Tag: Boston

Musically Nostalgic

Feeling a little musically nostalgic for Boston in the 90’s. Pardon the youtube flood.

Gigolo Aunts. I never actually saw this line up. Once at Christmas I saw the Phil Hurley sit in with them while this drummer was in the crowd. That was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen by any band ever.

Jack Frosting. They weren’t around for terribly long, but we thought they were seriously cool.

Betwixt. Same guitarist as Jack Frosting (same drummer too, I think), but add in a lead cello. Possibly the weirdest awesome band ever.

Kustomized. The Drummer from Mission of Burma and the Volcano Suns comes up front. Also… extremely goofy video. I had never seen this one before. It was the 1990’s after all.

Smackmelon. This band should have ruled the universe. No kidding. Only a couple of records. Unbelievable awesomeness. I never got to see them live. When they announced their final show I really wanted to go, but I had a gig of my own at a Halloween party my boss was throwing. Mike on bass, my brother on drums, and me on guitar and vocals. We played a bunch of our own songs that Mike and I had been playing off and on for years. No one was impressed. I bet Smackmelon was wicked that night. I’ve never seen this video before, but I seriously think this is one of the best songs in the entire universe, known or otherwise. Spaceshot.

Buffalo Tom. There’s really no reason why these guys weren’t disgustingly huge. They had the songs. One perfect song after another. I consider it a cultural injustice that their Let Me Come Over record wasn’t a 10 million seller.

Letters to Cleo. Again, how were these guys not a household name? Cleo shows became events for us. Not to be missed. Perfect. Over and over again. Perfect.

The Dambuilders. Kinda sad that I can’t seem to find any live videos. I’ve never seen this one, and also never heard this radio edit. Eff-bomb free rock and roll for the kiddies. This band was incredible live. We saw them in the middle of Mass ave once. The one show that I remember most was actually kind of a bomb. They were playing a bunch of songs from what would be the last record. It was the first time I, and probably many others in the room, heard them and the reaction was not all that positive. It was at TT’s. I can remember the band members giving what I thought were “oh shit” looks back and forth, although I might have imagined that. When they got to the end they did a few older songs and it was the usual awesome. Fast forward a couple of months and they played the Middle East Downstairs. 3/4 of the band were living in New York by then (I think, it’s been a while and I might have heard the wrong stories) so they weren’t playing out much. That night though, all of those new songs were played with a ferocity I couldn’t believe. It was like a redemption. Of course, this could all have been in my head, but they were so good that night it was scary. They were also louder than I’ve ever heard any band indoors. Even with really good ear plugs I had to move to the back of the room. It was unbelievably loud. Also, unbelievably awesome. I think that may too have been the last time I saw them. Shame, they were fantastic.

Throwing Muses. No explanation needed. For my fanboydom they are second only to the holy triumvirate known as Rush.

Throwing Muses get two videos because song perfection. Also because both of these are from the 80’s which I wasn’t going to do, but perfect songs. So, yeah…

Pixies. I believe there is a state law that declares if you share Throwing Muses videos on a blog you are obligated to follow up with at least one from The Pixies. I want Lizardfish to play this song.

Big Dipper. Well… this is also from the 80’s, but the Gigolo Aunts covered this song in the 90’s… so if you squint a little it works.

Mission of Burma. I didn’t see them until 2001 and this video is from 1979 so I guess the whole 90’s theme is down the tubes, huh?

I guess I’ll stop now before I go off topic again.

Goodnight, Sweet TT’s

It’s a sad night for Boston area music.  Tonight is the last night we will have TT the Bears in Cambridge.  So many nights watching so many great shows.  Talk about your first rate downer.

(I didn’t start bringing a camera to shows until well after rock clubs stopped being a regular thing for me.  I only have pics from two trips to TT’s, one with Kay Hanley on January 3, 2007, and one with Cordelia’s Dad, two days later on January 5, 2007.  Had I owned a digital camera as far back as 1995 or so, there would probably been hundreds more to share today.)

   
 
Fare the well, oh TT the Bears.  You will be sorely missed.  Thanks for the memories.

Pics from Yesterday

I took a half day off from work yesterday so that I could get into town for the Rush show early. I took a half day off from work today so that I could sleep late… although I didn’t sleep late. Dummy.

Anyway, before going to the garden I went to Harvard Square. I wanted to have lunch at the REAL Border Cafe on Church Street, as opposed to the imposter in Burlington. I also wanted to see if any of my old go-to used record stores were there. They weren’t. That is sad.

Here’s a couple of views from the roof of the parking garage on JFK street.
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I don’t think I ever noticed the Prudential building in the distance from up there before.
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As a Bruins fan, this is obligatory any time I visit the TD Garden.

“Behind the net to Sanderson, ORR!! BOBBY ORR!!”
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While we were waiting in line to get into the Garden, this dude on the other side of Causeway street was snapping pictures of everyone.
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Again, as a Bruins fan this is obligatory. 2011 is starting to feel like the long, long distant past.
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I Don’t Live in Cleveland

I’ve been listening to sports talk radio regularly since about the year 2000 when I was getting stuck in brutal traffic driving from Tewksbury to Lowell each day. (note for non-townies, the two towns are right next to each other)

These days Boston has two sports radio stations. This morning I went to the car so that I could drive to dunks and get breakfast for me and the love of my life. One sports radio station came out of commercials as I started up the car and started discussing the Cleveland Cavaliers. My thought? Who gives a rats ass about the Cleveland Cavaliers. The hell with them and the hell with this show.

I switched to the other sports radio station and they topic there was the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Yeah, I think I might be completely done with Boston sports talk radio. Screw you all.

Los Pixies at T.T. the Bear’s Because it is 1987

TT the Bear’s is my favorite music venue in greater Boston and it’s closing. The bar was bought out by the competition, The Middle East which is also the next door neighbor, and despite an attempt to work out a deal to let TT’s stay open under the same management, they are being shut down this summer.

To help give the place a proper send off, The Pixies are going to play a one off, unannounced show tonight.  Here is the band’s statement:

June 18, 2015
BOSTON, MA – IMPORTANT

Hello

To help bid adieu to Cambridge’s T.T. the Bear’s Place, one of the most iconic nightclubs in the country, Pixies will perform at the venue one last time TONIGHT.

Tickets will be priced at $55.00 and go on sale today at 2:00PM ET at the Orpheum Theatre box office.

They will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis with a two-ticket limit.

All interested must be present when purchasing the ticket as all ticket holders will be wristbanded when they buy their ticket.  All attendees must be 18+, will need a valid ID, as well as their ticket and wristband in order to enter the club for the show.

Yes, the ticket price is absurd, and yes you have to jump through a ridiculous number of hoops to get a ticket, but TT’s is not what you’d call a big place.  I don’t know what the capacity is but it can’t be more than a couple of hundred.  Even at $55 and selling at only one location and the whole wristband thing, these are going to sell out in seconds.  Seconds, I tell you.
This is one of those weird gown up issues for me.  Something I never would have dreamed possible 20+ years ago.  When I was a kid I would have slaughtered scores of innocents to get in the door.  I would have done anything.  Now though, I have a conflict.  Given the choice between ditching work to get tickets and then staying in the city all day and then cramming* into a small room to see an awesome (though well past their prime and missing their bass player) band and going to an 8th grader’s middle school graduation ceremony… there is no question.  Graduation it is!
Still, this is a super cool move by the band.  It’s always great when bands who’ve moved on do something to show that they still remember where they came from.  Huge thanks to Los Pixies.  Now if they can just get Kim Deal to come back for the night.  Also, think they can get Throwing Muses to share the bill with them?  Like the old days?
*I went to a show at TT’s once where I thought I was going to die.  Not really, that’s too dramatic, but it was definitely weird.  It was a WMBR Pipeline sponsored show that was headlined by a Zulus reunion.  The Zulus didn’t do a whole hell of a lot for me when they were together, and I wouldn’t have gone to this particular show if Chelsea on Fire hadn’t been on the bill.  At that point in time Larry and I would have gone to the North Pole to see a Chelsea on Fire show.  Anyway, the place was packed to the rafters.  There wasn’t a single inch of free space in front of the stage.  It was alarming.  There were moments when the crush of people actually made it hard to breathe.  I couldn’t tell if it was because we were all crammed together, or if there just wasn’t enough oxygen in the room for all of us, but it was definitely an uncomfortable feeling.  There was also the simple thought that if someone over by the bar did something stupid like set a fire, all of us were dead.  I’m pretty sure this was before the Station burned down, but there was no way a crowd that big in a room that small would have been able to evacuate through the small exits.  It would have been a disaster.  Since the Station fire all of the rules have changed.  I haven’t been to TT’s in a long time, but I’m 100% positive the same claustrophobic fear would not have happened today.  Don’t let my hazy Zulus memories scare you off of tonight’s show.  If you can get there, go and check out the Mighty Pixies.  You won’t regret it.

Police Presence

A combination of today being a Massachusetts holiday and the kids needing to be in school early has placed me about 90 minutes early for work with only 10 more minutes to go before I get there.

On times like these I stop at the rest area next to route 16 and have a little breakfast while watching Netflix.

Right now the rest area is swarming with Massachusetts State Troopers.  I’ve never seen so many badges in one place.  This can mean only one thing:

It’s Marathon Monday.

No one had better mess with Boston today.  No one.