Pins, Whyte Lipstick, Andy California, Stress Balls at The Midway

March 8, 2024 (Saturday) Gobshites, ShaggahS, Marianne Toilet & the Runs at Koto in Salem FB page

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) TREE, Drained, Outlourdes, Far Too Late - 3-7PM Matinee at Alchemy Prov RI

March 9, 2024 (Sunday) Hummingbird Syndicate and Low Sparks at Tavern at The End of the World. music starts at 5PM.

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 11, 2024 (Tuesday)  Captain & Schlemiel!, Butterscott at The Jungle early show 6-9PM

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

March 13, 2024 (Thursday) American Ocelot, The Haymakers, Lonely Leesa and The Lost Cowboys, DJ Sherman spinning - MIddle East Up 6:30-11:30PM

March 13, 2024 (Thursday) Oh The Humanity at Mulligan's Biddeford, ME.

March 14, 2024 (Friday) Silver Screams, Pledge Pins, The Pleasing Terrors at Koto Salem.

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

March 15, 2024 (Saturday) Oh The Humanity!, One Fall, Little Low, Sky Tigers - Faces Brewing, Malden

March 16, 2024 (Sunday) The Hired Men, Tin Can Hooley, The Black Cheers, ShaggahS at The Midway - 3PM Matinee - FB page

March 16, 2024 (Sunday) Punk Matinee! The Callouts, Oh The Humanity!, Structure Sounds, Follow Thru at AS220 Providence - 3PM!

March 20, 2024 (Thursday) The Pete Best Band and Tiger Bomb at Aura, Portland, ME 7PM. FB page

March 21, 2024 (Friday) Crush Depth, Threat Level Burgandy, Sound Advice at  The Jungle

March 22, 2024 (Saturday) Somerville Record Fair - Local and regional record dealers from around the North East are bringing out thousands of vinyl records and CDs for your digging pleasure. 61 tables of vinyl records and CDs.at The Holiday Inn Washington St Somerville $5 admission - 9AM-5PM - FB event page for more info

March 22, 2024 (Saturday) Actor/Observer, Old Soul, Girih at Deep Cuts, Medford, 7PM

March 22, 2024 (Saturday) The Agents, Brunt of It, Nick & The Adversaries at Faces, Malden - All Ages 8PM - FB page.

March 23, 2024 (Sunday) The Mess Around at its new home - The Square Root 4-6PM

March 23, 2024 (Sunday) The McGunks, Freezing Process, The Manglers, Blasphlematics at The Midway for a 3PM matinee.

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

March 29, 2024 (Saturday) Guilloteenagers, Hambone Skinny, Screwcart at The Square Root

April 5, 2025 (Saturday) Weigh Boat, RoseR, American Ocelot, Jennifer Tefft and The Strange at The Midway

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

April 16, 2025 (Wednesday) Your Pest Band "Japan's best garage power-pop punkers", Zip-Tie Handcuffs, Wicked Dead at Faces Brewing, Malden. Your Pest Band has been at it for almost 15 years. Check 'em out!

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

April 19, 2025 (Saturday) Gang of Four at The Crystal Ballroom, Somerville. Tickets.

April 24, 2025 (Thursday) Christian Death at Deep Cuts Medford 7-11PM

April 30, 2025 (Wednesday) The Bellrays, Muck and the Mires, The Downhauls at Deep Cuts $20 advance / $25 day of

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

May 16, 2025 (Saturday) The FUs, Arctic Horror, Deprogrammer Cult, The Angry La's (Formerly GIVE UP!) at KOTO Underground, Salem:

June 27, 2024 (Sunday) The Gruesomes (legendary Canadian garage punk band a) , Muck & The Mires, The Chelsea Curve at The Middle East UP Event Page

September 7, 2024 (Sunday) Rock and Roll Yard Sale in Somerville Union Square FB page for more info vendors etc

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.