TWINK

Dust Bunny

11 tracks

Last winter nearly killed all of us. That’s a fact. What did you do to wile away the hours? I mean, after masturbation and booze and sobbing? I tell you what our pal Twink here did. He made a disco record on toy pianos. Would he have done this if he had his wits about him? No, no one would. So we have twenty feet of snow to thank for the fragile insanity of Dust Bunny. I tell you one thing, it’s the goddamn Pet Sounds of toy piano records. There will never be a toy piano record as good as this, so if you are making one, just stop. Of course, it’s entirely up to you to decide whether you actually want to listen to the greatest toy piano record ever made, but at least now you know it exists.   (Sleazegrinder)

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ANDY NEWTON

A Banner Day

14 tracks

Besides being really cute, Andy Newton is an exceptional song writer. I really like the mood of the first track, “In Due Time” – the arrangement and instrumentation is introspective and sweet: “I don’t know where I’m off to/ I don’t know what’s mine/ Still I’ll see everything through/ In due time. “Brush it Off Henry” is a dandy song of encouragement to a lovelorn friend: “Don’t be such a sad sack/ Why do you even want her back/ There ain’t nothing new today/ She was always walking away.” “Kelly Green” sounds like something Mick Jagger would’ve written or sung or both: “Girl run that stocking up your leg/ I said, Girl/ run that stocking up your leg.” “Like We Used To Do” has a dreamy, quiet quality, and the production is just so pretty, (with a little hint of Tom Rush’s “Child Song” in the chord progression.) There’s great piano and energy in “I Guess That Really Was the Last Time.” I think Bob Dylan might wish that he wrote it if he ever heard it, it is that good. And lookie there, the next song is a Dylan song, “If You Gotta Go, Go Now,” but I like Andy’s Dylanesque song better than the actual Dylan one! Gee willikers! “Those Fine and Good Blues,” is another winner. I can imagine Mick Jagger doing a cover of this one too. “River Rushing Through My Heart” has that garage band rock ’n’ roll sound reminiscent of the Standells’ “Dirty Water.” “When I Fall in Love Again” brings to mind Peter Noone and Herman’s Hermits, I don’t know why, I think because it’s plaintive and sincere and I believe it. “Providence Rain” starts like a distant cousin of “I am the Walrus” or a Beatles song that didn’t make it to the White Album. I think we will be hearing from this young man for many years to come, this is a fantastic debut album. It has been an honor to listen. Love the cover art by Rob Logan too!    (Kimmy Sophia Brown)

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ABSINTHE ROSE

Black Earth
11 tracks

This is basically an anarcho/peace-punk record played acoustically, like if Crass didn’t pay the electrical bill (They never do! They’re anarchists!) so they had to play unplugged. If folk-punk wasn’t already invented, Absinthe Rose would’ve just invented it. This is their third record, and if you can get beyond the odd banjo freakout here and there, there’s a lot of good stuff in it – empowering lyrics, slur-along choruses, some tasty gypsy/spaghetti western flourishes, and plenty of room for dancing. I always thought this town needed it’s own crusty New Model Army. Turns out we’ve got one. The perfect soundtrack for your next squat party. I mean, good luck finding a squat in this greedy town, but if you do, this’ll rock it.   (Sleazegrinder)

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ROSEMARY’S BABY BLUES

On Time and Feelin’ Fine

10 tracks

A well-produced rhythm & blues band with a stellar horn section and a repertoire consisting in the main of classic covers, the best of which are mentioned below. The band performs Delbert McClinton’s “Every Time I Roll the Dice” in a ballsy and brassy rendition faintly reminiscent of (and quoting) the Rolling Stones in their post-blues period. The icy-cold rhythmic cool of “Pass the Peas,” (by James Brown’s backup band The J.B.s)  is ably preserved in the jaunty trumpet and tenor sax stylings of John Abrahamsen and Rosemary Casey; pianist Travis Colby’s Hammond B3 solo adds a sprightly touch, and Joe Peck’s bass playing is remarkable. The instrumental rendition of Muddy Water’s “Got My Mojo Working” is particularly strong due to Jake Jacobsen’s guitar and Larry Bassick’s sure-footed percussion. The Funky Delbert McClinton number “The Rub” is highly entertaining as well as impeccably performed – the muted trumpet solo is an especially nice touch. The smoldering harp playing of (the presumably pseudonymous) Bismo Beerbelly adds a smoky touch to the band’s cover of Big Joe Turner’s “Flip Flop and Fly,” and John Abrahamsen’s wild trumpet solo is perfectly executed; Jake Jacobsen’s juddering guitar solo made me laugh out loud in admiration. (How often does that happen? Practically never.) “Killin’ Time,” an instrumental original which seems very much influenced by James Brown; recorded live, it is an added treat which climaxes the album. The band’s choice of repertoire reveals outstanding good taste, and the instrumentals are top flight. I would be very surprised if this weren’t one of the best revivalist R&B bands out there. Recommended.  (Francis DiMenno)

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TERRY KITCHEN

The Post-American Century

10 tracks

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NOMAD DREAMS

Nomad Dreams  

11 tracks

Okay… now I’m going to be outed as a hypocrite for loving this album, after criticizing Found Audio’s album for its cliches… because Nomad Dreams employs plenty of cliches as well — but in my defense I’d argue that you can do cliches better than others, so we give you a slide. Nomad Dreams mixes regular cabaret and jazz pop, but they do it so deliciously that I cut them slack for lacking originality. This album is scrumptious! Their Russian singer Vlada has a voice of verve and sass, and even though I was listening while doing other work, lyric upon lyric kept jumping out at me. Unlike most jazzy acts, the lyrics are not poetic and instead punch you in the face with sly wit. Example: “I’m un-employyyyed / don’t-know-where-i’ll-sleep-tomorrow” and “don’t-ask-me-for-how-long… I lost count / when my insurance ran out”! This album is fun from start to finish. Imagine Julie Andrews singing “I wanted to be a painter / but they told me I’m color blind / i wanted to be a rabbi / but god said ‘you’re out of your mind.'” I’ve already listened to the CD three times and will listen again! (I’ll be listening to Found Audio’s album again, just for the great bits.) Simply delightful.    (Shauna Erlbaum)

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TONI LYNN WASHINGTON

Regina Royale Records

I Wanna Dance

9 tracks

Toni Lynn has long been an iconic matriarch of the local R&B scene. She is in her late ’70s and was awarded a Boston Blues Festival Lifetime Achievement Award back in 1999. This new release showcases her powerful, warm and emotional vocals. She purrs. She growls. She gets the message across. Her backing band takes her from funk to bar-room to traditional blues in the blink of an eye – and they play tightly together on all the cuts. Bruce Bears on organ and piano and Mark Texeira on drums also play in Duke Robillard’s group. Veterans Jesse Williams on bass, Mike Williams on guitar, and Sax Gordon and Amadee Castenell on horns are a real pleasure to listen to. My favorite tracks on this great release are the opener, “I Feel Like A Million,” Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Checkin’ Up On My Baby,” and “Walkin’ and Talkin’ (And Crying My Blues Away).”  All three you would expect to hear in a an exciting nightclub appearance. “Mellow Down Easy,” a Willie Dixon cover, “Somebody’s Been Sleeping” (with a red hot Sax Gordon solo) and Buddy Guy’s “Leave My (Man) Alone” are funky and fantastic. And “Give Me One Reason” by four time Grammy award winner Tracey Chapman and Toni’s own “I Can’t Get Over Losing You” are in the traditional blues vein. This is one of the best R&B releases I’ve heard this year. I really love in the credits it’s written “All songs ARRANGED by Toni Lynn Washington. She is the real deal and these words are justifiably true. A great release. Check it out.   (A.J. Wachtel)

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DREAMCHILD

Absynthe Soundworks

Le Cabaret de L’Enfer

15 tracks

I fell in love with the cover of this CD. Brilliant red poppies adorn it, along with black and white images of a stylish steampunk couple raising glasses of absynthe. Intriguing! However, once it began to play, I asked myself, “What fresh hell is THIS?”

Silly question, since that answer is within the title. I  wanted to like this CD, between its cover and the titles of the tracks such as, “Gaslights in Hell,” “Ophelia’s Melodious Lay,” and “Sin Eater.” I really tried, but when I heard their cover of Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights,” I was done. Cringe worthy, like coffin nails on a blackboard to my ears.

My tastes in music are typically very diverse and open, but when I listened to this, not only did the doors close, but they were also well bolted. I just couldn’t find any pleasure in this self proclaimed hell. No doubt there is a cult following for Dreamchild, but I’ll not be drinking the koolaid. Nor the absynthe, for that matter. It strongly disagreed with me.  (R.J. Ouellette)

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JOHN SURETTE

Tomorrow The World (A Punk Rock Opera)

12 tracks

This album by John Surette of old school Boston punk legends Boys Life is impressive on many levels. Writing a concept album is a lot harder than it looks. Many of the songs break the conventions of punk rock and add elements of new wave, rockabilly, ragtime and prog. There are twists and turns in the songwriting that you never see coming yet feel natural. This record was produced by Surette and David Minehan. It sounds as polished as a Bob Ezrin recorded Kiss, Pink Floyd, or Kiss album. While no longer a teenager himself, John Surette seems to draw effortlessly from the well of teenage angst. This album should be re-released by the lingering ghosts of major labels. (Eric Baylies)

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TUMBLING BONES

Loving a Fool

13 tracks

“Broken Things” takes off as if on horseback, galloping along with a great rhythm section, with a wistful fiddle, and lovely harmonies reminiscent of Fleet Foxes. What’s wonderful about this album is the new compositions juxtaposed against the old gems that they excavated from hither and yon. “Bound to Ride” must be one of the ones T Bone Burnett missed when he was working on “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” –  complete with a freight train fiddle alongside high and lonesome voices. “Loving a Fool” is a country waltz full of regret and sorrow over loving the wrong person. I’ve heard the 1956 “I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby” covered by Dolly Parton, and also by Alison Krauss, but this version by these boys is an excellent presentation of the male perspective. “How They’re Rolling” is an enthralling ballad with wonderful blended voices, guitar and harmonica. “Shady Green Pastures” begs Elvis to join in this fine gospel tune, sung a capella in four-part harmony. “Red, Red Rose” is a dark ballad written in the vein of “Pretty Polly” which builds to a dramatic climax. “A Voice From on High” by Bill Monroe sounds as if it was recorded decades back. They learned “Just Because” from a Jorma Kaukonen record (which I have in my collection too!) but they make it their own. It’s a toe tapping, joyous song of warning. “Bright Morning Stars” is a traditional tune, sung in wailing soulful harmony. These guys are from Portland, Maine which is where I live. How have I missed them? I must show up for one of their concerts, they are a truly spectacular bluegrass band.  (Kimmy Sophia Brown)

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BEES DELUXE

Boston Is Trying To Kill Live Music

A Can of Bees

7 tracks

The ambient and subtle low-key version of “Mercy Mercy Mercy” (also covered by Cannonball Adderly) establishes this band’s excellence from the get-go. The smoldering acid blues of “A Quitter Never Wins” is compelling and intense–even vaguely reminiscent in places of early Funkadelic. A band original, “Zoe’s Chromatic Blues” – the title is perfectly descriptive– isn’t very different from what you might hear on some eclectic soft jazz radio program. Pianist Bruce Mattson adds an admirable Hammond B3 solo to Carol Band’s subdued keyboards and composer Conrad Warre’s reflective guitar. “Roll Over Stockhausen” is a live jam with subtle, insinuating bass work by Alan Dorr, ably accompanied by some spectacular plashing percussive fills courtesy of Sebastian Kossak. the cover version of “Damn Your Eyes” is performed in a creditably minimalistic fashion which highly suits the material–again, with spectacular guitar work by Warre, as well as dead-on percussion by Patrick Sanders. Warre’s bizarre, Hendrixesque acid blues fills on a number like his “I’m a Corpse part 2″ are proof positive that the band isn’t afraid to mix the brazen with the sedate. This combo is pushing the boundaries and are, in that sense, a band apart. Recommended, particularly if you like something more than a little different in the realms of blues and jazz. (Francis DiMenno)

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DRAGONFUCKER

Eponymous Epic    6 tracks

I had never heard of this band from South Boston until my friend took me to some dingy basement show (I love these kinds of shows) but it was all metal bands, and I find most metal to be too conformist and by-the-book. (I do like generic doom metal, though, because it’s so heavy and low.) Before this band played a note, it was clear they were a different beast. Their name alone! (That’s how you do it, bands. Your name should sell your “product.”) This demo doesn’t have the best production, but it doesn’t really matter, as the material transcends it. Think maybe Uriah Heep meets Iron Maiden? They’re also probably Tenacious D fans, but Dragonfucker play it pretty straight, which is good, because I don’t really like corny parody bands. These five good looking longhaired guys are surprisingly skilled musicians for their young ages (they all look 19) and tighter than a chinese lady’s purse. Great song titles too, like “Castles of Leather” or “Irony Is A Dangerous Game,” and inspired lyrics that dangerously veer too-close to the aforementioned silliness but succeed thanks to some cleverness. “Castles of leather/ tethered together/ …with barbed wire!/ rivers of iron/ roar like a lion/ …made of fire!” I could just read the lyric sheet for hours! (Is it too much to ask all the musicians out there to try a little bit harder?) The singer is serviceable but not distinctive enough; however, that could change with more practice. (He was much better in a live setting.) It’s 2015, metal bands! Stop aping 1985! Come up with something new! Granted, Dragonfucker are not reinventing the wheel – their genre should be called post-gallop! – but they also aren’t just imitating their heroes, either. They do some acrobatic metal moves I’ve never heard before.  (Shauna Erlbaum)

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21st CENTURY FUGITIVES

Losing Time

5 tracks

John Lucas singing, Gavin Burke on drums, songwriters Jimmy Bez on guitar and Jaden Mendola on bass, are all 16 years old and go to two different area high schools. They met in a town sponsored music class in Wakefield when they were 12 years old, and have been playing together ever since. Their sound is classic metal rock a la Led Zep meets The Foo Fighters, and the first two cuts, “Losing Time” and “Caught Cheatin'” are radio friendly rockers with cool power chords, vocals, and a good rhythm section that moves the songs along nicely. “Blame It on The Universe” is a bit goth, “You” with its great bass intro, and “Basic Facts” all have loud guitar, pounding drums, and screaming vocals. This young band shares the intense attitude of The Dropkick Murphys in their music too. Very Boston. Very Cool. Very Good. Keep an eye and ear out for  this clamorous quartet as they grow.   (A.J. Wachtel)

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BILL

The Bill Album

13 tracks

This is some record. Bill the band have been around since the late ’80s and on some level, it’s always been a bit of a goof. And it still is, but this record jams. Bill Gage is the best grunter since Tom Warrior, and he growls and spits through thirteen tough-as-nails hard rockers here that sound basically like Jim Carroll’s Catholic Boy if Jim recorded directly after getting his wisdom teeth pulled. Bill’s mush-mouth is definitely the highlight, but the back-alley guitars move things along nicely too. As far as gimmicks go, The Bill Album goes pretty far.     (Sleazegrinder)

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WATERMELON

Ate Me

9 tracks

This spazzy young band hails from Connecticut. They cover both Janes Addiction and Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, so that’s cool, but what about their originals? Watermelon writes some pretty good stuff too. They have odd passages like the residents and jagged rhythms like Sacharine Trust and Arab On Radar. Some of the songs are more rock ’n’ rolly but most of it takes a sort of free jazz approach to rock. This is a great big slab of awesomeness. (Eric Baylies)

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BUCKY FEREKE & THE PONY EXPRESS

Crumble Crumble Crumble Records

Wild River

12 tracks

Bucky Fereke’s self-produced production values are casual, and the vocals aren’t always front and center, necessitating a lyric sheet–attached. The excellent opening track, “Nothing,” is redolent of the band Green on Red with some superadded Neil Young touches (that whining harp, mostly). Frontman Bucky Fereke (he pretty much does it all, except for the often out-of-sync percussion) has a plaintive and high lonesome voice capable of descending to a near-baritone (as on the folksy but lumbering title track, reminiscent of Jackson Browne in a Jimmy Buffet mood). “Dearly Departed” is a shimmering country and western harmony vocal confection–one halfway expects to hear some yodeling. “Kings” has a halting and juddering instrumental backing which is certainly unique on the annals of country-folk–it’s like listening to Mungo Jerry in a hall of mirrors. “Welsome Home” is a curious combination of heavy metal and pure country – a coming-home song for a jailbird? Whatever. It’s a disturbing and memorable song, kind of like Husker Du in a country mode. “Sleep In” is another heavy number, somewhat murky and confused, but undeniably unique. (One has to wonder, however, what sort of mad mood the composer was in, to combine Spencer Davis Group with musique concrete?) “Give Me Back My Heart” is another example of Fereke’s inimitable brand of bizarro country songcraft. “Since My Baby left Town” is an uptempo but plaintive Cowpunk number: fans of the Holy Modal Rounders and Michael Hurley will find much to like here. “Lonesome (When You Go)”–not the Bob Dylan number–is a tinkling, tintinnabulating lament instrumentally somewhat in the mode of Johnny Cash and Hank Williams Sr. Overall, this is country rock with a twist–very much in the tradition of, but sounding not an awful lot like, Poco and Pure Prairie League. (Francis DiMenno)

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FOUND AUDIO

Locomotive Earth    

12 tracks

Your intrepid reviewer (me) has informed The Noise‘s editor to send them (me) only CDs that are very creative and innovative-in-some-way, as that is my cup of soup (I don’t like tea), but that memo continues to appear lost or ignored. So here goes! I really don’t want to hurt the feelings of musicians (even though most could use a lot more Tough Love), but they have to choose between being lied to or being hurt (and growing as human beings). The press release for this record states it “aimed to embrace experimentation”, but that’s almost perfectly untrue. Hell, the opening riff is literally the most common cliche in rock music: a straight 4/4 beat of chugging guitar chords. This was trite by 1962! All of it sounds terribly uninspired. We’ve heard all these cliches thousands of times before. (The “experimentation” seems to be the occasional sound effect.) The CD is deliberately-ordinary country-roots rock, but it seems like they didn’t try too hard in the writing department (hence the cornucopia of cliches). Waitaminute! WHO is this on track 4? It begins with a very unusual and delightfully crafty structure and sounds! LOVE it! But then diverts back to ordinary, sigh. This is a band that really does need some tough love, to make them rethink their laziness. I hear what COULD be a really great rootsy band, but the singer needs to try harder as does the songwriter. The album SOUNDS great. But I’m really hard on musicians, because I expect more out of them. Helpful Tip: if you write a chord progression and it doesn’t blow your mind every time you strum it, then throw it out and try again. Track 5 (the titles are too dull to cite) begins like a David Lynch soundtrack! I’m loving it… and then the parade of country cliches comes in and ruins the party. Ah! There it is again: the REAL Found Audio! The bridge (?) of track 5 takes the country music cliche of the thump-thump-thump-thump upright bass etc but uses non-cliche chords and melodies over it! There you go! Because you can use some of the cliches of a genre you love, while still surprising us. EX: that thump-thump-thump-thump bass not only is a rhythmic cliche of country, it’s a melodic cliche, and that instrument‘s cliche (as opposed to playing country bass with a Moog doing the same notes and rhythm). See? All three elements — melody, timbre, and rhythm — are the exact cliche! A cliche jackpot! You can change two of the three elements and it’s still country music.  Wow: some of the artsy bits are phenomenal. They need to learn to fuse that sense of adventure with The Song, so it’s one long breath of fresh air, versus artsy-intro-then-ordinary-song-then-artsy-outro. Track 7 is mostly really good throughout! If these guys tried harder, they could be an amazing post-REM. Let’s hope I kicked their butts enough to motivate them! My editor’s going to kill me for going over my word count, but I think there’s a real breakthrough here! Right before your eyes! Track 8 also shows them fusing it all into their own sound. Guys! You would be HUGE if you just committed to making all your songs more “experimental.” The good parts are fantastic! Commit!    (Shauna Erlbaum)

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JAY WILLIE BLUES BAND  

Zoho Records

Johnny’s Juke Joint

12 tracks

Generally speaking they sure know how to rock ’n’ roll down in Connecticut. More specifically, the Jay Willie Blues Band has cornered the market on the way his major influence, Johnny Winter, sounded. What better way to create an almost identical intonation than to have Bobby T. Torello, Johnny’s drummer during the ’80s, and Jason Ricci, who played on Winter’s 2014 Grammy award winning releaseStep Back in the band?

Joining Jay Willie, Bobby, and Jason in the group are Bob Callahan on guitar and vocals, Steve Clarke playing four strings, Ted Yakush on sax, and Malorie Leogrande with her five octave vocal range and Jay’s brother Tod singing.

This release has a bunch of covers and a few originals and the one thing they all have in common is the cuts rock righteously. Jay’s slide guitar on the Winter cover “I Love Everybody” from his Second Winter album is just killer. Malorie’s great female vocals on the song change the perspective of the original, and I love how the band keeps playing as the song fades into the outro! Johnny Winter did this a lot on his records and it’s an inside way Jay pays tribute to the master. Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions’ “People Get Ready” is a very soulful and rocking cover. An instrumental that Johnny, Jon Paris and Bobby T used to open with, back in the day, “Succotash,” sounds a lot like Johnny’s laying down the licks himself. The nice stomping shuffle, “Nobody But You” with a great Yakush sax part also is very good. “Me And The Devil” a trad blues Robert Johnson melody, Jimmy Reed’s “You Got Me Dizzy,” Buddy Guy and Jr. Wells’ “I Got A Stomach Ache” and Jay Willie’s own “Upside of The Ground” showcase the band’s tightness and ability to get and stay in a groove. PLAY THIS CD LOUD!   (A.J. Wachtel)

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CONOR MULROY

The Last Circus Act

8 tracks

If you want to sit down and hear some really pretty music, set yourself down and listen to this album by Conor Mulroy. The compositions are all his but they have an old feel, some remind me of songs by Townes Van Zandt – they’re full of feeling and observations of the heart. Lindsay Paige Garfield offers a perfect feminine edge on harmonies, with Michael Feingold, Patrick Warren, Dave Easley and Tom Arey adding their excellence on strings, keyboards and percussion. “Brown’s Island” is a notably lovely instrumental piece. “Norwegian Eyes” makes me think of the Moody Blues. “The Last Circus Act” is the most unique track, it feels other-worldly and mysterious. Nice album. (Kimmy Sophia Brown)

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THE WIG PEOPLE

Littleguy Records

Black and Grey: A Film By Marc Stuart Tourigny

6 tracks

For the record, the full title is “Black and Grey: I Will Be Your Light Single Featuring Music From the Wig People: A Film By Marc Stuart Tourigny.” The single is easily the best of show; a singularly bent bit of ecstasy-rock somewhat akin to latterday OMD or maybe a deracinated Yo la Tengo. It is a heartening bit of emotion-laden songcraft which fades to silence amid the epic tom toms of John Lynch. Next, lead guitarist Jonny Rely provides a solo instrumental guitar track stark in its beauty and simplicity titled “Flight of the Wig People”. Then there’s a couple of warhorse classical pieces and a negligible demo. The final track is “The Blue Light,” a band effort somewhat reminiscent of U2 and PiL, performed in a clamorous fashion by the band Menfolk. Overall, this is at the very least an interesting curio. (Francis DiMenno)

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BRIAN CARPENTER & THE CONFESSIONS

Accurate Records

“The Far End Of The World”

11 tracks

This debut release took four years to make. It is an interesting and unique mix of haunting ballads, sea shanties, reverb drenched guitar and free jazz. Brian sings like Frank Zappa and writes all the songs, but it’s the well crafted arrangements and vivid lyric and audio imagery that makes this a good endeavor. The opener, “Savior of Love,” “Beautiful Jane,” “The Far End of The World,” “This Lonely Road,” and “Up Come Old Lazarus” are moody, haunting ballads. “Lost at Sea” sounds like an old marine tune, and “Where The River Bends,” which incorporates whistling, has a C&W influence and is pretty cool. Brian’s past gigs include Beat Circus and Ghost Train Orchestra and I love the electronic swirls and quirks he uses for his free jazz inspired tunes “Resurrection,” “It Hurts to Love You Sometimes,” with the neat violin part,  and the final cut, “Sailor’s Song.” Contributing artists include David Michael Curry from The Thalia Zedek Band and Carla Kihlstedt from Tin Hat and Rabbit Rabbit, who sings and performs on strings and the traditional Swedish nyckelharpa. Introspective music played out loud. Finest Kind.   (A.J. Wachtel)

CARAVAN OF THIEVES/

BIRD MANCINI  

Me & Thee Coffeehouse, Marblehead, MA  

9/11/15 

“My mom always wanted me to be a priest,” Billy Carl Mancini, the droll half of the carnivalesque Roslindale-based duo Bird Mancini, tells the rapt listeners at the Me & Thee, “then I became a musician. She wasn’t happy.” But we sure are.

With his bowler hat, shades and quiet demeanor, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Mancini suggests a hipper, bearded Boston version of the Captain from Captain & Tennille, while his partner, the effervescent Anita O’Day-on-acid Ruby Bird with her sexy librarian style yodels and wails on the accordion, melodica, glockenspiel, cowbell, vibraslap and pretty much any percussive device within reach.

The twosome fills the hall with a delirious roadshow wackiness that sets the tone for what promises to be a night of cosmic cabaret, the perfect, life-affirming antidote to a somber anniversary.

Bird Mancini kicks off with “If You Wanna Get to Know Me,” bubbling over with bossa-nova hip swingy juicy double entendres and sinuous melodic that has the audience swaying in the pews.

On the earnest and playful “(I Want My Own) Brian Epstein,” from their delicious disc Tuning In/Tuning Out, Bird Mancini suggest a warmer They Might Be Giants while Bird changes gears for the soulfultour de force shouter “The Listener” with its dreamy sighing accordion.

If Bird Mancini’s smoking and dizzying set leads us down the rabbit hole, then headliners Caravan of Thieves has us seated at the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party with their demented, rollicking gypsy jazz klezmer gospel disco soul folk punk, etc. This joint is really jumpin,’ as Fats Waller would say.

From the first finger snappin Djangoesque strains of “Disappear” from 2015’s Kiss Kiss with its sweet lovey-dovey shim-sham slinky jazz-inflected strains, we are transported to the Hot Club of France with a disco ball spinning overhead and funhouse mirrors all around.

With its raucous, eclectic fusion of blues, gypsy jazz, 1930s-era swing, a bissel of klezmer, a twist of hallelujah gospel, a hint of classical, and the “four-on-the-floor” Bee-Gees disco beat, the Thieves’ sound brings to mind the Squirrel Nut Zippers but this band goes further.

They perform an everything-but-the-kitchen sink version of “Bohemian Rhapsody” replete with heavy metal head-tossing from the double bass player and then slink into a seething, sighing take on The Beatles’ “Girl.”

The quartet, hailing from Bridgeport, Connecticut, has serious chops, with Fuzz on vocals, guitars and pots and pans (This kit has to be seen to be believed), Carrie on vocals and guitar, Ben channeling Stephane Grappelli on violin and Brian on double bass. By the end of his pots and pans solo for “Love Made a Monster Out of Me,” Fuzz’s shirt is soaked. It’s been a long time since I have seen a band play with such delirious passion. These guys are not phoning it in!

This audience doesn’t want to let the Thieves off the stage and they return for not one, not two, but three encores—which may be a Me & Thee world record.  “There’s no reason this aisle should be empty,” says Fuzz, inviting us to get up and dance.  “Let your freak flag fly!” The final encore, a rousing gospel-tinged 9/11 tribute version of “Raise the Dead,” performed in front of the merch table where the Thieves plus Ruby Bird on accordion and Billy Carl Mancini on guitar, has everyone stomping their feet, clapping and snapping and singing in unison. We are healed.   (Linda Werbner)

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THE J. GEILS BAND

WZLX 30th Anniversary Party

Harbor Lights Pavilion, S. Boston, MA

8/27/15

Opening the night is Ian Hunter from Mott the Hoople. He is an icon and it is very cool hearing Mott’s catalog of English rock classics, including “All The Young Dudes” live and onstage in 2015. To see an artist in his early 70s  perform with so much fire and zeal is a real pleasure. This outdoor venue is the perfect place to see The J. Geils Band. But then again, ANY club is an ideal spot to catch Boston’s best band. Starting with the instrumental “Sno-Cone (Tribute To Albert Collins),” Wolf casually walks onstage and puts his beer bottle down on an amp. He joins Seth Justman on organ, Magic Dick on harp, D.K. on bass, Duke Levine and Kevin Barry on guitars, Tom Arey on drums, and two great and animated female backup singers in black dresses. Then it’s “Hard Driving Man” – five minutes of sex and drugs and rock ’n’ roll, and I’m thinking “fasten your seatbelt, Wachtel, you’re in for another two hours of perfection and passion.” In fact, I don’t sit down in my seat again as I join the crowd and sing all the words to all the songs as they play! A bunch of high-energy hits follow: Otis Rush’s “Homework,” Smokey Robinson’s “First I Look At The Purse,” their own “Centerfold,” “Love Stinks,” with two very little girls who bring out bouquets of red roses to offer the lead singer, “Give It To Me,” “Whammer Jammer,”  “Looking For Love,” with Wolf on his knees and emptying his heart and soul out to the packed house, and the first song Seth Justman and Peter ever wrote together, “Wait.” They even do a KILLER cover of The Supremes’ “I Hear A Symphony,” where Wolf brings a woman up from the audience to dance with him onstage, for an encore. The last song of the night, “Nothing But A Party,” has thousands of different colored pieces of paper dropping down on the audience. When was the last time you saw THAT? The best show of the year by the best band in Boston. It doesn’t get any better than this!   (A.J. Wachtel)

 …

THE GROWNUP NOISE   

CD Release/Farewell Show

Davis Sq. Theater, Somerville, MA

8/14/15

It’s always a bittersweet moment when a tremendous band decides to break up, after many years of successful gigs, tours, album releases, and acquired and lasting friendships. For ten years, The Grownup Noise, led by Paul Hansen (vocals/guitar) and Adam Sankowski (bass/vocals), have created a literate collection of progressive folk-pop tunes that have amazed me. They have always been approachable, focused, and earnest within the local indie rock scene, using their collective of talented members [Aine Fujioka, Rachel Barringer, Todd Marston, Katie Franich, Kyle Crane, and Dave Middleton among others] to enhance their presentation. Heck, for this show, they even roped in ex-Morphine sax legend, Dana Colley, to spice up the mix. Mesmerizing!

As background, I must quote from Paul’s final press release: “It is strange to release a new album in the heat of summer because it was written in depths of last winter, when all of us were collectively crazy. The collective isolation. Sometimes trapped indoors close to a radiator or sometimes in my van, stuck in snow somewhere, trying to finish a song with cold fingers. I had so many reasons to finish writing the songs for this album. I knew that our beloved band members Todd (keys/accordion) and Aine (drums/vocals) were leaving in the Fall and it would break my heart and piss me off if we couldn’t have one more run of new songs together. I just didn’t expect them to come falling out of my mouth onto the floor without a chance to catch them and analyze them closely. But here we are, and it feels like we kicked and screamed and, in turn, received some serious love from the muses to produce a worthy ending to this chapter of the The Grownup Noise. Also, along the way, I started hearing Dana Colley’s (Morphine) bari-sax sound in my head and, lo and behold, a couple unnecessarily long emails later, he’s recording on our record. These songs came from slow, simmering anxiety mixed with apocalyptic snow storms. Maybe like food absorbing flavor in a hot kettle. Hence the title, Stewing. I like to think of this album as grouchy minimalism, compared to our previous three albums. It is good to know that something good can come from raw floundering.”

    Tonight, they open with ten songs from the new album, which epitomizes the intent Paul discussed, and the response is respectful enthusiasm. The sax adds some unusual heat and the group’s playing is both dynamic and reserved. A few of these songs (“Eating Our Own,” “Bratty Bones,” “What I’m Told,” “Leaving Home”) sound prime for radio play, poppier and effervescent. Then, as homage to Dana’s presence, they whip the crowd into a frenzy with Morphine’s tune, “All the Way”, which opens the flood gates for the rest of the night. People are up & dancing, cheering, stomping, and the band delves into their back catalog with “New Outsiders,” “Carnival,” “A Hill to Die On,” “Vampire Love Song,” and “Just So You Know.” There are bows, hugs and kisses for this spectacular farewell. Best wishes always – The Grownup Noise will be missed!   (Harry C. Tuniese)

 …

THE BRUCE BEARS TRIO with WILLIE J. LAWS

The Beehive, South End, Boston, MA

9/6/15

What a very cool club. It’s got little round tables with white tablecloths and a big bar, with a small stage right in front. And this is a special night that is very typical of the local music scene. Organist Bruce Bears, upright bassist Brad Hallen, and drummer Mark Teixeira usually gig in Duke Robillard’s band, but on an off night they just jam to get their ya-ya’s out. This time with ANOTHER legendary local six-stringer, Willie J. Laws. Just fantastic! Songs I REALLY dig are Willie’s older tune “Love Letters” and “Cornbread Moan” from his 2014 release, and “Sneaky Child” by the trio. Soundman Dennis D’Angelo Barretto does a great job of separating the sound as the crowd eats, drinks, and listens to great blues. Very up-scale and very enjoyable. I’m having a blast!    (A.J. Wachtel)

…

JONATHAN WOOD VINCENT

Mass. Ave. in Central Square, Cambridge, MA 

9/11/15

Perhaps you’ve seen this oddball fellow singing and playing his very avant garde accordion around town – and if you haven’t you should try. I’ve seen him along the outskirts of Harvard Square as well, on Friday evenings, confounding the general public. He went to New England Conservatory and it shows: his skills are impressive, like he’s the bastard child of Igor Stravinsky and Kate Bush, with classically-trained chops… but you’d be forgiven for thinking he’s a feral idiot raised by wolves in the Swiss Alps. (That’s if there are wolves in the Alps.) (I’m not looking that up!) He’s unforgettable: maybe 6’3″ with wild and messy long blond hair and a beard, and usually wearing something preposterous (am I the only one who thinks “preposterous” sounds like the Greek God of absurdity?) – no pants (just colored briefs!) and post-hipster jackets and shirts (one time I saw him in a lovely dress). He’s deliberately obtuse, and his banter with passersby is even more strange than his lyrics (which I think may be improvised). At first, some people assume he’s mentally insane, but the longer they watch him, the sooner they see he’s quite funny and kind of a mad genius. I told him he needs a better stage name, and he went into a two minute “song” about how he needs to improve his stage name. (Shauna Erlbaum)

…

LOVEWHIP/

LOOKER/

ERIN HARPE & THE DELTA SWINGERS

Johnny D’s, Somerville, MA

9/5/15

This is a great bill in a cool cabaret. I live for shows like this. Opening, yes opening, the night is Erin Harpe & the Delta Swingers. For you neophytes, these cats won the Boston Blues Challenge for the third time last year, and they were also presented the 2012 Best Blues Band award from The Boston Music Awards. Tonight is sorta like seeing Clapton opening up for Blind Faith. Erin is influenced by Memphis Minnie’s singing, and delta blues guitar picking is first-rate. Bob Nisi is pounding on his Christmas lights adorned kit (and singing those high harmonies) together with Jim Countryman on four string, are a rock solid rhythm section.  Their harp player, Matt Charles, is an artist they picked up in Chicago during their recent two-month cross-country tour. They are tight and red hot from being on the road so long. Their uptempo jump/country blues sound is well rehearsed and sharp as a tack. After so many recent shows in front of so many different audiences they know exactly what works and what doesn’t — and this is a real treat for the packed house. Everyone is on the floor dancing as the band plays. Songs I like are, “M and O Blues,” the train song about The Missouri and Ohio line, their dance version of “Angel From Montgomery,” and a cut with a great bass line, “Good Luck Baby” planned for their new CD. I always love when Erin jumps up a full octave for a measure or two at the end of the song.

Next band on stage is Looker, a rock/alt rock quartet led by two women, Mary Beth Cahill and Suzanne Hinton both on guitar and vocals. Mike Weidenfeller on bass and Ned Armsby on drums round out the group. Looker plays all originals and I enjoy their song “The Great Game Sorry.” They’re like the band Television, with the two lovely ladies leading the group.

Headlining is Lovewhip, which contains members of the opening act, now dressed up in hippie outfits and wigs. THIS band plays electro/dance rock. Like Blondie meets Talking Heads with a bit of reggae, afro beat and psychedelia mixed in. I love their covers of “007” by Desmond Dekker, “Pump Up The Jam” by Technotronic, and “Night Nurse” by Gregory Issacs. Wild stuff to end a crazy night.   (A.J. Wachtel)

…

IRIS LUNE

ICA, Boston, MA

8/27/15

Since I’m currently abuzzed about new progressive prog rock acts (i.e. – Bent Knee and Courtney Swain), imagine my joy to come up with another otherworldly indie band – Iris Lune. A potent, passionate combination of mood and groove. Think Imogen Heap merged with Radiohead, sprinkled with Icelandic vocalisms (i.e. – Bjork or Emiliana Torrini). Fronted by the quiet ephemeral presence of singer/keyboardist, Ella Joy Meir, delicacy pervades their performance. Iris Lune seem to drift through their tunes. There are no power chords or thundering drums, just highly a nuanced filigree of notes and textures. On the back deck of the ICA, with Boston Harbor behind them on a beautiful evening, it is quite easy to be carried away by their spell. The music would build & subside, swell and swoon, with patterns emerging from the whooshing sounds. Their guitarist, Asher, spins phrases and melodies that never distract from the sonic tapestry. Bassist/additional keyboards Aaron and drummer Angelo constantly create a bed for the songs that either demands attention or drops off into rhythmic unpredictability. They effectively use a dose of processing (especially with Ella’s double mic set-up) that enhances their two recently released singles, “Bring Me the Moon” and “Triplets”. Both sets start with gorgeous soundscapes that lead into two fab tunes, “Never Regretting” and “Belly of a Whale” – both mystical and melancholic. A couple of other songs, “Lost in Chatter” and “Fistful of Thorns” are also worthy of attention. They even decide to throw in a funky improv number to demonstrate their compositional chemistry. I am anticipating the release of their debut EP. I’m convinced their sound is quite contemporary and evocative with undeniable talent, and with a bit more contrast, vitality, and design as they mature, will prove to be even more worthy. At the start of their career, I feel Iris Lune have successful days ahead. Best of luck and go get ‘em!  (Harry C. Tuniese)

…

TSUNAMI OF SOUND/

TOKYO TRAMPS/

THE CYCLONES/

YUCCA FLATTS/

BRIAN CAGLE/

BAYOU BOY ORCHESTRA/

GEEZER DELUXE

Geezer’s Summer BBQ

Outside in Stoughton, MA

8/22/15

This is my third or fourth time at Greedy Geezer’s annual bash. It’s held between a small pond and his house, and this year’s festivity is the best one to date. All the bands that play at his year round monthly night at The Granite Rail, in Quincy Center, are here. It’s like going to a family reunion.  Listen to this line-up: Yucca Flatts – Scruffy The Cat’s Dan McLennon’s latest bluegrass/acoustic venture, Joey Fingers & The Cottage Avenue Band, great guitarist Brian Cagle from Oklahoma, The Cyclones – 10 Foot Polecats’ Jay Scheffler’s hooting and hollering band, blues favorites Tokyo Tramps and surf rock kings Tsunami of Sound. Great R&B with a C&W and beach flavor all day long, while Geezer’s wife Mary and Joey Finger’s wife Barbara feed the hungry masses. Thank you ladies, you fill our bellies while all the music feeds our hearts and souls. A fabulous day of hillbilly and Muddy Waters outdoors under a tent, in a rural environment on a pond with the grills working overtime. There are FIVE different washboard players playing here today! Seeing an orchestra with a banjo is intriguing too.  In the past hour, I have heard “Flip Flop and Fly” from Big Joe Turner and “Drink, Fight and Fuck” by G.G. Allin. This is the way I like to hear my music in the summer – everything on it with a little bit of TWANG!    (A.J. Wachtel)

…

JENEE HALSTEAD

Opening for Joseph Arthur

Me & Thee Coffeehouse, Marblehead, MA

9/17/15

Though I arrive late to the oldest coffeehouse in Marblehead on Mugford Street, the show is not in progress. There’s music playing behind the closed large sliding doors, but it’s a soundcheck for the Brooklyn-based folk-rock looper/painter, Joseph Arthur. Joseph’s tardiness, not only in arriving, but cooperating with the promotion for this show has initially tainted tonight’s atmosphere. After what appeared to be a difficult soundcheck, the doors slide open and the half-filled house welcomes Jenee Halstead who hits the refresh button and all is back to normal. She’s not your typical Me & Thee female folk singer. Her tight white short evening dress with large loop earring that could pass as a pair of dream catchers conger up a NYC, 5th Avenue, ex-hippie frame of mind. She’s out of the gate on acoustic guitar with “Bitten By the Night” (off her 2012 release Raised By Wolves) a sad, dark poem-like song of someone who has lost their mate and is dealing with the transition. They’ve taken to drinking and staying up late feeling restless and unsettled. I like the vulnerable state Jenee offers. Vocally she’s similar to Patty Griffin. As she switches over to a tenor ukulele, she brings up her pal Jake on accordion. This wasn’t planned and they need a little song preparation huddle. The accordion makes it feel like there’s a little band on stage now.  Jenee continues with “Deep Dark Sea” from The River Grace (2008), then switches over to piano for “Sophia” from new Edge of the World EP. Jake joins her again for “Dusty Rose,” where a wife confronts her husband about a 25 year affair he’s been having. She wraps it up by saying “Support local music – we are the future right now.” The immediate future includes Joseph Arthur who makes up for his effect on the early part of the night by delivering an artful experience.  (T Max)

 …

JAMES MONTGOMERY AND FRIENDS/

ALLEN ESTES/

CHELSEA BERRY/

TOMO FUJITA/

HIRSH GARDNER/

JON BUTCHER/

JOE PET/

MIKE LAMM/

JEFF LEVINE/

BILLY LOOSIGIAN/

GEORGE MCCANN/

TOM PEREZ/

CHRIS MARTIN/

ADRIENNE MELLING/

JON VANDERPOOL/

BRUCE MARSHALL/

PETER HACKEL

The Paige Farley-Hackel Memorial Playground Benefit

First Baptist Church, Newton, MA

9/11/15

Paige Farley-Hackel died a hero flying American Airlines on 9/11, and her step-son Peter has this worthy cause benefit every year to maintain the memorial park in Roxbury named after her. And like usual, the support given by local artists who know Peter and the people who knew Paige is extraordinary. James Montgomery says to about 400 people in attendance, as he turns around and looks at the talent behind him onstage and from under the towering church pipe organs above him, “This is the best band playing tonight in the U.S.A. Do you think they have shows like this in Akron, Ohio?” Funny but true. I really dig local folk legend Allen Estes joined by Chelsea Berry’s beautiful harmonies on his “All Fall Down.” I also appreciate the extraordinary covers of Jimi’s “Up From The Skies” and “Little Wing” by Jon Butcher and Berklee  Professor Tomo Fujita when, with only ONE practice, they duel and flirt by playing the same licks together in different octaves. And at the end of the night, as Montgomery, with a million dollars of talent surrounding him, goes from B.B. to The Rolling Stones – “The Thrill Is Gone” to “Miss You.” His version of a song he wrote while in Johnny Winter’s band, “Little Johnny,” featuring the blazing slide guitar of George McCann, has the church walls shaking like a Baptist born-again Mass should – full of fever and fervor. Even a holier-than-thou person like myself is caught up in the intensity. A highpoint of the night has to be seeing James act as an auctioneer and successfully getting $4000 and $3800 for two guitars signed by Steven Tyler! There are even female backup singers all night. Molly Martin, Michelle Jaynes, Jen Thayer, Adrienne Melling, and Kaylee Federman bring a feeling of Detroit to Newton with their great vocals and gestures the whole night each band plays music devoted to the loss of Paige.  I notice this and appreciate the work behind this incredible production. Hirsh Gardner the drummer from New England slowly walks down the aisle between the pews, plays an acoustic guitar and sings his band’s national hit “Never Want To Lose You” to the captive crowd. It’s magnificent. Having young Jay Park from Newton’s Charles E. Brown Middle School walk around with his violin entertaining the attendees at dinner and welcoming them outside is pretty cool too. I later see James Montgomery talking to the young artist about music. There is a lot of that “passing of the torch” feeling here tonight. Young guitarist Mark Gentile mixes it up onstage with veterans Joe Pet from The Joe Perry Project and Bruce Marshall from Toy Caldwell/Marshall Tucker. Even when Butcher and Fujita are dueling it out onstage, one gets the feeling of seeing and hearing the anguish of the past being passed down to the hope of the future. A moving night of passion in the mind’s memory. I can’t wait for next year’s celebration – can it possibly get better?   (A.J. Wachtel)

GETTING TO KNOW JIM TRICK

by Kathy Sands-Boehmer

If Marblehead, Massachusetts had a mayor, Jim Trick would win that election hands-down.  It’s clearly evident that he knows everyone and I mean everyone in town.  It’s impossible to walk down the street or eat a meal at any restaurant without people walking up to Jim to shake his hand and say hello.  Now that Jim’s been playing more shows and has released his latest CD, Further from the Tree, people are more aware of his music and how special his songs are. Jim’s songs touch the heart, his engaging sense of humor tickles your funny bones, and being around him is an antidote for anything that may be ailing you. Jim’s songs capture the essence of the human condition—there’s something very pure and clear about them.  Take a listen. Check out Jim at www.jimtrickmusic.com

Jim took some time to answer these questions recently.

Noise: From what I know about you, you’re quite a guitar aficionado. Maybe there’s another word for it… but you know what sound you like and what you don’t like.   Can you tell us about the guitars in your life?   You can detail what you started with and what you’ve grown into over time.

Jim: I have a bit of a guitar issue.   Kind of an addiction but I do use them for work so I’m okay with it.   You won’t see me at any Guitarist Anonymous meetings anytime soon.

My brothers had guitars but I wasn’t really allowed to touch them.  I asked my parents for one and my timing was right.   My sister had scoliosis and her back brace prohibited her from playing her clarinet.   My parents traded her clarinet for a Hondo II, nylon string guitar.  I loved it but hated lessons.   My father kinda forced me to continue.   A fact of which I am now grateful.

My main guitar these days is a guitar built for me by Bill Tippin.  He calls it “The Bravado” and describes it as a “medium jumbo.”  It has a mahogany back and sides and an adirondack spruce top.   When I met the guitar it was literally a raw, mahogany plank.   Tippin held it next to my head, tapping it, saying “can you hear that?”  I pretended like I heard what he heard thinking if Bill Tippin is that excited then I’m not going to question it.   I was terrified to bring it to shows for the longest time and still won’t bring it to fly in dates.

My arsenal includes:

A 1968 Gretsch: Chet Atkins, Country Gentleman

A 1958 Gibson 7-48: Retroed with two p-90’s

A 1962 Gibson Classical

A Fender Stratocaste: It’s a Mexican fat Strat that plays like butter and sounds perfect right out of the box.

Two, matching, first generation Tacoma C1C Chiefs: One of which was completely restored by the great Peter Meyer after it accidentally got smashed.

A Carbon Acoustic, Cargo, which is made completely out of carbon fiber:   It’s a great guitar for winter gigs.

A Fender, Gemni acoustic: The first good acoustic I had.  My parents got it for me when i was in high school.   It will be restored this fall but I most likely won’t tour it.

And then a bunch of assorted ukuleles and miscellaneous other guitars.

Noise: When you compose a song, is any particular guitar the most natural instrument for you to go to for inspiration?

Jim: It totally depends on the season.   Right now I’m writing on the Tippin but that Gibson classical has a million songs inside it.  I rarely have more than one guitar on stage with me for shows.   Sometimes two but not typically.

Having a ton of guitars is really about inspiration for writing. My friend, producer and musical mentor Michael Pritzl, of The Violet Burning, has a very right and wrong approach to instrument choices.  A vintage Gibson, for example, is rarely going to get it wrong.   An original Gretsch is always going to know more than me.  My guitars are my friends and a real friend tells you their secrets.  I in turn tell them mine.

Noise: You are one of the most prolific songwriters I know.  Lyrics seem to flow out of you.  I’ve seen you tapping away on your phone and you come up with a profound set of lyrics.  Sometimes it’s just a phrase that gets your imagination going and then you’re off. You must realize that not many people are born with this gift.  Have you always been like this or did you cultivate your songwriting aptitude?

Jim: Wow, thanks for that.  I have always loved words and have always been more of lyricist than a melody writer though I’m working on it.

One of my favorite films is A River Runs Through It.  In it a boy is home schooled by his father who happens to be a Presbyterian minister. Every day his father gives him a writing assignment.  As the boy submits drafts throughout the day his father says “Okay, again, half as long.”   This cycle continues until the boy has his two pages condensed down to two paragraphs, at which point his father says, “Good! Now throw it away.”

The idea of keeping the work tight is important to me, as is making sure to write for the trash barrel.  When I was younger I was very “precious” about my work.   Not anymore.  Writing with people like Rachel Taylor and Christopher Williams has caused me to take the time to refine and dig more than I used to. Just because singing something feels good, doesn’t mean it is good.  

Years ago a group of us started doing a thing we called Song A Day In May.  The task of having to write a full song in one day proved that waiting for inspiration is dangerous.  The songs are out there whether we are looking for them or not.  I choose to look for them.

Noise: In addition to being a performing singer-songwriter, you’re also a life coach.  What made you realize that you could offer assistance to others by guiding them on their life journey?

Jim: For most of my life I was morbidly obese.   430 lbs with a size 64 waist at my largest.   Engaging in my own transformation caused me to become interested in personal transformation in general.

I did my training with the Coach Training Institute.  They’ve been going for decades and only train in person which was important to me.   I went on to get certified with the International Coaching Federation.  Intense to say the least.  

There is still a lot of confusion over what life coaching is.  People often think it’s therapy and others think it’s about one person giving advice or telling a client what to do.  In reality it’s neither of those things.  

Coaching is an exploration of a person’s values.  Coaching is about determining where a person wants to grow/ expand and finding the path to that expansion.  I have yet to find an area where it isn’t helpful.  My training is in what’s known as co-active coaching.  In it people are not seen as broken in need of fixing.  They are viewed as whole and in countless instances are a handful of honest questions away from what they need in order to shift.

Noise: Do you have any interesting examples of clients who have made major changes in their lives due to having a life coach like you help them?

Jim: It’s incredible, Kathy.  In the last three years I’ve been party to people completely transforming their careers, bodies, relationships and perceptions of self.  I feel like it’s some of the most meaningful work I’ve ever done.  

Noise: You’re part of an organization called Banding People Together and you work with executives from many top businesses in the world to help them learn how to work with their employees and you do this by teaching them to write songs.  Can you explain a typical session with executives and give us some examples of the outcome?

Jim: Our work is about helping leaders to understand the importance of giving people a voice.  When people don’t have a voice, they don’t engage. Disengaged people make poor collaborators.  Most companies see collaboration as a team building activity.  It not only isn’t, but as long as a company sees collaboration as a team building activity they will never be able to create a truly collaborative environment.   Music connects and humanizes people like nothing else.   The songwriting piece is about giving them a chance to live out the collaborative methodology we espouse.   

To watch a person who has never written a song dive in is truly beautiful.  We hold the process as one to be respected and we take it very seriously.  What is more beautiful is how our methodology shapes the way leaders interact with the world.

Noise: Who are some of your major songwriting influences?  And what is it about their songs that resonate with you?

Jim: When I was about 16 years old I became aware of Bruce Cockburn.  He has been a major influence.   His virtuosity on the guitar does not get in the way of his lyrics and he covers some very complicated themes without weighing down his listeners.

Neil Finn, of Crowded House, is also someone that I really look up to.  His work always feels timeless to me.  

I’m inspired by artists like Ellis Paul, Antje Duvekot and John Gorka as well. Not only have their songs become like friends but the careers they have built have been built on their own terms.  

Noise: How do you approach your own career?  Do you have any career goals set for yourself for the next five or ten years?

Jim: I stopped wrestling for things a long time ago.  Insecurity and desperation make artists do unsatisfying things that they ultimately regret.  Nothing good has ever happened for me that was not first born out of genuine relationships with people that I actually connect with.   

Five years ago I went through a bit of an identity crisis.   I had been playing mostly churches and “christian” events even though the majority of my work was not overtly religious.  I started to wonder if people liked my songs because they were good or if they really liked them because they fit into a subculture.  I spent three years as a street musician in Harvard Square.  There were countless times that I would play an event for over a thousand audience members and the next day be set up on the street.  One of the first times out a group of Muslim women sat and listened for over an hour.  They clapped and bought CDs.  I choked up as they walked away.  

When it comes to my career a couple of thoughts are ever present.  First is that I have to do my work and then surrender the outcome.  If I am more concerned with where I want to be than where I currently am, I’m not only going to miss this moment but I’m not going to know it when I get “there.”  

Secondly I’m always checking in with why I want what I want.  Similar to the coaching thing, an honest check of my motive is always helpful.  It’s amazing what happens when your values and motivation start to drive. If my reason for doing music is that I value creativity, attention, influence and travel then my next move is figure out the best way to manifest and engage those values.  This way of thinking has expanded and enhanced my perception of what is actually available.   

Noise: How do you measure your success?

Jim: I define success as making and keeping commitments.  There is no grand finish line we arrive at where we tell ourselves how amazing we are.  Sure I set goals but reaching the goal is not the only thing that matters.  It’s how I tarry on the road towards the goal that matters.  How have I conducted myself? How have I served others on my way there?  Have I taken the high road?  If I reach my goal but have done it in a way that compromised all that I hold as important, what good is that?  

Noise: How do you deal with the ups and downs of the music business?  (As Todd Rundgren once said in a song, you lay yourself down in those grooves… Okay, that was back when LPs were the main way to spread your music).

Jim: My downs usually happen when I haven’t really done my best.  Didn’t warm up, practice, promote and so on.  I suppose like many people I beat myself up a bit when those things happen but not for long.

Grateful people are rarely unhappy.  In the end my work is about cultivating gratitude, killing my entitlement and getting out of the way so that the songs get to do their thing.

BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE SAVAGES

 by A.J. Wachtel

Seeing Barrence Whitfield onstage is like watching fireworks explode. Maybe a little less colorful and visual but certainly with equal levels of voltage, passion and energy. His electric high-wattage performances have excited audiences all over the world. While he was on tour I caught up with him at his hotel room in Wexford, Pennsylvania, just north of Pittsburg. Barrence is fierce. Barrence is brutal. Barrence is a savage.

Noise: You were born in Florida and your family moved to Newark, New Jersey, when you were a child. You began singing in a gospel choir. What part of that experience do you still use today when you sing?

Barrence: Probably shouting. There was NO screaming in church. [laughs] The shouting was part of the action there.

Noise: On May 30, 1975, I saw you open for Johnny Winter (tickets $6.50/ $6.00/ $5.50) at The South Mountain Arena in West Orange, New Jersey. The Arena was part of The Turtleback Zoo Complex. Ever play places crazier than a zoo since then? And what was your band like then?

Barrence: We got the gig by winning a high school battle of the bands – the winner got to play with Johnny Winter. We were doing ’70s music: Led Zeppelin, Montrose, Queen. I was just a baby in the bathwater back then. Crazy gig? [laughs] We had one little gig at Tufts University – a frat party. It was a notch above Animal House. All football players stripping on stage. And we had the three owners of the record label, Rounder Records, who were signing us there.  They were jumping off the stage and ripping clothes, with beer up to your ankles – just wild.

Noise: You originally sang and played drums in rock and funk bands. What specifically made you give up drumming to focus on your singing? Is there anything in your vocals that you can trace back to being a percussionist?

Barrence: I stopped drumming because singing is what I really wanted to do. I was in the learning stage for playing drums. I never got good enough to play out really. So I focused on my vocals. I do some crazy things with my vocals now – throat singing like some Arab artists do.  With my range I can go high and low, and rhythmically, I love to mimic some percussive instruments.

Noise: In 1977, you were studying journalism at Boston University and a few years later, in the early ’80s, you were working at Nuggets. While at the record store, your singing was heard by Peter Greenberg of Lyres. You began performing with him as Barrence Whitfield & The Savages. Did you know Jeff Connolly at the time and why didn’t he join the band too?

Barrence: No, I didn’t know Jeff at the time and I don’t think Peter would have liked that.

Noise: You changed your name from Barry White to Barrence Whitfield to avoid confusion with superstar Barry White. Have you ever crossed paths with him in person?

Barrence: He died a long time ago. He wasn’t able to get a kidney. I will say this one thing, HIS real name was BARRENCE Eugene Carter. [laughs]

Noise:: The Savages gained a reputation for having an explosive live show where you are “in high gear from the moment you hit the stage.” Does having this notoriety prove to be a help or hindrance to you in the long run? Is it more stressful and difficult to live up to this robust renown every gig?

Barrence: Well, you know, we do the best we can. It’s the great energy we play off of at a show. We just go out and lay it across the table.

Noise: Does Barrence Whitfield & The Savages ever have a bad night?

Barrence: No. I can’t say we have. Like I said, we go out with great confidence.

Noise: You have been described as “a soul screamer in the spirit of Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke and Don Convay.” Are there any current vocalists who you feel should be included in this list too?

Barrence: Today? I don’t know. Good question. The only one I can think of is Charles Bradley.

Noise: Your early records were released on Rounder Records and your music was heard by English Radio DJ Andy Kershaw; who brought you to the U.K to tour. What are the differences between an English/European audience and an American one?

Barrence: U.K. audiences are well in tune with American culture and music. It’s something they really love; the blues, soul and rock ’n’ roll we created here. Look at the ’60s British invasion where all the English bands did covers of soul and blues artists. If you are the real thing they will always be your fans and they will always go out to see you.

Noise: Over the years, you’ve changed the lineup of The Savages. Who’s in the band now and what do each of them bring to the music table?

Barrence: Peter Greenberg on guitar. Phil Lenker on bass. Tom Quartulli plays sax and Andy Jody is on drums. It’s a fantastic unit. The ultimate, ultimate unit.

Noise: You’ve toured widely in Europe for decades. Are you more popular there than here? If so, why?

Barrence: Through the years, I’ve played different parts of the world. The U.K., France, Spain, Italy. More people come out to see us over there. Why? They love the music. They love what we do.

Noise: You’ve had supporting slots touring with Bo Diddley, Tina Turner, George Thorogood, Robert Cray and Solomon Burke. Did you and Tina ever have a soul screaming contest and did you beat her by much?

Barrence: [laughs] No, I never met her. Her entourage wouldn’t let anyone get close. But all the other headliners I became friends with.

Noise: You’ve earned an impressive seven Boston Music Awards. Is it any more special to be recognized at home by your peers than it is somewhere else?

Barrence: It’s very, very important to be recognized by your peers. For all the work you do and all the places you play. Yes, it’s special.

Noise: Any singers you wished you shared a stage with in the past or is there anyone you’d like to work with in the future?

Barrence: Two artists I DID share the stage with in the past are Don Convay and George Thorogood. With Don I did “Bip Bop Bip” and with George I did “Who Do You Love?” In the future? Nobody that comes to mind. I’m sure there are people out there who’d love to hang with me and do some tunes. So we’ll see.

Noise: In the ’90s you contributed tracks to Merle Haggard and Don Convay tribute albums and you’ve recorded two albums with country music/songwriter Tom Russell. Where does your love of country music come from?

Barrence: Just the love of listening to it and from being turned on to songs by friends of mine. I learned a lot of stuff from Tom Russell. Those two records are going to be re-released this year too.

Noise: You combined soul, jump blues and rockabilly when you worked with an eight-piece N.H. band, The Movers. Is the common denominator in you singing all these different genres really just your passionate performance, or do you approach different styles in different ways?

Barrence: I do approach them in different ways but, you know, I just go out there and sing.

Noise: You contributed to the film score of Honeydrippers in 2007. Are there any films you think should have used one of your songs but didn’t? Be specific!

Barrence: John Sayles, the director, wrote that song but I sang it. He approached me after hearing about me from a producer/folk artist who lives in Marblehead. “Jack Johnson” is a song I used to do with Tom Russell. It’s about the early 20th century black boxer, and would have been perfect for the Jack Johnson documentary.  And a song we do right now, “The Corner Man,” should be in a good boxing movie too.

Noise: In 2013, you appeared on the BBC’s Jools Holland Show on TV. How many people were tuned into you that night? Do people ever recognize you on the street in England?

Barrence: I don’t know how many people watched it that night but I’m sure it was most of England. [laughs] And no, I can pretty much walk around anywhere.

Noise: What’s in the future for you and do you have anything on your bucket list you’d like to accomplish or do in the near future? You must have a unique craving or ambition that you can bestow upon us.

Barrence: I’d like to act in a movie. I almost got into Kansas City directed by Robert Altman. I had to do the audition in Chicago and there was too much going on for me to go there and try out. At least they inquired.

Noise: Check out Under The Savage Sky on Bloodshot Records.

Click on this photo taken by Joanne Silva to reveal 

the Big Shot for the month of November 2015.

ARLO GUTHRIE/

SARAH LEE GUTHRIE

50th Anniversary Alice’s Restaurant Tour

The Berklee Performance Center, Boston, MA

10/9/15

It’s really hard to believe that it’s been a half century since the events told in Arlo’s solo monologue during his classic song have passed.  Fifty Thanksgivings have gone by since he feasted in Great Barrington and got arrested for littering in Stockbridge. Tonight starts with Sarah Lee Guthrie, Arlo’s daughter, opening the night with an a cappella song, and like her father, she has a very personal and expressive voice. She tells family stories before doing a Rambin’ Jack Elliot tune and Tim Hardin’s “If I Were A Carpenter.” Both of this artists were good friends with her grandfather Woody. She then does a song that she wrote the music to with Woody’s words, and it has just one chord! Her voice is so melodic and passionate another chord would just get in the way. Ha. There are also a male and a female onstage interpreting the lyrics in sign language. I enjoy watching their faces while their hands move quickly, communicating the words to the hearing impaired who are in attendance. When a song is about pain, love, hate, enjoyment, or suffering, they dramatically change their facial expressions to better convey and match the feeling.

Before Arlo walks onstage, a long-lost, just found cartoon of “The Motorsickle Song” is shown. The crowd screams “I don’t want a pickle. I just want to ride my motorcycle” along with the onscreen caricature. When it ends, Arlo walks onstage smiling and waving to the audience. He now has long white hair and wears glasses. He tells about recently finding the cartoon after it had been lost for almost 40 years. Then he plays the tune live and the crowd sings even louder along with him. Arlo has his daughter singing backup, his son Abe on keys, and a guitarist, bassist, and drummer supporting him as he tells stories and goes through six songs including “Coming Into Los Angeles” and “Pig Meat Blues” by Ledbelly. After a short break, the second set continues and Arlo begins with “Alice’s Restaurant,” his dad’s “I Hear You Sing Again,” Steve Goodman’s “City Of New Orleans,” and “This Land Is Your Land.” By this time, everyone in the audience is singing along like where in a ’60s coffeehouse. In fact, Arlo tells a story about playing gigs at Club 47, now Club Passim in Harvard Square. He gets behind the keyboards for a few songs. When on acoustic guitar, he sits front and center next to a guitar rack containing four acoustic instruments, including a nice sounding 12 string. Arlo mentions that tonight is the 46th wedding anniversary with his late wife Jackie, and the people start clapping. Jackie passed away about three years ago but tonight is a night for celebration, not sadness, and everyone present rises to give Arlo, his children and his band, a well deserved standing ovation at the end of the performance. An incredible show by a legendary artist.   (A.J. Wachtel)

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JIMMY RYAN & HAYRIDE

Atwood’s Tavern, Cambridge, MA

10/03/15

It’s early on a Saturday but the room is packed, as people squeeze in to see the “supergroup” composed of Mike Piehl on drums, Dave Westner on bass, and Jimmy Ryan on mandolin.  While I am used to seeing Duke Levine play guitar in Hayride, tonight’s special guest is no slouch. Sitting in on guitar is ex-Son Volt, ex-Blood Oranges guitarist, Mark Spencer, a guitar legend in his own right  He accompanies magnificently, throwing in some of his own tunes as well. The crowd is as lively and ready to take whatever the band throws at them. Even I couldn’t stop myself from joining in and dancing. They close their set not with a Hayride tune but a Mark Spencer original, however Jimmy Ryan, the king of the mandolin, once again proves that he has earned his crown. (Kier Byrnes)

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THE REAL KIDS

Midway Cafe, Jamaica Plain, MA

10/10/15

The Real Kids shows are always an event because they never overbook. They have a current full length Shake… Outta Control to promote with another one in the works. The night is ripped wide open with my current fave, the blasting “She Don’t Take It.” John Felice’s scratchy, metallic, chunky power chords drive the song along with Judd Williams’ jungle mating call drums. Judd and Dickie Oakes (on bass) lock into a groove, laying down a bedrock foundation for each song. Then there’s a couple of classics from the Red Star album – “Do the Boob” and “My Baby’s Book” before they charge into “Shake… Outta Control.” This is a killer dance floor anthem like only John can write and deliver. There are a few new ones “Wrong About You” and “Somewhere West of Nowhere,” once again proving John is an incomparable lyricist with the courage to bare his heart for rock ‘n’ roll. We fans simply marvel as he pours out his soul on a torrent of sound. Billy plays a twelve string Rickenbacker on the Beau Brummels’ “Don’t Talk to Strangers” and the Fab Four’s “You Can’t Do That.” That ringing sound is beauty personified! Yet the best part is always when John and guitarist Billy Cole rock back-to-back with a look of bliss on their faces and they start burning like the band Vesuvius! It’s hilarious when John says it’s his job to introduce the fans to obscure bands like Vesuvius. The encore is a stunning version of Badfinger’s “Baby Blue” and the crowd pleasing “Reggae Reggae,” which never sounds stale and rules on sheer ballsiness! Pick up Shake… Outta Control and see The Real Kids live in Northampton on November 7 to feel the presence of true greatness. God bless The Real Kids! Long live John Felice!  (Nancy Neon)

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LOUISE MOSRIE

Me & Thee Coffeehouse, Marblehead, MA

10/16/15

“This next singer has a voice like whiskey and has been called ‘Faulkner with a guitar.’ Even the soundcheck sounded amazing!” gushes Me & Thee’s gonzo master of ceremonies and storyteller Tony Toledo as he welcomes Nashville native and recent Massachusetts transplant Louise Mosrieto the stage. Mosrie, a striking woman with pale skin, raven black hair, and an air of quiet, intense grace, is opening for Nashville-by-way-of-New Orleans (and a brief but significant tenure in Boston where she honed her songcraft at open mics while running the late great Dixie Kitchen) troubadour Mary Gauthier on this chilly October evening.

With her clear and soaring voice and a elegantly fingerpicked guitar, Mosrie plays five songs in this set to the packed and rapt pews. Her first tune, “I’ll Take You In,” from her latest disc Lay It Down, feels more like a page from the other great Southern writer Carson McCullers, as she leads us into the ordinary lives of folks in a small town, an old man buying cat food and the more complicated backstory of his life.

Between songs she tunes her guitar and shares witty anecdotes and observations with us: an ex-boyfriend from her teens who finds her online and what feels romantic at first takes a dark turn when he starts calling. A lot. “It was pretty scary but at least I got a song out of it,” she quips as she plays the opening chords to the powerful “Don’t Come Looking for Me.” Another song, “Leave Your Gun”, takes us into the cellar of a home in Tennessee during the Civil War where a little girl is hiding with her family as a battle rages outside.

Mosrie’s voice is an amazing and evocative instrument which brings to mind other great singers from the American South like Patti Griffin and Iris DeMent. For her last two songs, she is joined onstage by her friend Cliff Eberhardt, who is widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of the modern folk movement. Eberhardt’s subtle slide guitar complements Mosrie’s singing and playing, especially on the hushed and prayerful song she wrote for her mother, “Singing My Heart Out.”

(Linda Werbner)

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JOSHUA RODRIGUEZ

Essex St. (East India Mall), Salem, MA

10/17/15

Any weekend in October you can catch Marblehead resident Joshua Rodriguez doing his junkyard jazz drumming on plastic bins and metal pans on Essex Street in the outdoor walking mall area. The kid is a talented street performer. He first gathers a small crowd around him by doing a short drumming display. Then he gets his newly acquired fans to attract more people by getting them to scream and make a lot of noise. He’ll yell “free beer” or anything that will allow his natural circle of listeners to grow. He introduces his manager “Phil” – no wait, hat must be “Fill” since his last name is “The Bucket.” He plays a melody on his pots that sounds familiar and picks someone in the audience to “name that tune.” He rolls into his junkyard jazz beats lifting everyone’s spirit, constantly engaging with the audience in spontaneous ways. At the end it’s time to fill the bucket with money that will take him to a new town next month. Where is he going next? Los Vegas is his destination. Good luck, Joshua.  (T Max)

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JERUSALEM WITCH /

THE SCHIZOPHRENIC HUM /

ARMORED CARS /

OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, DISMEMBER /

KLEENEX WASTELAND 

Flittering Loft, Jamaica Plain, MA 

10/16/15

I think I’ve just seen the next “big thing” in music, and it’s the most exciting development I’ve seen in years: a community of art-school-weirdo-bands in Boston that claim to have created a new genre called “stoner prog.” They describe it as “prog rock but very sloppy”!  And I think they may be right!

My tastes tend to lean towards the strange, the absurd, and the fun, but this large crew of friends aren’t your run of the mill post-Butthole Surfers or post-Hawkwind or post-King Crimson type that you see most frequently in avant-noise-rock scenes. The stoner prog scene seems to be more influenced by krautrock, if anything at all. Minimalism but with bizarre rhythmic surprises and unique sounds are a theme I heard a lot of, and I must say, it felt like I was hearing a new type of music! Unlike most avant scenes, they don’t seem to have any interest in sounding like the archetypes of the past. Another thing that makes this scene special is the musical skill of many of the musicians. Rarely do psychedelic bands have the pyrotechnic chops of a Yes or Mahavishnu Orchestra or ELP. But these stoner prog bands will drop your jaws (sometimes) and that makes sense, as many of these virtuosos met at New England Conservatory, as it turns out.

My friends took me the Flittering Loft, a wonderful-if-typical loftspace where they throw infrequent parties with live bands. With no idea what to expect, I hit the $4 jack and cokes fast and hard, as the first band began: Kleenex Wasteland. (I get it. Pretty funny name.) I’d wager this band is all ex hardcore musicians, because they were a whiplash of speed but with none of the cliches. Two drummers (not playing the same thing, thank god), fuzz bass, and two male singers, it was herky jerky distorto madness, but pretty amazing. I’m not sure what to compare it to, which is a great sign. It was like hearing two different songs playing at the same time. Lots of very aggressive or complicated rhythms with the fuzz bass holding the riff down or the melody. My only criticism is that their unique sound is not fully baked (ha ha) yet. I sensed that they’re still figuring it out, but give ’em a year and they’ll have full command of it.

October, November, Dismember (another great name I think) came next, and they seemed to be going for a parody of goth (that would make a nice album title!), but that’d be selling them short. This wasn’t a sophomoric send-up like Weird Al. Their melodies were excellent, spooky, and the quartet (guitar and voice, synth and voice, bass and voice, and electronic drum pad) almost reminded me of a creepier My Bloody Valentine. I thought they were brilliant. All four wore black dresses, and the girl / boy harmonies hinted at the dissonance of Excene and John Doe’s iconic vocals in X. Great stuff. But, like the first band, no CDs for sale and no Soundcloud or anything. Bands! Those basics are important! (The problem with many of these fantastic art-school bands is they don’t have any goal of being rich and famous. But I could easily see this band on SNL within a year. They said they were working on recordings, so let’s hope for something soon.)

Next up were a band who were most definitely not stoner prog. Armored Cars is exactly what you may have suspected: a Cars cover band… who do super-heavy metal versions! I kid you not. You maybe never guessed how good “Let’s Go” sounds as crunchy doom rock, but let me tell you it does! (I’m furious I forgot my phone at home because I would’ve filmed the whole night, or as much as my crap iPhone could hold.) Listening to classics like “Just What I Needed,” “Candy-O,” “All Mixed Up,” and “Drive”(!), done as extra-heavy metal, I couldn’t stop thinking “how did no one think of this sooner?” Like peanut butter & chocolate together! They only did 5 songs and we were begging for more. The idiot costumes were pretty great too: they took cereal box cardboard (I checked) and made fake metal masks to look all Game Of Thrones and viking warriors, and suits of armor, but it was laughably crude and cheap! They should be touring with Gwar tomorrow!

Before I forget, the MC of this night deserves a lot of praise too: the strange and always charming Jonathan Wood Vincent, whom I’ve seen perform a few times before, including doing his performance-art-accordion clowning in Harvard Square. With his messy long blond hair and scraggly beard, he confounds us with his trademark linguistic surrealisms. (No accordion or keyboard for him tonight. Just words.)

The two headliners, from what I can tell, were/are the kings of this tiny stoner prog scene (maybe 75 people at this show) and, as if the show wasn’t already impossibly-great, they lived up to it.

The Schizophrenic Hum seem more of a collective than a proper band: some musicians joined them for one song and then returned to the audience. Schizo Hum, as they called themselves, were very elastic, and didn’t seem concerned with any one “sound” for their group. It was a constantly evolving 40 minutes of instrumental wonder, or odd short songs. Most of it I would describe as gorgeous and trippy, and the music was very serious. (Only the guy on theremin for the closing number was funny at all: he was dressed as a karate champion, playing the theremin with kicks and handchops in the air. Pretty hilarious.) Their set was hypnotic and I would’ve bought five copies of their records, had they had any.  Two moog players, a gal on violin, an incredible psych-classical guitarist (all the musicians were quite exceptional), a brilliant post-jazz drummer, and several other sit-in musicians thruout, on avant-flute, electric uke, vocals, and cello (the fantastic Lenna Pierce, whom I’ve reviewed before for The Noise). Variety seemed to be their goal. One short piece (“Drowning In The Specific Ocean”) was fully a capella, with six of them singing. Nice!

With a distinctive name like theirs, Jerusalem Witch made me logically expect either a metal band or a doom band or a goth band, but they were none of those things. Featuring the astonishing electric ukulele playing by the same guy who’d sat in with Schizo Hum, they had the clearest link to krautrock of any of the so-called stoner prog bands tonite. I dare say he’s the best musician I’ve ever seen in Boston, like… the Hendrix of ukulele. Wow. All instrumental, this artsy-power-trio featured fretless rickenbacker bass (but with the power of a Chris Squire of Yes) and post-rock/post-jazz drums (a lot better than a Bill Bruford!) and they were monsters on their instruments too. Wow. These guys really felt like I was listening to a new type of music. The uke player (who said his name was Blankety Blank III when I prodded him) either played dreamy, soaring, backwards melodies, or built giant architectures of clean loops, while the rhythm section improvised with him. It was athletic. It was catchy. It was unique. It was fucking great. A lot of it was “driving” but super-complicated rhythmically, as all three musicians would throw accents off the steady 4/4 beat, like a hundred juggling sounds, while it was melodically very simple and spacey. It’s rare to hear experimental music this… delicious. The wild loop architectures were the most striking but all of it was incredible.

Looking for any product on the web, all I could find online were some youtube videos (The Schizophrenic Hum’s were nice but not like the live act I saw tonight), some under “cupcake kamikaze” which is an artsy promotion team who also do wild posters and “Bombastic Labs” which is reportedly a new record label but they’ve only put videos up so far. There’s evidently a bunch of other bands who are part of this scene. (I’m promised a sampler of bands called “This Is Stoner Prog” is coming soon, but we’ll see.)

One problem with stoners is… well… you know. 

(Shauna Erlbaum)

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HENRIQUE DE ALMEIDA & WORLD NEWS

Berklee Performance Center, Boston, MA

9/30/15

Tonight’s music is fusion. Brazil/Afro/Cuban/Jazz/Funk to be exact. There is a lot going on in this band and you can hear what they are saying on a couple of different levels. Henrique pounding with two kick drums, Sal DiFusco (Blockyard) on guitar, Joe Santerre playing a SIX string bass, Dino Govoni blowing the sax, and Steve Hunt on keys are all incredible musicians by themselves. In fact, some of them are teachers at the music school. Whenever they solo separately, it is inspiring, creative and very jazzy. And when the solos stop and the band picks up the pace together; it sounds even better. They are all playing behind stands with charts too. How syncopated is THAT? This is a real groove band. I really dig when guitarist Sal and keyboardist Steve duel it out during the song while the rest of the guys support them and keep the groove going. Great stuff. The songs I recognize are: “Palladium” by Weather Report, “All Blues” by Miles Davis, “Status” by Billy Cobham,  Herbie Hancock’s “Actual Proof”; and “Led Boots” and “Brush With The Blues” by Jeff Beck.  I am enjoying the mid-song changes in tempos, the lead guitarist’s nice jazz chords amidst screaming rock leads,  and how the bassist and the horn player will all of a sudden play the same riff once or twice together and then go back to what they were doing separately. Not a vocal all night. Just instrumentals and incredible performances by a stage full of very talented musicians getting their ya-ya’s out in a concert hall.      (A.J. Wachtel)

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JIM TRICK

Me & Thee Coffeehouse, Marblehead, MA

10/9/15

You have to drive through Salem (where everyday in October is Halloween as far as that city is concerned) to get to Marblehead. The gentleman who is more of a treat than a trick is playing tonight at the 45-year-old folk venue, Me & Thee Coffeehouse. Jim has an old pal, Christopher Williams who hails from Nashville, opening the evening. Although Christopher doesn’t get a formal review in this here New Englander-only ‘zine I can say he is super talented on both guitar and vocals and when he straps on his djembe, he wows us even more. He’s also experienced at conversing with and audience and just as good a songwriter – note: “Do Something Good.”  This makes Chris a hard act to follow.

So after the traditional coffee break I retake my seat in the pews and hear Jim Trick, but he’s not on stage. He’s in the audience doing what I first saw him do three years ago: he’s singing a gentle version of  “All You Need is Love,” fitting in that it’s John Lennon’s birthday. He hops on stage and lets us know that he wrote himself a note before he came out. It simply says, “Slow down and be here.” This tells you something about this guy who can mesmerize an audience the way an excellent preacher might. He throws his set list out to keep with the second half of his note and rolls into “All’s Not Lost” in his stoic but regular guy way.  Chris Williams comes up with his djembe to accompany Jim, adding some harmony to “I Can Only Dream About You Now.” Jim has a little theme going on between songs, mentioning local people we don’t know, and following it up with that they recently departed. He mentions a problem that one of his friend’s has… their young daughter keeps singing track 4 from his CD. Doesn’t seem like much of a problem, but the main lyric is “I ain’t gonna die alone.” I like anyone who quotes Ghandi—and Jim reminds us that “We are all the same” before he starts “The Truth About Vernon.” His memorial theme continues to the end of the show when he finally reviles that his father-in-law passed away earlier today. He says he saved it ’til the end so the entire show wouldn’t be a bummer. Jim always lets the light shine, even when the message is sad. He’s a joy to experience.  (T Max)

HUMMINGBIRD SYNDICATE

“Waterfall Away”/”I Want You to Stay”

2 tracks

This Boston/LA combo delivers a delightfully chirpy-cheepy bit of countrified bubblegum on their debut single. Both sides infuse the warm melodies of the Beach Boys with chewy hooks of the Brill building. Sure it’s retro, and like all sunshine pop, there’s an underlying hint of Laurel Canyon-esque death-cult dread billowing through the grooves, but that only sweetens the deal, really. For the most part, it’s all popsicles on a bright summery day. As you might have gathered from their name, the Syndicate is more of a liquid gang than a band so who knows what they might do next, but if you’ve wondered what it might be like to breathe in the dry Californian air in 1968, this single might be your best bet.  (Sleazegrinder)

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TELAMOR

Olex Records

Stoned!

4 tracks

This is subtitled, “Four Iconic Rollings Stones Tracks Re-Imagined.” Tom Hauck, the solo mastermind behind this project, brings an interesting twist to these well-worn Stones tracks. “Sympathy for the Devil” features an ominous electronic drone vibe like the gates of some North African hell yawning wide open. “Satisfaction” is a low-key take, as though Buddy Holly’s hiccuping vocals were combined with Bryan Ferry’s vocal stylings. There’s also a faintly mechanistic approach to the track not wholly unlike Devo’s celebrated cover. “Happy” is presented with a soulful and more melodic approach which is by far the most radical, and memorable, departure from the original. “Undercover of the Night” is taken as a ballad rather than an anthem and has its own mysterious vibe. Overall, this project is an intriguing set of interpretations; but one which reveals more about Telamor than The Rolling Stones. (Francis DiMenno)

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SAX GORDON

Continental Blue Heaven Records

Showtime 

10 tracks

This is a horn album. There are trumpets, trombones, and saxophones EVERYWHERE!  From the opening uptempo shuffle and title track “Showtime” to the closing traditional blues “Nobody’s Fault But Mine,” there are tooters all over the place. And that’s an understatement. I really like Sax Gordon compositions “The Way It Is,” “I Got It,” and “Don’t Mess With Me”  because they showcase his amazing skills the best. He flutters and honks all up and down the scale with a power you can FEEL as he blows. Then, when you least expect it, he jumps an octave, and the sound and fury comes at you with an even GREATER force – then he returns and continues his audio muscle flexing with a more potent and energetic thrust. It must be heard to be believed. The momentum of the songs never waver.  Close your eyes, play this CD on volume 10, and it may be the closest you have go to feel like you are there with him live. On horns you have Sax Gordon blowing tenor sax, Scott Aruda on trumpet, Jeff Galindo sliding the trombone, and Tino Barker and Jeremy Valadez on bari saxes. The rest of the band includes Matt Stubbs and J.R. Watson on guitars, Matt and Jesse Williams on bass and Chris Rivilli and Chris Peet pounding. This is wailing, screaming, and honking horns at their best. I love it !   (A.J. Wachtel)

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T MAX

Dove Records

The Portal’s Rhyme: Undoing The Secret Of Time

6 tracks

Love T’s music! This CD is no exception. Only six tracks, but he fits a lot of diverse coolness into it.

The music is still T, only better. The same sound fans love, only a fuller, matured feel. Familiar songs sound richer and new songs, surprising. “The Magician” is reminiscent of early Bowie. There are background noises sounding a lot like… sea gulls in spaceships. Completely unexpected!

T’s gritty cover of The Beatles’ “I’m a Loser” lends a heartfelt vibe to it that I’d never sensed before, making me feel that this is the way this song should be sung, given its lyrics. There’s a Tom Waits sound to it which works remarkably well.

“Danny Boy” is quite simply, beautiful. T’s voice fits this beloved classic so well. A sentimental song and his voice works magic with it.

“Rhythmatic Addicts” is at the opposite end of the spectrum. A fun, sexy, song (love the line,”My baby rubs gasoline down the nape of her neck.”). Again, that awesome Tom Waits’ grit. Nice sax and slick keys compliment it perfectly.

“Sometimes Smart Phone” just didn’t work for me. What really did work for me, is “Turn To A Song.” Blues tinged, with a killer bass. Meant to make people feel good, this song delivers. I’m loving the quality of T’s voice on this gem of a CD. It’s a winner and he knocks it out of the park.  (R.J. Ouellette)

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DESIGNER

Bufu Records

Kalvin & Kline

4 tracks

Boston’s Designer is relentless pounding spaz rock. They have more structure than US Maple but retain a certain restless energy that jumps out of the speakers.This album is noisy psyche that you could probably slam dance to, but it is a little complex for a pit, like The Daughters meet The Doors. The singer is either very happy or in a great amount of pain all the time, I’m not really sure. Is it noise? Is it jazz? Is this even music? Yes, yes, and yes. This is easily one of the best records I’ve heard this year, from Boston or anywhere. This album is cuter than a bag of dead kittens. (Eric Baylies)

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THE UNDAUNTED PROFESSOR HARP

They Call Me The Professor

10 tracks

I really like the way the Professor plays a lot of fluttering notes. It’s really cool how when you least expect it he’s fluttering away on a note when he solos. And his vocals are believable too. His voice sounds like it drips with experience and he’s not just singing the words. This combination forms his music’s formidable foundation and his great band supplies the rest. Marty Ballou and John Packer play bass, Tom Ferraro is on guitar with Glen Hardy on piano. Mark Texeira from Duke Robillard’s band and Mike LaBelle are drumming and Doug James is blowing sax. They’re a great band playing great music. From the Memphis shuffles “They Call Me The Professor,” “That’s What You Do To Me,” and “Fighting The Battle” to the cameo of Brookline native and Muddy Waters band vet Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin on “My Life: An Exercise In Blue,” this band plays with passion and pleasure.  I also really dig the jazzy “It Just Comes Natural” with the Chuck Berry leads. And check out the slow blues closing cut “Eine Fur Herr Schmidt,” the Professor’s tribute to his mentor George Harmonica Smith. On this cut he plays a chromatic harp. Another treat is his remake of the ’60s instrumental the Rocking Rebel’s classic “Wild Weekend,” where he changes everything and makes it a harp song. It’s first rate red hot and blue music.   (A.J. Wachtel)

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DEREK ASTLES

Blue FX Records

Chili-House Pay Phone

12 tracks

Derek Astles’ mildly strangulated voice, like Bob Dylan’s, takes a little getting used to – he’s a stylist, not a full-bore singer – but his very best songs are haunting and memorable and brave, and well worth hearing. While I find a lack of sonic variety in the lone man with a guitar approach, he does manage to accomplish a lot with a little. Among the best of his songs is a plaintive ballad (“Message to Rita”), a lovely guitar pastoral number (“At Her Mercy”), a folksy disaster song (“Coming Home”), a rousing working-man song (“Shit, Shovels, and Whiskey”), a wonderful jaunty and ominous, clever and unusual folk blues with a Flamenco twist (“Neil Young Knew Charlie Manson”), a true, plaintive and bitter talking blues brilliantly reminiscent of Michael Hurley and best of show (“Find a Fat Girl, Knock Her Up, and Call Her Mama”), and a wondrously lyrical traveling ballad (“Frozen’). At its best, this collection is captivating. Recommended. (Francis DiMenno)

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CHANTICLEAR

Old Glories and War Stories

11 tracks

I was pretty excited that there was a song called “Cock Rocket” on this record. Figured maybe I had some kinda sleazy, GN’R sorta situation on my hands. This is not the case. Old Glories and War Stories is a years-in-the making pop-punk record that sometimes veers into Social Distortion-y hard-luck hard-rock territory and sometimes into Midwestern ’80s slacker-rock. Somehow Chanticlear make all those side-winding sub-genres sound like the same thing. And that’s fine, it’s not like I’m expecting dungeon synth or anything. If you like barely-together garage-rackets and warbling vocals (lots of people do, put down your knives already), then this is the Lawrence, MA-based low-watt punk rock band for you. But also if you write a song called “Cock Rocket,” it would be nice if you sounded like a band that would have a song called “Cock Rocket.” GG Allin did it and I’m pretty sure he was brain-damaged, so it can’t be that hard.   (Sleazegrinder)

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TOMO FUJITA

Pure

9 tracks

This cat can play! Tomo teaches at Berklee and this completely instrumental release showcases his incredible abilities that guitarists and music lovers alike will appreciate. He is a groove guitarist who plays lovely jazz chords in the middle of his lead solos, and I really dig his power and finesse. Beautiful tone, imaginative chops, and when he picks up or slows down all of a sudden in the middle of a solo you just can’t stop listening or anticipate what he’s gonna do next. Fujita composed all the music and he plays guitar with Will Lee on bass and Steve Gadd, Steve Jordan, and session legend Bernard Purdie, the world’s most recorded drummer, supplying the backbeat. My favorite cuts are “Boy Back Home” and “Tiny Tapper” with the remarkable drum breakdown where the guitar, bass, and keys pick up the slack, and the bluesy “Through the Pain.” Listening to this remarkable guitar playing is very enjoyable. It’s cool how you hear distinctly jazzy chords out of nowhere in all the songs, and he uses the entire neck of his guitar with nicely thought out high end solos moving down the fretboard and ending on the low end. The only vocals on this CD are the “one two” count offs at the beginning of a few songs. Very very cool! (A.J. Wachtel)

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LAZERTUTH

Mayner Manep

13 tracks

If you think this album title is a tongue twister, you should see the song titles! Keyboard wizard and singer Ethan Weiss has assembled a talented crew of New Bedford and Fall River musicians behind him. If you ever wondered what would happen if New Bedford and Fall River had a baby (it would be an ugly baby), here is your answer. Why would you wonder that, anyway? Do something constructive with your life and listen to Lazertuth. This is a deep space trip with some aggressive rock leanings. Think Don Cabelero meets Amon Duul and Tangerine Dream. This is like Emerson, Lake, and Palmer without the boring parts. This is a jewel of a punk prog album. (Eric Baylies)

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ANDY LAMPERT

10 Songs of Pain

15 tracks

This Rhode Island artist’s music is like The Who meets Deep Purple meets Pink Floyd meets T. Rex.  Metal arena rock ballads with loud guitars and vocals and pounding drums. From the opening crescendo of power chords in “Denial,” “Salem,” and “Even I Can Dream” to the English rock ’n’ roll feel of “Warsaw” and “I Want To Go,” every song is loud and filled with attitude. Lampert wrote all the music and I really like “I Don’t Like Her.” Andy on guitars/ bass/ keys and all vocals, Joe Auger did all the keyboard programming, percussion and harp, and Mike Rovin is on drums. This is heavy metal rock ’n’ roll the way it was meant to be played. Great stuff.    (A.J. Wachtel)

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PAUL TAIT

Everything Is Subject to Change

10 tracks

A grab-bag of hard-rocking tracks in a variety of modes. “Some Days” will remind you of “Woman From Tokyo”; “Losing My Mind” will remind you of The Rolling Stones back when they were jealous of Marc Bolan; the liquescent “Don’t Stop Being a Rocker” has a diddly guitar filigree evocative of early ’60s rock. “No Soliciting” is a soulful toe-tapper; “Heart Condition” is a flat-out rocker a la The New York Dolls; “Searching the Skies” boasts a telegraphic guitar figure, and the tune evolves into a plaintive love song. “Self Awareness” is a song of thwarted love; a heavy metal grinder in a truncated march rhythm. “World of Pain” is a heavily percussive and polyrhyhmic piece of harrowingly melodramatic agitprop. You have to admire the ingenuity of Tait’s songwriting – particularly his mastery of various tropes from the history of rock ’n’ roll –but, ultimately, there’s little here that’s so original that it will truly open your eyes.  (Francis DiMenno)

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BARRETT ANDERSON

The Long Fall

11 tracks

Barrett is a great guitarist and I enjoy listening to everything he plays on all the cuts throughout the whole song. The music is a mix of guitar groove melodies and more uptempo Memphis r&b tunes; and for a three-piece group they sure do make a lot of good sounds. Anderson wrote most of the music and backing him on vocals and guitar is legendary B-3 organist Ron Levy and veteran drummer Per Hanson, whose impeccable beat-keeping cements the song as Barrett and Ron play off each other. The drums push the song but the tunes are taken to another level whenever Levy comes in. Listen to the opener “Not our Baby,” “Tomorrow Morning,”  “Emma Lee,” and “Peace I Need” to hear what I mean. I like the slide guitar tunes “Mile Wide Wind” and “Grinnin’ In Your Face” by Son House. Sorta like Rory Gallagher meets Bo Diddley. The great lead guitar work influences of Rory via Barrett and the rhythmic swirls of Bo from the rhythm section. My favorite cuts: “Atwoods,” a traditional blues song about the Cambridge club, with Barrett’s stunning guitar work, “Good Man/Gotta Move” with Per’s non-solo as “Good Man” progresses into “Gotta Move”; and “Grin & Bare It,” the instrumental, for its great groove and fantastic force. Check it out.  (A.J. Wachtel)

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I AM BECOME DEATH

I Am Become Death

6 tracks

There’s a lot to like about this CD. It starts out as a Daughters sounding metal core type thing and you say, Oh, I know what this is going to be. Before you know it, the train takes twists and turns and flies off the tracks. This album is super heavy but swings in a way the old Killing Joke albums did. Take a little Dillinger Escape Plan and add a dash of the Jesus Lizard and you get an idea of how unrelenting and great this record is. Not only do they have one of the best band names in Boston, they are one of the heaviest and best groups as well. (Eric Baylies)

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KEVIN CONNOLLY  

Weathervane Records

Ice Fishing 

14 tracks

Kevin has been on the local scene making music since the ’80s with his band The Great Divide, and this is his 10th CD. His first in five years. He plays the guitar and does all the vocals and his older brother Jim provides upright bass, banjo, piano, backing vocals, percussion, and melodica. This is basically a labor of love between two brothers on different coasts and it took three years of trading files to complete. Legendary local production ace Ducky Carlisle plays drums and produces the material. The voice is very personal and you get the feeling that Connolly is singing just to you, which is what you expect from such a personal project. The songs are all ballads at different tempos and every song has either country, folk, or rock influences. I like the uptempo opener “Bus Station” with the neat mid-song bass riff, the almost twangy “Up On Willoughby,” and the folkie “Blow Them Away,” about his daughter’s coming of age. I also dig  the country-rock “Here Comes Whitey” about you know who. The nice country/folk ballad “Interstate” and the pop/rock ballad “Just About To Fall” are both sweetly special too. There are nice harmonies on “Bus Station,” “Hot In Arizona,” and “Busy Thinking Bout Love.” Cool music for the heart and soul from a vet.    (A.J. Wachtel)

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OPPOSITION RISING

Riot Starter EP

5 tracks

Hey, remember when Boston hardcore was basically a psycho-circus of blood-soaked, male-dominated ultra-violence? These dudes do. They play classic Boston thrash n’ mosh, catchy and fast and testosterone-packed, perfect for beating some dude with a baseball bat or half a hockey stick because he’s from out of town or whatever it was all those dudes were angry about in the ’90s. Five songs in less than ten minutes, the highlight being the berserk “Stop Saying Stupid Shit Online” which, ironically, is what I’m probably doing right now. Also my copy is pink, which is probably the punkest thing about this whole affair.  (Sleazegrinder)

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THE CHARLIE KEATING BAND

Slide on Over

13 tracks

This is a boogie band… and these cats can play. The music is jump blues/ boogie woogie/ shuffles and slow traditional blues. All the uptempo songs start with a blistering groove Charlie sets with or without his slide. Lenny Turnquist on bass and Uncle Dom Micarelli on drums keep the groove going as Keating sings and plays guitar. The opening instrumental “Elmo’s Boogie” showcases his stunning Johnny Winter influenced slide guitar chops and it rocks. Another Keating original,”Eric’s Boogie,” is also a screaming instrumental  that follows along the same hard-pounding path.  Elmore James’ “Shake Your Money Maker,” the traditional “Rollin’ And Tumbin’ ,” and Memphis Slim’s “Everyday I Have The Blues” all have the same good-time, great bar-band sound. The blues tunes are tense and passionate rather than introspective and calm. Even Charlie’s slower blues songs “You Don’t Have To Cry,” “Goodbye Baby,” and “Dog Biscuit” simply shout and scream. Check it out.   (A.J. Wachtel)

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CAROLYN WATERS

A Touch of Blues

5 tracks

This is a very good and unique blues release. Carolyn’s beautiful and powerful voice is the main focus, and these five cuts are all duos. Carolyn’s voice combines with Tokyo Tramps’ Satoru Nakagawa on guitar and backing vocals.  His licks are red hot, clean and creative. One cut, “Blues Medley” starts with Jimmy Reed’s “Bright Lights Big City” and visits “Baby What You Want Me To Do,” “Kansas City,” and “Sweet Home Chicago” before going back to and ending with the Reed classic. And it’s all her wonderful voice, without a guitar, and Peter Tillotson on bass. I love his mid-song solo, too. B.B.’s “Rock Me Baby,” John Lee Hooker’s “Black Night Is Falling,” and her own closing cut,”I Really Like The Way You,” are very creative and bluesy. She’s got a great voice and there’s a lot of cool guitar guitar here. And it works!   (A.J. Wachtel)

PARKER WHEELER REALLY BLOWS

by A.J. Wachtel

Parker Wheeler’s name has long been synonymous on the North Shore with his enduring and continuous Sunday Night Blues Party at The Grog. For decades, people have traveled from all around just to be present at these jams to experience some of the best musicians who have dropped in on this weekend-ending, non-stop party.  Listen to what this local treasure has to harp about…

Noise: You have had your Blues Party every Sunday at The Grog in Newburyport for the past 24 years. Many marriages don’t last that long – why has this long term gig has been so successful?

Parker Wheeler: I conceived a simple plan – use my association with myriad A-list players to build the stage group every week with an original, ephemeral band and use my business acumen to craft a simple business plan that enticed Grog management to give me a chance. The formula continues to be successful, providing The Grog with a profit and the wonderfully loyal audience and myself with great entertainment.

Noise:  How have your audiences changed and stayed the same over the years?

Parker:  The audience formed a core base that has remained loyal over the years, helping me and the players to have a unique comfort on stage; as the music has morphed over the years, it has added to the audience because it is known that every Sunday reflects a singular group that may never form again. Even if the headliner has appeared previously, the supporting players are usually different, providing real appeal that is not found elsewhere.

Noise:  Do you still see any of the same people coming to your shows at The Grog from when you first started your Sunday party?

Parker:  Absolutely, many of them – as I said before, there is a core of about 100 regulars who have earned the name through their amazing loyalty to the Sunday party. Audience members Hilda Lilly and Karen Manzi probably have stories that encompass stuff I never became aware of on stage.

Noise:  Tell me some of the many guest artists you have shared the stage with  at The Grog and elsewhere?

Parker:  Oh man, that is a tall order. So, giving my sincere apologies to anyone who is omitted, going by instrumentation and not in order of preference:

There are horn players: Bill Holloman, Jimmy Biggins, Greg Piccolo, Mark Early and Doug Wolverton from Roomful of Blues, as well as the wonderful Henley Douglas Jr., Scotty Shetler, Sax Gordon, Mario Perret, the Aruda brothers, Michael “Tunes” Antunes,  and of course Amadee Castenell;

  guitar players such as Matt “Guitar” Murphy – who helped The Blues Party make its name, Luther Johnson, Duke Robillard, Murali Coryell, and with love and thanks Fly Amero, Cliff Goodwin, George McCann, Johnny A, Charlie Farren, Ricky “King” Russell, my good friend Chris “Stoval” Brown, Thom Enright – forever missed, Lydia Warren-a young and very bright light; and so many more that there isn’t room in this piece.

  Bass players include: David Hull, Marty Ballou, Lisa Mann (yep, that Lisa Mann!) Wolf Ginandes, Steve Monahan, Kasim Sultan, Eric Udell, and this list could also go on and on.

Keyboard aces have been Al Kooper, Mark Naftalin, beloved Dave Maxwell, the always entertaining Keith Munslow and remarkable Tom West; then there’s Bruce Bears, Chuck Chaplain, John Colby, Larry Luddecke, Mitch Chakkour, Ann Rabson, Cheryl Rene – and the list goes on, but I’ll stop here.

Drummers – well, I have to start with Tom “TH” Hambridge who’s early participation helped craft the A-list level of performances that are now the expectation; Marty Richards – who helped maintain that high bar, K.D. Bell, Floyd Murphy Jr., Steve Bankuti (the other part of “the Steves” with Stevie Monahan) and Mike Levesque, who maintain wonderfully tight rhythm sections, Tom Ardolino, Per Hanson, and I cannot omit Maureen Medeiros an ace percussionist and again, others too numerous to mention.

  Vocalists who have blessed the stage at The Grog include the tremendously entertaining Christine Ohlman, Susan Tedeschi (whom I was lucky to have just prior to her break onto the national stage), John Cafferty – another amazing break for the Blues Party.  Additionally, there is Brad Delp, Tony Lynne Washington, Michelle Wilson, Shirley Lewis – blessed and missed, the Taylor Brothers, Mighty Sam McClain, Kenny Williams.

Finally, harmonica players I’ve been lucky to play with include: James Montgomery, Chris “Stovall” Brown, Annie Raines, the aptly named Professor Harp, Diane Blue, Brian Templeton, Tim Gartland, Cheryl Arena, and Dave Howard also – please understand that most of the players are multi-talented, so guitar players will be doing vocals, playing guitar and blowing harp.  That applies to other players, as well. Venues other than The Grog have found me playing as a member of Swallow, opening for Albert Collins, John Mayall, Earth Wind and Fire, The Beach Boys, Mitch Ryder, Parliament Funkadelic, J Geils, Iggy Pop, and Alice Cooper, to name a few.

Noise: Care to share a quick story or two about a great night or a night that was a very bad night?

Parker: I feel I am the luckiest musician in the world – every week I get to “go on the road” with some of the best musicians in the world without leaving home; every one of those nights is a great night for me. As I noted earlier, maybe Hilda Lilly and Karen Manzi can give you some bad night stories.

Noise: In two sentences, tell me what your history is on the local music scene.

Parker: Warner Brothers “Swallow” early ’70s; regional gigs mid ’70s with Jeanne French; studio work and occasional guest work in the early and mid ’80s; a return to limited club work late ’80s and formed Blues Party in 1990. The Grog invited me to play in December of 1990 and here we are today!

Noise: Do you take your band out to play other gigs or do you only appear at The Grog?

Parker: I create a few private ensembles each year.

Noise: How does a typical night at The Grog unfold?

Parker: Most nights feature a fresh septet with three of us adding vocals. We do two 90 minute sets, starting the pace with a groove instrumental featuring saxophonist/flutist Amadee Castenell, followed by some harp based danceable blues. Then we “pass the sugar” alternating vocals and grooves. Once every six weeks or so someone will add a 45 (plus or minus) minute set showcasing a new CD or show material.

Noise: Who are your favorite harp players past and present on the local scene and why?

Parker: I got my early chops together with peer James Montgomery starting in late 1970 and we continue a pleasant friendship and working relationship. There’s a harmonica bag full of great men and women players today. Three memorable moments come to mind because I was in the right place. Tim Gartland has written some beautiful material and is an exquisite player, and he filled the stage with joy last fall. Haverhill’s Peter Chase can stop a room with his gritty style then soothe the tears and hurt with his chromatic.  A few years ago, I stopped by Matt Stubbs’ Holiday Jam in Waltham – a “who’s who” with everybody taking names and kicking ass. Shirley Lewis was on stage and spotted Chris “Stovall” Brown; Chris played a harp solo on “Natural Woman” that was as smooth as silk and jaw dropping in its expression.

Noise: Is your playing influenced mainly by Sonny Boy Williamson II or do you sound like another icon?

Parker: I love Sonny Boy Williamson’s writing and style, but my approach is a blend of Little Walter, Sonny Terry, James Cotton, and Paul Butterfield.

Noise: What’s in the future for Parker Wheeler?

Parker: We are very excited to ring in our 25th year at The Grog with special shows starting in December and the release, finally, of some recordings. In between those high points, there will be a few ensembles put together, what I like to call “The All Stars,” for private events, and I am always hoping someone will want “the harmonica player” for a gig or two.

AYLA BROWN

 by A.J. Wachtel

If there is ever a time when you need inspiration, look no further. From high school NCAA basketball record holder to a current record label owner. From singing on American Idol to releasing her third C&W album, Ayla Brown is a true talent. Listen to what this skilled singer has to say.

Noise: You recently released your third full album Let Love In. How has the feedback been so far and care to share a story about writing the songs on it?

Ayla Brown: I believe that the Let Love In album is the best project I’ve ever released and I think my fans feel the same. In general I absolutely loved writing for this album because there were a number of songs that I wrote years ago and I’m happy they found a home on his record.

Noise: “Goodbye For Good” from your debut album and “Pride of America“ from your second were the hits and the songs I really dug from those releases. What is your favorite song onLet Love In?

Ayla: I have a lot of favorites, but I really love “Let Love In,” “Matches and Gasoline,” and “That Morning Never Came.”

Noise: How is your latest release different from 2011’s Ayla Brown and 2012’s Heroes & Hometowns?

Ayla: I produced my first two country albums and on my most recent project I hired Gus Berry to produce all of the songs. He is incredibly talented and I put a lot of trust in him and the direction he wanted to go.

Noise: You founded and own your own record company, Ambient Entertainment. What are the pros and cons of being in charge?

Ayla: There are a lot of pros to owning your own business. I love the fact that I can make creative choices, keep all of the money I make, and pay my bills. The cons however mean that I don’t have the backing support of a record label, a radio promotions team, and a team in general to help get my music out there. All of the pressure rides on my shoulders and I have to rely on the fans to really support me.

Noise: You are the spokesperson for The Songs of Love Foundation that creates free personalized original songs to uplift children and teens who are facing tough medical, physical or emotional challenges. You’ve personally written songs for a six-year-old cancer patient Hannah, and another young man named Collin. What a wonderful commitment. How did you get involved and what is your process for specifically writing a song to make someone happier?

Ayla: I was introduced to this wonderful organization years ago and since then I’ve written about ten songs for ill-stricken children. It absolutely fills my heart up knowing that these songs bring a smile to their faces.

Noise: You are from Wrentham. What bands did you like growing up? Any local artists? And what music did your parents (Senator Scott Brown and T.V Newscaster Gail Huff) play around the house?

Ayla: I was crazy about the Outfield growing up! I remember my sister and I would beg my father to put in the cassette tape every time we got into the car. But I really loved songs from musicals and more of the adult contemporary type of music. My parents listened to all types of music, my dad mostly listened to rock ’n’ roll! We loved Elvis.

Noise: You are a former NCAA basketball player and went to Boston College on a full basketball scholarship. In fact, you are the sixth leading scorer in Massachusetts basketball history, male OR female! Is there anything similar in preparing for a big sports game and a huge concert? Anything different?

Ayla: Nothing different in terms of preparing for a concert, but I would definitely say there are similarities when dealing with musical competition, especially while competing on a show like American Idol. I am very grateful to get my competitive spirit from my dad!

Noise: You’ve sang the anthem on July 4 with the Boston Pops and at Fenway Park. Do you sing it exactly like Key wrote it or do you make it your own in any way?

Ayla: When I sang the national anthem with the Boston Pops Orchestra they had a special arrangement that they wanted me to sing, and I loved that version so much that I recorded a similar version on my Heroes & Hometowns patriotic album.

Noise: You auditioned for American Idol at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro and went pretty far on the show in the fifth season, 2006. Care to share a short story about this experience, and looking back would you have done anything differently?

Ayla: If I could do it all over again I would’ve expanded my knowledge of music and would have listened to a lot of different musical styles and types of artists growing up. Now I am a fan of all types of musical genres, but I wish I knew that growing up.

Noise: Early in your career your style was more pop and now it is increasingly country. Why the change in direction? You’ve also moved to Nashville to pursue your career. What are the similarities and differences between playing for a New England and a Southern audience?

Ayla: I never wanted to be the type of artist that young girls couldn’t respect and look up to. I didn’t like the direction that pop music was going. Country lyrics spoke to my heart more. The style of music I do is definitely a crossover between country and pop.

Noise: In 2010 you went to Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan and performed in front of 15,000 troops. What was that like and what will you remember most about this performance?

Ayla: I will never forget that experience. If only I could do it all over again!

Noise: What’s in the future for Ayla Brown?

Ayla: I am going to continue to work as hard as I possibly can to connect with as many people as possible. Success comes in many different forms, and I want to be remembered as someone who put their heart and soul into every lyric, every melody, and every show.

Noise: Any advice you can give to artists struggling to get their music heard in these tough times?

Ayla: It’s a really difficult but rewarding career. If you can make a living doing what you love, I suggest doing it for as long as you possibly can.

                                           www.aylabrown.com

HEATHER MALONEY

A Quick Q and A

by Kathy Sands-Boehmer

There are singer-songwriters and there are singer-songwriters…. There’s something special about Heather Maloney and it’s absolutely impossible not to notice that her talent is palpable in every way.  It isn’t just her unique voice with its edgy crispness but also the rhythms and melodies of her songs that entice each listener to pay attention… closely.  Heather recalls the musical collaboration with Darlingside at the Me & Thee Coffeehouse in Marblehead two years ago and how her career roared into overdrive and has been spiraling upward ever since. She recounts many other musical pairings with others on the road and tells us her newest album, Making Me Break.

Noise: Heather, you’ve been incredibly busy with touring and promoting your latest album this past year. Have you had been able to have any down time to just sit back and take a breather?

Heather Maloney: Ha ha… nope.

Over the summer I snuck in a couple short trips to Cape Cod but it’s been pretty nutty. If making music wasn’t so darn rewarding it would be an insane career path that I would recommend to no one. But even as I’m sleeping on like 50 different pillows on this fall tour, I couldn’t possibly think of anything else I’d rather do than spread music around to people. Worth it!

Noise: You’re done many gigs with Darlingside since the time you teamed up with them at the Me & Thee two years ago.  Was that show and your rehearsals leading up to it the perfect storm of talent and you all just strongly felt that your relationship would be much more than a one-night stand?

Heather: There was much serendipity last year with Darlingside for sure. I think everything that happened (our cover of  “Woodstock,” the video in the New York Times, getting a thumbs up from Graham Nash and a couple weeks later playing Folk Alliance in Kansas City where Graham just happened to be the keynote speaker) – all of that was just spontaneous and we just rolled with it. And it was an incredible summer… we broke into a national touring circuit, we hit some of the nation’s best folk festivals… and it was all because of that collaboration.  So they are very special to me. They are truly great people and stellar musicians who inspire me so much, and they will always represent a huge turning point in my career.

Noise: Were you totally bowled over when the NY Times gave you a shout-out for your rendition of “Woodstock”?  You also must have been on top of the world to get such a wonderful response to the song from Graham Nash!

Heather: Whenever I recount that course of events to anyone, I always make sure to mention how I may have peed myself.

Noise: You’ve also toured with Willie Watson, Gary Clark Jr. and Rodrigo y Gabriela.  Did you learn anything from those musicians who have been touring a lot longer than you have?  Any words of wisdom?

Heather: Hmmm… maybe the thing that sticks out the most is from Rod y Gab. Those guys are total rock stars, and they own the stage. They tear it up every night. Their crowd always goes wild. And it’s just two guitars!  Amazing. But here’s the thing: they are rock stars on stage and the moment they step off the stage they are the most grounded people. Gabriela showed me a meditation app to use while I’m on the road. She suggested keeping an eye mask and earplugs so I could create peace and quiet when there isn’t any to be found. They gave me some of the best tips and tricks to staying grounded… all right after they literally melted thousands of faces. So if I’m bound for the type of success they have, I hope I can hold it all as gracefully and peacefully as they do!

Noise: What was it like getting your inner Olivia Newton-John on while singing “You’re the One That I Want” with Shakey Graves?  

Heather: Because that song is inherently a bit goofy, it was just pure fun to bring it to a serious show on a serious stage. I thought it was an amazing idea on Shakey’s part. And getting to perform it with him was a huge honor.

Noise: How would you describe your latest album Making Me Break?  

Heather: Musically I think it’s a singer-songwriter record that moves in and out of folk, indie and indie rock. Emotionally it’s a record that came out of dealing with a lot of personal challenges that put me in a kind of fragile place… and then, I know this is cliché, but finding strength in being vulnerable. The record also explores some themes that are up for me, like gender roles, how feminism fits into the world of selling your body (stripping, sex work, porn, etc.) and social media (or imagining a life without it). This album is really just a bunch of vulnerable/ sensitive topics told from the perspective of a vulnerable/ sensitive person. 

Noise: When you look back at all your albums, do you have any memorable moments that stand out when you were recording?  Did you have any ah-ha moments about yourself or your songwriting?

Heather: In the making of this last record, in working with Bill Reynolds (producer) a great moment was when he suggested to replace a major chord with a minor chord in the chorus, on the third time it repeats. It was such a simple move but it changed everything. The same words sung over top went from sounding hopeful to defeated and the song became so much more dimensional. Bill was an incredible producer that way… he never stepped on the song but instead lifted it up to higher places.

Noise: What can we expect from Heather Maloney in 2016?

Heather: I’ll be expanding the touring radius further and wider and bringing Making Me Break to new ears…. also releasing a lot more video content, which I’m super excited about. And, Imight have written most of the songs for a future record… I’m not even playing them out. Instead I’m slowly working them out, trying my hand at production and hiding away in my new studio space whenever I’m home.

For more information about Heather Maloney, visit her website at www.heathermaloney.com

Heather will be appearing at the Me & Thee Coffeehouse, 28 Mugford Street, Marblehead, MA on November 20.  Tickets at www.meandthee.org

ON STAGE AND CRAZY 

RITA: The end of fall and the beginning of winter is my favorite time of the year. It’s getting chilly so I can put on my cashmere sweater when I go out club-hopping. The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer, which means there’s more time for me to hang out and watch bands. I am also a star-gazer and just love to look up at a full moon and a sky full of stars.LOLITA: Honey, you’re more star struck than a star gazer but a full moon always brings out the best and the worst in me. RITA: Which brings us to our Question of the Month where I ask, “What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen a band do onstage?” Hey Harvey, what’s up? HARVEY WHARFIELD (WCGY/ WZLX): The night in the early ’80s at The Centrum in Worcester when STEVEN TYLER’s drugging got the best of him onstage… jelly legs and all. JOE and one or two other members had to give him the five finger wake-up call and some tough love!  I was sitting behind the stage in the high seats doing a little medicinal herb and saw him get some more encouragement to wake up and fly right by some other crew members of his entourage. We didn’t hear too much from STEVIE for a couple years after that! *** RUBY BIRD (Bird Mancini):  I realize now that I am deprived. Although I’ve seen many great live performances, I can’t think of any truly crazy ones, unless you would count the Truckin’ Summer Van Show in Englishtown, New Jersey where a rock ’n’ roll band from my distant past (The Nick Adventure Band) played to a crowd of 4,000 insane hippies. Custom van shows are probably extinct now but you could compare them to biker gatherings… the culture and aesthetics were strikingly similar. For a long long pouring rain weekend our band camped and slushed around miserably, comforted only by copious amounts of free beer and spliffs. We finally took our turn playing on a flatbed stage to a very large, very drunk and disorderly mob. In between our two sets was a wet T-shirt contest that went way off the deep end. I mean way. This performance was of such debauchery too distasteful to describe in decent company. That’s as far as I’ll go with my description, but that was definitely the craziest live performance I’ve ever seen. Billy (Mancini), who was there also, might like to elaborate further, but I hope not. *** GRANNY (The Rathskellar): Not so local but I once saw STIV BATORS blow his nose into a piece of bologna and then eat it. *** DOUG MELLON (Green St. Station/ Bunratty’s/ Uncle Willie’s): The lead singer for SAM BLACK CHURCH was a guy named JET. He was doing a thing at Uncle Willie’s, the club I had in Nashua, N.H. right after Bunratty’s. JET stage dived into a giant mosh pit just as the liquor inspector walked through the door. The guy was mortified as they pass JET around the room. Then he wrote me a citation for inappropriate entertainment. The complaint said it was more like a circus act and I had to get special approval in front of the licensing board to have that kind of entertainment. *** JIM SULLIVAN (XFINITY’s Boston Rock/ WBUR’s ARTery/ Cape Cod Times): At The Channel during the slam dance/stage dive era, THE CRAMPS were playing and LUX INTERIOR politely explained he did not welcome stage crashers and divers. This shirtless young punk scrambled up, much to LUX’s annoyance, and scampered about before jumping off. LUX warned him a second time. Sure enough, the kid did it again and LUX was ready for it. He caught him, stopped him and nailed him — left/right, 1-2 — and the kid went down. I guess he slinked off the stage. I know he dove no more that night. LOLITA: Ouch!

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MUSIC NEWS

RITA: Here’s some New England music news that I dug up… The future use of the former T.T. The Bear’s place at 10 Brookline St. in Cambridge is starting to take place. Welcome to Sonia’s. According to a report from Cambridge Day, Sonia’s the name of the new proposed music venue and restaurant that will soon replace T.T.’s. Owned and operated by JOSEPH and NABIL SATER of The Middle East Restaurant and night club complex. Demolition has begun on the space and the SATER ‘s are planning to open the space in early 2016. Capacity will expand from the current 300 to 350. *** Sister KATE TAYLOR just became a grandmother again on Martha’s Vineyard when daughter ARETHA gave birth to sweet baby ZURI who joins sister FIONA.  KATE sent us a note letting us know that mother and baby ZURI are doing great. ZURI is robust and strong and beautiful. *** VASCO DA GAMA’s PAT DAUGHERTY welcomed his second son onto this planet. REGGIE CONLEY DAUGHERTY joined his four year old brother REX CONLEY in August and we hope he quickly learns how to keep his dad up all night. *** BILLY WEST (WBCN/ Ren and Stimpy) received a Hollywood Fame Award recently at The Whiskey A Go Go in L.A.  It was really cool and way past his bedtime. *** Rapper SAMMY ADAMS(Nov.2010 Noise cover) shares the same booking agent with LITTLE RICHARD. SAMMY’s new album will be out soon. *** Longtime Boston publicist and Noise contributor DEBBIE CATALANO (Catalano Creative) is now booking acoustic solo and duo acts at Melissa’s (407 Main St., Stoneham). This is a paying gig folks!  Friday and Saturday nights. Contact her on Facebook. *** Bassist PATSY BUDGEN is on Boston Women Rock, a radio show dedicated to Boston women rockers. She’s also in COROLLA DEVILLE with her sisters CINDY and BETSY. She’s ALSO in THE BRIGANDS who are down in Brooklyn the first week of November playing at The International Pop Overthrow Festival. *** COUGAR BAIT is one of Boston’s premier electronic acts. They just had their video/single release for “Booty on the Dance Floor” on the night before Halloween at The Hard Rock Café and shared the bill with JETTY and BISCUITS & GRAVY. Promoted by Hear Now Live Entertainment these cats mix house, electronica, hip hop, pop and rock, and their live shows have made them a dance floor powerhouse that audiences love. *** Jazz greats EITHER/ORCHESTRA celebrate 30 years together as a band. *** Blues, country, jazz, and rock guitarists who want to sound like YNGWIE should contact TONY SAVARINO who is now offering guitar lessons for all levels, all styles, in person or on Skype. *** THE CHANDLER TRAVIS  PHILHARMONIC released a 19-song album called Bocce & Bourbon with a party at the Lizard Lounge.  CHANDLER asked us to push the comfortable songs of him and DAVID GREENBERGER (The Duplex Planet) and the fact they are brilliant social commentators. RITA: What on earth does THAT mean? LOLITA: I think it means their pop/ folk/ rock/ funny/ ironic music is well rehearsed. It also means it’s time to get back to our Question of the Month…

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MORE CRAZY GIGS

RITA: Bret — yes, you!  Tell me about a crazy performance you saw. BRETT MILANO (Boston Phoenix/ The Boston Globe): When GUIDED BY VOICES played the Middle East around 1999, leader ROBERT POLLARD apparently challenged LYRES leader JEFF CONNOLLY to strip to his shorts, run onstage and dump the remains of GBV’s deli platter all over himself. This he did, and the night’s hired bouncers were freaking out as JEFF covered his body with potato salad. Legend has it that POLLARD gave him five $100 bills for his trouble. *** DINKY DAWSON (The Channel): One story from The Channel book I’m working on is about THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS last show at the club. As you know this band plays their music to a background of a large format film of a lad having his dick chopped off to become a lass. That film and music got the crowd worked up and GIBBY the guitarist leader of the band brought on a girl member of his tribe to dance. She was only wearing a Sumo style pants and during the performance she peed in a cup and drank it at the end of the song. Then GIBBY put lighter fluid onto the cymbals and set fire to them. He hit the cymbals so the fire went everywhere and I shot from the mixing console out front to the stage and with a couple of bouncers we threw GIBBY and his guitar and amplifier off stage and out the back emergency door. *** MICKEY BLISS (Club Bohemia at The Cantab): In the course of my 22 years producing live shows I’ve seen my share of meshuganas take the stage, so it’s hard to say. But perhaps the wackiest performance was the so-called burlesque dancer who spent 45 minutes making love to a toilet onstage at The Cantab. *** M.J. COSTA BYRNES(The Rathskellar): It wasn’t during a show… it was at the main bar, on a busy Friday night. One of the wackiest things I can remember is JOE ALLONBY, at the time a member of THE MODIFIERS, was feeling no pain and trying to pick up a girl who was in a similar state. He decided that they should switch clothes – right then and there. So, as they were stripping down, JOE without pants on… the chick taking off her dress. BRYAN STOKER, who was on the bar that night, told them none too politely to get their clothes on and to get the hell out. JOE was barred from the bar for a month! *** MR. CURT (Fun Era Fifty): Since “crazy” hasn’t inhabited my life in quite a while, let me take you back four decades to a rock show at the old Back Bay Theater (now Berklee Performance Center). An all-Detroit iconic cavalcade… in order, Brownsville Station, Bob Seger System, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, and MC5. By the end of set one, Cub Koda had everyone dancing on their seats. By the end of Bob’s set, the air was swirling with maximum hooch. The jars of amylnitrate and hash came out during Mitch’s set. When MC5 appeared, the room was spinning out of control! AND THEN THE POWER CUT OFF! Mike Davis, Wayne Kramer, and Fred Sonic Smith are thrashing lifeless guitars, singer Rob Tyner is holding up a descending curtain, only Dennis Thompson happily gallops away on his drums. The lights come on and everyone turns around to see a phalanx of police at the back of the theater. No one freaks! No one gets heavy! “Show’s over, kids – everyone out!” It was 1:30a.m.! If my memory serves me well. *** CLEA SIMON (The Boston Globe/ novelist): I’m too old to remember and any musicians I could recall are probably retired and/or living the straight life now anyway, so why embarrass them? On another note, if you’re looking for stray observations: Every few years, I start thinking I’m too old for clubbing. Then I go see a really good show. Most recent being BOB MOULD at The Sinclair – and I realize, I’m not too old for good music. Just too old to put up with crap. *** SUS (Bunratty’s): JAMES MONTGOMERY is playing when he had LARRY BAEDER/ BUCK/ BIRD/ JEFF TAYLOR/ SKIP FISCHER/DANNY MO etc.  They were a bit late getting on for their last set so I told JAMES to stop about 1:50 or so and I’d give him a 10 minute warning. Sure enough 1:40 came and I told him “one more song.” That song lasted 15 minutes with all the false endings. The band was rocking so he decided to play another. Well, that’s okay, there just won’t be an encore. That song ended and I walked to the stage and said, “Great show, but we gotta stop.” He started playing another song (the band, of coarse followed) so I figured I’d turn on the house lights so when they stopped everyone would leave. It’s now 2:05 (five minutes past curfew) and JAMES does a three minute false ending during which I turned on the stage work light, turned off the monitors and proceeded to turn off the PA. They still kept playing! The only thing left was to turn off LARRY’s Twin Reverb, DANNY’s bass amp, and take the sticks away from SKIP. JAMES then got the hint, but turned and looked at me with a wonderful grin and said, “Wow! Great night!” Yes JAMES, yes it was. *** CARLA DeLELLIS (Johnny D’s): I guess one vivid memory we all try to forget is when the lead singer of The Peacocks, who were opening for RONNIE SPECTOR, opened up his robe on stage exposing his nakedness and pulled out a dildo. That was in the ’90s.

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MORE STUFF

LOLITA: Here’s more news I picked up through the grapevine… CAM ACKLAND (Prime Movers/ Voodoo Dolls/ Port Arthur Quintet) has a new band that features his wife KIM ACKLAND on co-vocals called THE BLACK SOULS. Other members include TONY KACZYNSKI and GEORGE PERKINS on guitar, STOW KELNER on bass, and MATT BURNS on drums. ***JIMMY COYLE (The Donnas/ D.J. Hazard) has a new band called AMERICANA SWING. *** There’s a trio in Wallingford, CT. called BONNIE-MARIE TRIO that plays blues/jazz. Members are BONNIE SPERZEL on vocals, RYAN KOWALCZYK on keys and DAVE WANIK on guitar. *** Check out THE BOB WOLFMAN BAND on the North Shore. This Middleton, MA, band plays hardcore and rocking blues and has former GREGG ALLMAN band member BRUCE  MATTSON playing his Hammond B-3. *** Speaking of B-3’s, local blues legend RON LEVY (B.B. King, Ron Levy’s Wild Kingdom, Barrett Anderson) just added three chapters to his web book Tales of a Road Dog about B.B.’s funeral. He was there and he talks about his friends and associates who showed up. One story is how OPRAH’s security guard trashed his cell phone camera at the Best Western Hotel’s pool when he tried to take shots of OPRAH and her boyfriend in bathing suits. The next morning, ELLEN DeGENERES heard about it at the breakfast buffet and offered to buy him a new cell phone. *** JEWMONGUS head SEAN ALTMAN will bring his annual holiday comedy song fest to Passim’s next month. *** Blues guitarist GIL CORREIA is back from a lengthy tour of Uraguay in South America. *** JOHNNY A joined THE YARDBIRDS on their world tour. He also jumped onstage at Johnny D’s when his old band mate BOBBY WHITLOCK (Delaney & Bonnie/ Derek & The Dominos) came to Johnny D’s. “Tell The Truth” sounded incredible! Maine guitarist ANDY ARGONDIZZA played the whole night with BOBBY and CoCo CARMEL. In the middle of a song he snuck in a few measures of an Allman Brothers tune to pay tribute to Domino DUANE. *** ERIN HARPE & THE DELTA SWINGERS welcome MATT CHARLES from Chicago on blues harp. LOVEWHIP welcomes MATT on space harmonica too. *** The band NEW ENGLAND is celebrating their first release in over 30 years and the two cuts are real heavy metal ballads with great harmonies on a vinyl single – “I Know There’s Something Here” b/w “Conversation.” *** BILLY COOVER (Memphis Rockabilly) has a fresh side project called THE SOUL SHAKERS. Members include LIANNE GOLDMAN SCHAFFER on keys, JIM BOISCLAIR on vocals/harp, VINNY NATILLI playing bass and DENNIS BURKE (The Visogoths) pounding. *** TERRY KITCHEN (Loose Ties) will be signing copies of his ’80s Boston rock novel Next Big Thing at The Brookline Library on Thursday, November 12, 6-8 p.m. *** Plan ahead for the New England Blues Summit scheduled for May 2016. It will have national acts as well as local artists THE LOVE DOGS, and  SUGAR RAY & THE BLUETONES. More acts will be announced for this Cape Cod Resort and Convention Center Hyannis gig. *** ’80s garage punk band CLUB LINEHAN A GO GO reunited after a 30 year hiatus. MIKE Q QUIRK, KENNE HIGHLAND, JOE QUINN, JOHN KEEGAN (Moose & The Mudbugs) and KEVIN LINEHAN are back and causing trouble. *** CHARLES NEVILLE (The Neville Brothers) and his son KHALIF NEVILLE live in Western Mass and are in a new band together called KHALIF (Big Chief) NEVILLE & THE DEFENASTRATORS. *** THE JAMES MONTGOMERY BAND will be performing at the annual V is for Veteran benefits on November 13 at Mechanic’s Hall in Worcester and November 14 at the Larcom Theatre in Beverly, MA. Joining him for this great cause is D.K. from THE J. GEILS BAND, FLY AMERO, JON BUTCHER, AYLA BROWN, and BARRY GOUDREAU (BOSTON). *** ANTHONY GERACI is a well known blues keyboardist who recently released a new CD called 50 Shades of Blue on Delta Groove Music Records. He does a great song called “Blues for David Maxwell.” DAVID was FREDDIE KINGS’s old keyboardist from Arlington, MA who passed away a few months ago. MAX was the music disciple of OTIS SPANN and he grew up in Arlington with the late high-pitched singer ALAN WILSON (CANNED HEAT). *** RITA: I love the blues and I will check it out but not before we get back to the final answers to our monthly question if that’s alright with you Lolita. Lolita: Everything’s alright with me Rita it’s you who is still an outpatient at McLeans Mental Hospital in Belmont.

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MEMORABLE MEMORIES

LOLITA: Stop right there in your tracks and tell me about a crazy wild performance you’ve seen… CHUCK U. ROSINA (WMBR/WMFO): First of all, “crazy” could mean many different things.  There’s crazy-cool, like the Hendrix concert I saw (yes, I’m old, but that’s one of the advantages – having seen Hendrix live).  Then there’s crazy-weird, like many of the acid-infused Grateful Dead shows, or crazy-sick, like the local band I saw downstairs at the Middle East in the 1990’s.  I think the band’s name was “Women of Sodom.”  I wasn’t there to see them, in fact, I can’t remember who I was there to see, but it was one of my local faves from that era (Miles Dethmuffen, or Trojan Ponies are likely).  After “my” band played, Women of Sodom came out.  Eerie psychedelic sounds emanated from the dark stage.  When the lights came on, there were scantly clad dressed women in cages performing mock lewd sex  acts.  It was shocking… and barely legal.  I thought “When did the Middle East become a sex club?” *** DANIMAL aka DAN HARTWELL (Life With Danimal): The wackiest thing that ever happened back in 1989 was when the Ringling Brothers circus was in town performing at the centrum in Worcester. Across the street was a club where  DANIMAL & THE WILD performed. DANIMAL decided to bill this show as the second greatest show on earth since the circus was across the street. DANIMAL hired all kinds of crazy clowns, people up in giraffe and gorilla suits and extra dancing girls on stage. Then he announced to the packed house that every clown here should take off their suit and the rest of their clothes. That’s when things got out of control and half the women in the audience took off their tops. Police arrived and shut down the club. DANIMAL made an announcement to the audience that there was a private party at his place and 200 people followed him to his home a short distance away and partied into the wee morning hours! *** TED DROZDOWSKI (The Boston Phoenix/ The Scissormen): It’s kind of like the chicken or the egg… which was whackier? G.G. ALLIN throwing poop at The Channel, or the ARCHBISHOP’S ENEMA FETISH flinging enema bags to the audience at Jumpin’ Jack Flash? I can’t decide. *** STEVE MORSE (The Boston Globe/ Berklee School of Music): Anybody remember The Underground? It was a great club in Brighton that was owned by BU, as I recall, but they closed the club with little notice and local rockers were pissed. THE NEATS played the closing and the guitarist stuck his instrument through the ceiling tile and brought a lot of it down, along with exploding dust that made it look like a bomb went off. The fans did the rest and essentially trashed the club in anger – a wild night. *** SALLY CRAGIN (The Boston Phoenix): HA! I didn’t see this, but my brother HAL CRAGIN did when he played with RUBBER RODEO. BOB HOLMES after finishing a dramatic solo took a step backwards and stepped on his violin! Whoopsie! *** LOLITA: BOB HOLMES once told me that RUBBER RODEO was a mix between GENE AUTRY and DEVO. *** RITA: He once told me to get you and your blonde wig a membership for Hairclub For Men. See you next month everyone. Happy Thanksgiving!

RIP: RICHARD NOLAN (72) of Wayland, MA, (formerly of Weston and West Roxbury) passed away on October 27, 2015. Richard was the founder of the Boston band  THIRD RAIL

GOLI

Valicious Cellocity

This is Not a Love Song 

13 tracks

By golly, Goli has finally released their second album, seven years after their wonderful debut. That’s a lot of time to reflect and ponder the next step. Not that they’ve been idle – constant gigs, busking, session work, graduate studies at New England Conservatory, time spent with family and friends – which adds up to a lot of living to invest in their new material. And eureka, this disc is even more stunning than could be expected. Their playing is tighter and more disciplined (more academic?!) as Vessela Stoyanova’s magical marimba technique spins out an array of tones and colors against Valerie Thompson’s deep rich cello accompaniment and wry vocals.  This disc really plays up the disjointed mind games that she delves in – incisive, contradictory, fluid, flummoxed tunes that have swagger, sway, and sumptuous melodies. Yes indeed, she still has that wacky adult wit, singing about her personal hang-ups, romantic failures, facing the void, and other self-deprecating adventures. Major kudos to producer Peter Moore for seeing a bigger picture and bringing in other instrumentalists and singers to enhance their chamber-style vibrancy.  Some fab songs here: “Greatest Mistake,” “You,” “Alone,” “Nihilist Love Song,” “So Perfect,” “Mystery to Me” (“Love and death are accidents waiting to prove true/ And if I die before I love – now what’s this gonna do…/ Will you remember my body kindly?”), and “Four Chord” – holy smokes, a rocker! As they have entered a second stage of development, there is no lack of musical confidence in their approach. Charming and irresistible, Valerie and Vessela-as-Goli are the new Dynamic Duo and a must-see!    (Harry C. Tuniese)

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OCTOBER ACCORD

Cheapshot of the Year

5 tracks

What are we gonna sit here in 2015 and argue about what punk is? There’s no point, global warming is gonna kill us all in three or four years so worrying about whether this “pop-punk” band from southern Massachusetts ever heard, like, Discharge or Deep Wound or Bloody Mess and the Skabs or whatever you consider real punk is pretty moot at this late hour. I mean realistically you’d have to have some fucking hole in your head to consider any moment of this record punk, but again, let’s just move on while there’s still time. Although maybe punk means something different if you’re, say, 19 years old in 2015. You’d probably think Jello Biafra was just some old crank. Actually, I thought that in 1986, nevermind. So, anyway, this record. It’s an EP. If you like hooded sweatshirts in pastel colors and wandering around the mall, you’ll like it. If it is acceptable to you that you can buy Star Wars Lego toys at Newbury Comics then sure, gobble up all the October Accord you can. Do you remember Alice Cooper’s Teenage Lament ’74? “What a drag it is, these gold lame jeans/ Is this the coolest way to get through your teens?” Well, this is October Accord’s Teenage Lament ’15. Of course I hate it, I’m 46. But maybe you’re not. Well, statistically, given this zine’s readership, you’re probably at least that, but who knows. If you are under 22 years old, and white, and suburban, and middle-class, and if you’ve never heard of Bloody Mess, Discharge, or Deep Wound but you love Blink 182 and whatever Paramore is (they reference it in their bio), there’s a solid chance you’ll love this record. You’ll still die in a coastal flood in three years, but at least you’ll be hip to October Accord.   (Sleazegrinder)

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THE BROOKLYNS

Sideways Town

12 tracks

There’s a lot going on in this band. Two lead singers, one male the other female. Two great guitarists that aren’t afraid to play, and a tight and powerful rhythm section. Tom Leger and Maureen Kavanaugh share lead vocals. Tommy and Sean Murray duel on guitars, with Jeff Murray on bass and Reebo Tibbs on drums powering the band. In a strange irony, Sean and Jeff Murray are cousins not brothers. Mo plays guitar also. Tom sings the metal rockers and his significant other sings the mellow rockers and ballads. There’s a bit of country, a bit of metal, and a bit of rock ’n’ roll in their sound. They’ve got Americana ballads: the opener “Take Back,” “For The Last Time,” and “Heart Alone” – country blues: “Strange Days” – mellow rock ’n’ roll: “Roll It” – and metal: “Boone’s Farm,” “Suitcase,” “It’s A Love,” “Lie With You,” “Separate,” and the closer “So Long.”  This is a groove band too. The two guitarists play well together and set the mood in the beginning of all the songs and then it’s time to fasten your seat belts when Tommy or Mo start to sing. Mr. Leger was in The Fighting Cocks and Unattached many moons ago too, so you know he’s got the moves. Great stuff from a wild band.     (A.J. Wachtel)

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LOS GOUTOS

Rained Out at the Ruth Gordon Ampitheatre: Los Goutos Live

9 tracks

At its best, this CD recording has a great deal of the good-timey ambiance and vim of the Rounder-and-friends 1975 album Have Moicy!  And if you loved that you’ll certainly like this – many of the songs have a charming, joking feel which is practically infectious. All the more impressive is that it is a live recording, warts and all, with room for improvisations like the crooning at the end of the chummy Stewart/Gleason tune “Appropriating the Blues.” Bruce Bartone’s Santana-like dervish guitar melds gloriously with Chris Gleason’s mandolin on the fiddle-slathered showpiece “Tequila Set the House Afire,” showing that the band has a knack for the dramatic, and for consequential guitar solos. The amusing “El Chupacabra” is a folksy narrative sung by the legendary monster himself, with lots of hooting and shouting – and surely a good time was had by all, particularly Jakub Trasak, who delivers a pristine bluegrass fiddle solo. Mike Eigen contributes his introspective clarinet to his own mournful and haunting composition, “Persephone,” which is performed as a juddering dirge, with lots of artsy fiddle. The wanton, jaunty and amusing “Calamine Lotion” is a plaintive song with amusing lyrics replete with hot fiddle playing and persnickety but pastoral mandolin. Chris Gleason’s elegiac “Killing Me Kindly” reminds me of Byrdsy country rock, albeit with ensemble instrumentation, including Stewart’s accordion, a thrilling fiddle run, and Bartone’s liquescent guitar. The accordion also comes into prominent play on Eigen’s “Steal It, Pawn It, Buy Another,” a Latin-flavored delicacy replete with plaintive vocals and eccentric, halting percussion. Stewart’s “Missed Opportunities” is another country-folk tune with an easygoing pace and feel. “Broken” is a jittery, neurotic Warren Zevon-like chantey and a heartfelt manifesto sung and performed with a manic vivacity by composer Paul Stewart. This six-piece ensemble is undeniably talented and deserves to become cult favorites among the folksy set.  (Francis DiMenno)

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DR. DK

Krankshaft (and other stuff)

9 tracks

“The Monster Song” starts things off and it looks like I’ve found Kraftwork in a Halloween disguise. As I dance on, the costume comes off but the mechanical beats and synth bass lines continue their staccato rhythms. The voice is what keeps your guessing… in “Puppy” it’s deep, dark and foreign. In “Remain” it’s almost priestly – reminding me a bit of another local musical physician—Dr. X. “Krankshaft” drives a persistent beat and synth bass with the title repetitively spoken for the chorus. “Black Rose (instrumental version)” adds a simple grand piano line to the thumps creating a beat-driven trance.  The mellow voice in “Remember” sounds like it could be Brian Eno fronting A Flock of Seagulls. Plucked synth cello strings form a nice rhythmic base for a violin melody in “Noctum,” where a subtle wall of strings quietly lay a sustained base that floats below the solo. “Turn (instrumental version)” closes the album with a insistent bass drum beat that would keep dancers moving at a disco. Again a sweet reverby violin supplies the lead line, dancing around like a classical musician breaking a sweat. If you’re a fan of Kraftwork, or just need some music to keep your blood circulating and hips gyrating, Dr. DK can write your prescription.  (T Max)

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VAT

When It All Turns Black

10 tracks

Boston’s Vat surprised me with this self described “sludge rock” record. With titles like “Torture Chamber,” Cult of the Dark,” “Carry the Cross,” and “Scorpio Woman,” I expected more of a straight up metal band. What I got instead was kind of a 21st century Venom album with guitar leads straight out of Guided By Voices or Helios Creed. I would call Vat thinking man’s metal, like Voi Vod, but I don’t want to limit their potential audience.  Someone finally combined the musical equivalent of chocolate and peanut butter (Black Sabbath and Black Flag) and made hard rock sonic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. This album is so good it melts your ears, not in your hands. Death to false chocolate!   (Eric Baylies)

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THE SECULAR VOICES OF HEAVEN’S HORIZON

The Future of Christmas 

12 tracks

I was given this CD because I’m known for liking things off the beaten path, and I flat-out loved these goofball smartasses, who have written 12 new Christmas songs that mock the kitchen sink, yet, remarkably, these songs are potential future classics, up there with “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” or “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.” I kid you not. The lyrics aren’t just clever; the songs are irresistibly catchy, with great hooks and vocal melodies. Much of it is beautiful and melancholic. My only gripe would be the sloppiness of the vocals – I can’t always tell what the singers are singing – but their tag claims they were called “the alcoholic Manhattan Transfer” by Rolling Stone (which I’m going to guess is baloney), so the shabbiness seems deliberate. Clever move: the CD includes a lyric sheet as well as the 12 tracks as instrumentals, so you and your friends can use them for caroling if you choose! Warning: if you’re politically correct, avoid this group at all costs. The songs are quite smart, but perhaps too fearless, from “Asian Snow Man” (about what kids make with the yellow snow!), to “Christmas Is Illegal!” (where they make a compelling argument that you can’t have any religious holidays due to the separation of church and state). I find most parody acts to be unfortunately juvenile, but this act does it with aplomb, from the Neville Brothers (?) send up “One More Sip” (about needing to be intoxicated to visit the relatives) (which also may feature the world’s first glass-of-brandy solo, if you can believe it), to the Andrew Lloyd Weber (?) piss-take, “A Diamond Someday” (about a dumb orphan who gets a lump of coal and mistakenly thinks it will become a diamond someday!) (“This song is about the limits of optimism” reads the liner notes. Hilarious.) There’s not a drop of filler on this record. “Clean Your Chimney!” is Bing Crosby-esque and tells kids to get in there with a scrub brush and soap (!), while “No One Got Christ SHIT For Christmas” reminds all the selfish children (and adults) that it’s HIS birthday, and does it to a Springsteen (?)/ 1980s sound. (The liner notes call it their “punk rock” song.) It’s quite impressive how even their cheapest shots pay off, like in “It’s A St-St-Stuttering Christmas”: “Everyone st-st-stutters at Christmas/ m-m-mostly c-cuz it’s c-c-cold/ and even S-Santa st-stutters/ when he bellows ‘HO-HO-HO’!” I can’t recommend this record enough. The album was recorded in New Hampshire, but it’s unclear exactly where they are based. I pray (despite my atheism) they play Boston this holiday season!    (Shauna Erlbaum)

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MARTY NESTOR & THE BLACKJACKS

Live At The Bull Run

10 tracks

This Pepperell, MA, singer/songwriter is a country folkie with an acoustic guitar, great voice and  tunes, and a solid backing band. I always love live releases cause they really show a band’s heart and soul and not just the studio hijinks. Even I can sound like Paul McCartney in a studio with a good engineer, ya know? Marty strums and fingerpicks and his vocals sound a bit like Tom Waits meets Dylan meets Billy Joel. Tom Waits because he has a good, very passionate and raspy voice, Dylan because his compositions are influenced by the master, and Billy Joel because his expressive vocals really tell a good story. Nestor countrifies two covers, “Dead Flowers” by The Stones, and “Mystery Train” by Junior Parker, and I really dig Marty’s own country blues ballads “Little Lady Lowdown,” “The Rain Came,” and “Saint of The Highway.” Marty, who sings lead vocals, plays acoustic guitar and harmonica, is backed by Carl Johnson with nice twangy lead guitar licks, Jeff Root on bass, and Lloyd Iisley pounding. Carl and Jeff also add their backing vocals to the mix. The crowd seems to really dig their performance and so do I.   (A.J. Wachtel)

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41 PROSPECT

Steps That Remain

6 tracks

“A New Game” begins muffled and vague, replete with all sorts of sonic tricks and gew-gaws – distorted, watery guitar; squeaky, cascading background noises; nonsensical guitar runs. Interesting, if not particularly impressive. Their cover of the Weakerthans’ “Reconstruction Site,” is a loping recitative with philosophical and sentimental lyrics. The cover of Jenny Lewis’ “Acid Tongue,” with vocals by Heidi, is lovely and melancholy. “Will You Wait for Me in Baltimore” is a woozy love song with a sweet guitar solo grounding it, somehow, to some earthly plane. “Slow Learner,” the best of show, is a genuine surprise – a salsa-tinged number with a strong guitar line by Ken Klucznik, which is well-grounded by Mike Stefanowicz’s deterministic and well-nigh perfect bass part. “Long Way From Mexico” lays on the studio effects at the outset, then devolves into an easygoing ballad that, for all its affectless vocals, wouldn’t be out of place on a soft-rock radio program. It’s difficult to judge on the basis of four originals, but this seems like a young band that wears its influences on its sleeve, has yet to find a consistent voice, but may someday evolve into a praiseworthy unit.   (Francis DiMenno)

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GUERRILLA TOSS

DFA

Flood Dosed 

3 tracks

I fell in love with Guerrilla Toss after hearing a live performance somewhere that I can no longer remember. Their disco punk sound was equal parts totally modern and craftily nostalgic. Unfortunately they were never able to translate the joyousness of the disco side of their formula onto record. In the studio they favored dissonant free-jazz electro-noise.

I am happy to report that Guerrilla Toss discovered how to capture their live sound on record with the release of Flood Dosed. The 17-minute EP captures everything there is to love about this band.

If you crossed Devo with the Psychedelic Furs and brought in Sleigh Bells’ Alexis Krauss on vocals you would find an approximation of Guerrilla Toss.

“Realistic Rabbit” layers eighties-style synths on top of driving drums, popping bass, and crazy sax.

“Ritual in Light” sounds like a noisy B-52s track crossbred with Morphine and run through an electro-jazz blender.

“Polly’s Crystal” stretches out into a 7-minute alterna-psych atmospheric journey that would make Echo and the Bunnymen and the Cure proud.

Bring on the full-length. 17 minutes is not enough!   (George Dow)

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ANDREW MARTIN

Roadstar Records

EP 1

5 tracks

Not a style of music that I typically gravitate toward. Classified as rock, it sounds more like ambient, easy listening. The production is great. Andrew Martin is talented – adeptly playing guitar, bass, piano, synth, and percussion.

That’s why I really wanted to like this CD, however, I just couldn’t connect with it. Moreover, all five songs sounded so much alike, that they seemingly blurred into one long song. Nothing struck me. If music had colors, this would sound “beige” to my ears. Hopefully, he will in time, find a niche that allows his skills to truly shine through. This just didn’t do that.  (R.J. Ouellette)

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FERAL JENNY

Bedrooms

6 tracks

Boston’s Feral Jenny is the dreamchild of guitar player and singer Jenny Mudarri. The album is a bit brief but packs a wallop in a very catchy garage kind of way. It reminds me of two acts from 30 years ago or so, What Now, and the Three O’Clock, but with kind of a Robin Lane & the Chartbusters swagger to it. This started as a solo project but has turned into a full band, and I’m really looking forward to hearing these songs live. (Eric Baylies)

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ROBERT BUSHINSKY

Life In A Cold Frame  

9 tracks

This album definitely has a unique sound.  Throughout the nine tracks, I hear quite a range of influences. It has an ’80s synth feel, with its dancey drums and synths, and then the vocals have a Les Claypool/ B-52s sound to them. I really like Masashi Nakamura’s guitar work – the leads don’t just follow Wayne William’s bass lines or Bushinsky’s keyboard, they add a great element to the album. The musicianship all around is very good. The only thing that loses me a little bit is the vocals. They aren’t bad, but a little too reminiscent of Les Claypool and B-52s style of monotone talking/ singing.  Nevertheless, this is a good album with cool ideas. If you are a fan of anything synth-y or slightly progressive, then definitely check it out!    (Tom Barvick)

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ILANA KATZ KATZ

I’ve Got Something To Tell You

13 tracks

This is a really cool release. A blues and Appalachian old time fiddle CD. Sorta like going to a hoe-down in the South side of Chicago. Influenced by early fiddle laced records of Big Bill Broozy, Katz’ music is a nice mix of country blues and traditional blues. Sorta like if Papa John Creach fronted a killer blues ensemble and they played at the Grand Ole Opry. Check out her stunning band – Ronnie Earl on guitar, Diane Blue on vocals, Marylou Ferrante on vocals, guitar and banjo, Dotty Moore on fiddle, and Jesse Williams on bass. There are no drums.  You might have seen Ilana playing in subway stations around Boston. Her chops are imaginative and she plays with a lot of emotion and passion. No joke, she really fiddles around! And nobody plays like Ronnie Earl. My favorite cuts are the country blues “Marilyn’s Blues,” “Cruel Willie’s Blues” with Marylou Ferrante on guitar, “PB Cracker Blues (For Ronnie Earl),” two melodies she wrote herself, and the more traditional “She’s Long She’s Tall (She Weeps Like A Willow Tree”) by John Lee Hooker, “Take A Little Walk With Me” by Robert Lockwood with Diane Blue wailing on vocals, and a song she wrote, “Runnin’ In Peace” about her experience being next door to the Marathon bombing. Ronnie also covers this great song on his Good News CD. The two Memphis Millie tracks, “Ain’t Nothin’ In Ramblin’ ” and “Frisco Town” are also killer. I really love this blues and old time fiddle release and you will too.   (A.J. Wachtel)

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DEVIL ON HORSEBACK

Rule the Deep

4 tracks

It feels a lot like the mid-eighties when I listen to Devil on Horseback’s Rule the Deep EP, I fondly reminisce about those years when heavy metal was transitioning from the classic Black Sabbath/Iron Maiden power metal formula to the chunky, chugging riffs of Metallica and Megadeth. It was a beautiful chapter in the history of metal and it is refreshing to hear it revisited by Devil on Horseback.

Their dual guitar attack brings to mind the classic K. K. Downing/Glenn Tipton Judas Priest combo. Stacking lead guitars slightly out of phase always brings a smile. The rhythm section plays in a deep, dark pocket in a style reminiscent of nineties metal bands – bringing the retro sound forward into the 21st century. Singer Eric Waxwood casts away the gravely shouts favored by today’s popular metal in favor of a high and mighty vocal style which is a breath of fresh air for ears that have been pummeled with Cookie Monster growls for far too long.   (George Dow)

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THE HAMMOND GROUP

Futuresize

10 tracks

We don’t really live in a world that can accommodate The Hammond Group, so the choices are either create one or just reject Futursize completely. Here’s what you need to know to make an informed choice: they play fun, goofy surf/ garage rock/ power pop with songs about how Somerville girls are hotter than Cambridge girls and hassles at the 1369 coffee shop. Basically, The Hammond Group wants you to get tipsy and have a good night out and dance to wobbly rock ’n’ roll that went out of fashion in 1982. But can you live up to that? Can you stay up past midnight and slither around Central Square? Would you actually pay to stand in a room as disgusting as the Cantab basement or the Midway? Do you even know how to dance to surf rock? I know, probably not, but honestly, I think it’s worth a shot. Seems like the world would be better with them in it.   (Sleazegrinder)

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INFUSION EVOLUTION

Niveo Records

Infusion Evolution

5 tracks

Wow! This is refreshing. A Cranston, RI, band that plays an Afro-Cuban Flamenco style. “Quero Cantar” gets us tapping with its friendly harmonious refrain, “I just want to sing a song for you.” Cool speedy hand claps at one point add a nice little bridge. Next is a catchy insistent guitar riff in “Zapateo,” my favorite song on this EP. Percussion and bass joins in, making everything bounce. The message is all about moving forward – “Here we are/ We’re movin’ to another day/ Forget about yesterday/ This is the day/ There are no more clichés.” It feels like a party with all the musicians celebrating. When the trumpets come in I just want to do a Mexican hat dance. Track 3, “Toma Mi Mano,” is totally in Spanish – and it jumps with a lot of percussion. “Balle En La Calle” is a little more suave in its presentation with crowd sounds from a party. I love the trumpet again – I can imagine being at a post-bullfight party – though the lyrics are more about a desire to dance with that special someone. “Waiting” incorporates a little call and response gang vocals. Again, the music is all about getting those hips rotating.  More cool hand clap percussion, a trumpet solo, and a nifty Spanish-type guitar solo. I wish The Noise received more CDs like this one. This collection of songs can shoot adrenaline into anyone’s party.   (T Max)

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WAYLON SPEED

Crow on Ten Records

Kin

11 tracks

This Vermont-based band plays Southern rock. Their cool sound is sorta like Jackson Browne meets Alabama meets Skynyrd and they’ve got all the bases of their contemporary outlaw country/gritty Southern rock sound covered. Vocals with attitude, high octane songs, and subtle blues/indie rock/metal and punk influences. This is a good band that are all on the same page and that makes the difference. Listen to “On A Wire,” “Tally-Ho,” “Shakin’,” “In Your Mind,” and “Days Remain the Same.”  All are first rate tunes with a powerful chugging beat that gets to me immediately. Even the ballads, “Until It All Ends” and the closer “Demons,” are sweet and ominously powerful. Noah Crowther on bass/vocals, Kelly Ravine and the Rev. Chad Hammaker on guitars and vocals, and brother Justin Crowther pounding and playing harmonica jell well together. Perfectl music for racing down the highway at full volume. Check them out.   (A.J. Wachtel)

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BURKE’S LAW  

Burke’s Law  

12 tracks

Murky hard rock, mostly. Staccato lyrics. Lots of flash guitar on opening track, “Electric Chair.”  “Crawl Back Home” does have a smoking guitar riff going for it, and the churning “Red Spell” does show off another, more introspective prog side to the band. “My One and Only” is a faltering, Springsteen-like outing, but “Take My Soul” is a largely successful stab at working up a smoky blues ambiance. “Black Dragon” is a real anthemic rave-up, and best of show–seemingly fueled by nitroglycerine and testosterone in equal parts, replete with a psychedelic middle eight. “Not Today” is an epic concoction full of world-weariness and ennui–existential metal?–and betrays a spark of divine madness, alternatingly halting and aggressive. The concise “Payin’ My Dues” is another staccato pronunciato with plenty of the old hard rock attitude and aggression. “Cruel World” rounds off the proceedings with some warhorse old style bluesy heavy metal, replete with a sputtery guitar-driven middle eight and a spattery and utterly bewildering coda. People have been grooving to this sort of thing since the long-gone days of Blue Cheer and the MC5, to say nothing of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. This is a thoroughly competent outing in its genre, but the (deliberately?) bare-bones production values give the variegated songs an unwanted sonic sameness.    (Francis DiMenno)

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NEW YORK ELECTRIC PIANO

Buffalo Puppy Records

Black Hole In One  

9 tracks

Remember punk/prog rock ’80s band Vasco Da Gama? Now vocalist/keyboardist Pat Daugherty plays jazz with hip hop and rock influences. This is his sixth studio album since the Vasco days and his first in four years And get this: the odd tracks are all instrumentals and the even cuts have Pat’s effects-laden vocals. How’s that for a cool album layout? Three odd track instrumentals “Reboot,” “Wait For It” and “Tribute,” a toms driven melody that really swings, could all be on the soundtrack of the movie Shaft. It’s mood music at its best. The closing cut, “Save the Date,” is guilty of unique syncopation and changing tempos, to say the least.  On the even numbered songs it is very noticeable that Pat sings and plays his keyboards together to produce the melodies’ full effect. Sometimes his somber and electric notes and chords scream, “Listen to me!,” as an audio foil to his vocals. Pretty cool. And it works well. The music moves you always. Sorta like Herbie Hancock with a real edge. Pretty cool.   (A.J. Wachtel)

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PAVLOV’S DOGS

Demo

4 tracks

Pavlov’s Dogs hail from North Adams, MA. This album is way too short but gives you a good idea where what these guys are up to. Some of the songs swing in a garage rock Lyres kind of feel, others are a bit more psyche like Iron Butterfly or Ultimate Spinach, but there’s always a kind of punk rock danger waiting in the wings. The songs are very fun and tuneful. These guys are very young but already seem to possess an encyclopedic knowledge of rock ’n’ roll. Hail, Hail, Pavlov’s Dogs! (Eric Baylies)

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ANTHONY GERACI & THE BOSTON BLUES ALL-STARS 

Delta Groove Music Records

Fifty Shades of Blue  

13 tracks

There is a ton of great music on this release. Geraci has played and recorded with Muddy Waters, Big Joe Turner, J.B. Hutto, Otis Rush, Hubert Sumlin, Jimmy Rogers, Big Walter Horton, and Big Mama Thornton. He also was an original member of both Sugar Ray & the Bluetones and Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters. Pretty impressive? Wait, it gets even better. This band features some of the top blues musicians in the Boston area: Sugar Ray Norcia, Darrell Nulisch, Michelle “Evil Gal” Willson, Michael “Mudcat” Ward, Marty Richards (The J. Geils Band), and Neil Gouvin. All the compositions are by Anthony and every measure in every song sounds spontaneous and first rate. I really dig the title cut with Sugar Ray and Michelle sharing stellar vocals and Monster Mike’s screaming leads, “If You Want To Go To Heaven” with “Evil Gal’s” passionate vocals, “Diamond’s And Pearl’s” with Toni Lynn Washington’s teasing voice, the instrumental “In The Quicksand,” sounding like a ’50s Ray Charles cut, and the closing instrumental, “Blues For David Maxwell,” which really showcases Geraci’s impressive talent. He is as good playing rhythm as he is at pounding out leads. And I enjoy that a lot. Darrell’s harp on “The Blues Never Sleeps” and Sugar Ray’s torrid playing on “Your Turn To Cry” are great performances too. How many bands today have two red hot and blue harpists in their fold? How many groups today have two incredible female vocalists contributing? Enough said. A monumental and important bit of local history here, folks. Music that everybody needs to hear.  (A.J. Wachtel)

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ERIC HOURDE

The Album  

11 tracks

Every time I see a CD with a vaguely punk rock-looking guy with an acoustic guitar I see visions of Billy Bragg and Joe Strummer. I get excited. Most times I end up disappointed. Eric Hourde continues the disappointment streak.

The Album starts strong with a nineties-style, full-band, hardcore anthem – “Artist’s Punk Rock Anthem.” Hard, fast, and reminiscent of Gorilla Biscuits.

Next up, “This Time,” an acoustic electric jam that gets my Billy Bragg antenna humming. Eric plows through with anthemic Dropkick Murphy’s pub-core vocals and Rancid-ish guitar accompaniment – an altogether respectable entry.

Beyond the first two tracks things fall apart entirely. Maybe I’m just getting old but “Me and Your Mom” truly offends. An acoustic story song told to a young boy. The narrator sarcastically describes taking the boy’s mom out for the night, sleeping with her, then waking up the next morning and awkwardly meeting the boy in the living room. The chorus of, “I fucked your mom,” was stomach-turning indeed.

I don’t even know what to make of the rest of the album. I spent my fair share of time in modern Christen churches listening to creepy Christen rock. The rest of the record dives headlong down this strange rabbit hole. I just don’t get it – from “I fucked you mom,” to flutes and bunny rabbits without as much as a palate cleanser. Bards and lutes would not be misplaced on the half dozen strange, nearly unlistenable ballads the close out The Album. (George Dow)

THOSE ALONE by Dr. Swig McJigger

Younger readers of The Noise might have difficulty relating to the following, but circa the turn of the millennium Dunkin’ Donuts sold caps bearing a legend along the lines of “Red Sox/ Yankees: The hundred-year rivalry”; this caused an incorrigibly snide talk-radio host derisively to cite the saw, “The rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox is like the rivalry between a hammer and  nail.” This dynamic comes to mind when regarding Those Alone, because the band’s story is essentially the story of founder and lead singer Mike Giammarco… who lives south of the state line, in his native Rhode Island. Just as the Big Apple, some 215 miles down I-95, casts its shadow over us here in the Athens of America, so too does the Hub draw limelight away from Providence and environs. Presently you’ll discover that one can’t keep a good rocker down, but prior to evincing said happy moral let’s direct some love to Mike’s crew.

Mat Sarcia, Michael Vellante, and Jon Morris are all Bay State denizens, thus technically it’s a stretch to tab Those Alone qua Little Rhody outfit. Whether he’s wielding an ax in service to Those Alone, toiling at his day job, or pursuing a business degree, Mat Sarcia is the same guy: The last word in taciturn, Mat is a bona fide technician whose focus on doing justice to his instrument amounts to one of the band’s greatest strengths. He and Mike have been collaborating since 2012, when he responded to the latter’s ad on craigslist. Michael Vellante also came aboard via Craigslist, last year; while he has fifty percent fewer strings to pluck than Mat; he’s exponentially more garrulous; buttonhole him following a show and you’ll have a new boon companion! Those Alone’s drummer joined the lineup most fortuitously; Jon Morris and Mike Giammarco just happened to cross paths in the workplace. Jon’s just one of those guys who’s carrying more incidental skills in his quiver than is readily apparent.

As pledged, the balance of this profile will concentrate on Those Alone originator Mike Giammarco; that said, in examining the friendly front man one is actually treating a couple of overarching themes… one old (indeed, ancient), one new (verily, cutting edge). The scantest acquaintance with classical history reveals how important music has been to man since written language was devised (and doubtless long before that). Take it in good faith that Mike would’ve fit right into society two-and-a-half millennia ago. [Whether he would actually like living in the Iron Age we will ignore.] That’s because with him it’s ALL about making music. While a lot of rockers harbor – or make no bones about – an agendum such as impressing chicks (certainly that’d be this scribbler’s motivation), desire to be part of the scene, a craving for performance, some combination of the preceding, etc., etc., Mike lives to emit a joyful noise. He’s content conducting a modest existence so long as it’s funded by revenue raised from his passion (e.g., voice and guitar instruction).

It’s possible Mike had no choice in the matter: He was literally born into it. Giammarco’s dad was a psychedelic rocker back in the day, whose band, Crystal Chandelier, previously bore the moniker Those Alone; in reviving said “brand,” Mike pays tribute to his two greatest supporters, his parents.

If you’re (still) reading this, you know how technology has utterly transformed the music industry. You don’t have to accept the opinion of some ‘zine  x band is kickass; you instead sample ditties readily available via electronic media and make up your own mind. [That’s what America is all about.] Ergo this outlet encourages you to check out Those Alone’s YouTube channel; in particular, direct your attention to the show they played at the Hard Rock (Boston location) circa the vernal equinox. [That gig was the championship round of a band competition.] While there, also seek the rendition of “Empty Spaces” (recent winner of an Akademia award) performed on the night Those Alone preceded Highly Suspect at Fete in Providence. Folks who live-stream might hear Mike Giammarco and company on WEMF, Reverbnation, Boston Rock Radio, or assorted other ’net entities… [In fact, cyberspace is your best bet for hearing Those Alone these days; the quartet’s busy in the studio transforming the 5-song EP String by String into a full-length, consequently their live appearances have dwindled.]

www.thosealone.com

Click on this small section of Sheila Orlando’s photo
to discover the identity of the Big Shot for the December issue of The Noise.

OLNEYVILLE SOUND SYSTEM by Eric Baylies

Olneyville Sound System hail from Providence, Rhode Island. For almost two full decades Dan St. Jacques (vocals and bass) and Adam Autry (drums) have helped create, define, and refine the sound of underground music in Providence and far beyond. I was extremely fortunate to be able to talk to Dan about the days of future past of one of my favorite bands in the history of the universe.

Noise: Tell me a little bit about how Olneyville Sound System got rolling.

Dan: We started out with a more traditional line-up albeit without guitar as most rock bands usually center their sound around. Drums, bass, harmonica, and vocals comprised the first OSS recordings which gave it an almost bluesy post-punk sound early on but soon we found ourselves having trouble getting everyone to practice regularly except for Adam and me. Since we were the ones that had started it all anyway we just focused on becoming a strong rhythm section, and with that we were able to stretch out far beyond our initial attempts at arranging riffs and song writing.

Noise: Were you intent on being a duo from the start? I’ve only seen you as a two-piece with occasional guests.

Dan: As time went on we would just let friends and other musicians jam with us and sometimes that led to working on material to play out locally and occasionally tour etc. That gave us the opportunity to incorporate other instrumentation like saxophone, synthesizers, guitars, and even flute! But while those experiments were often rewarding and gave us unique opportunities to play on all kinds of bills (from underground punk/ metal  shows to jazz gigs and reggae/ hip hop events) again, only our core has survived intact… the bass and drums that make up the defining sound of OSS. We are the only thing that seems to be consistent so for the past few years we’ve just kept it whittled down to the raw essence of what our music is about, which is bass and drums. Anything extra is just icing on the cake. If we’re lucky sometimes we get a cherry on top, but sometimes it’s just too many cooks in the kitchen, ha! So for most of our time playing we have been basically an instrumental band, besides our infrequent guest vocal stints by such local greats as Bob Otis (Drop Dead), Rick Pelletier (Six Finger Satellite) and even our original vocalist, Jon Von Ryan, has made a couple of appearances.

Noise: I thought you were always the lead singer.

Dan: As of late, I’ve stepped up to the plate to lay down some sparse vocals here and there but really prefer to focus on my bass playing.

Noise: So what’s in the future?

Dan: We’ll see what the future brings. We have another solid tight ass recording that we made a few years ago at Machines With Magnets that we were not able get out to the masses so any leads would be helpful! What happened to all the underground record labels that were so abundant a few years ago? Oh yeah, the Internet… pffffft!

Noise: Allright, let’s go backwards a minute. When did you guys start up?

Dan: Olneyville Sound System started when Adam Autry and I got together to jam back in the summer of 1996. Adam and I had been talking about playing together for a while as we both had previous bands that often played on the same bill (usually opening for Six Finger Satellite)

Noise: What bands were you guys in?

Dan: I was playing bass in Thee Hydrogen Terrors and Adam was the drummer in a band called the Golden Touch. It finally came together when I rented a warehouse space in Olneyville on Valley Street which was soon dubbed Redrum, as we painted the massive 2000 sq. ft. space’s floor a bright blood red. After a couple of weeks of developing a solid rhythmic foundation we soon invited one of Adam’s buds (a dude named Roma Karas from the Ukraine) to join in on harmonica and an old friend of mine (Jon VonRyan) to add some vocals to the music so we could play out. Within a about a month we had over a dozen riffs that became our first release, Because We’re All in This Together, and played our first show at Fort Thunder opening for Melt Banana.

Noise: You guys have toured off and on for years. Tell me something good.

Dan: We toured Europe a couple of years ago as a two piece combo and played all kinds of venues from little cafes to DIY squats that had their own libraries and cafeterias. It was an amazing experience and one show that really stands from that tour was the night we played in Brussels, Belgium where we met some African dudes in front of the venue an hour before the show. By the time we got on stage they had pretty much already decided they were going to play with us and had their conga hand drums set up on the stage! We were a little confused but psyched and we said they could play the first tune with us.I think they wanted to keep playing but soon realized it was a good decision because our material got noisier and harder to follow after our initial “jam” with them. Anyway, in the middle of our set the speaker cabinet of my bass rig starts leaking smoke and  suddenly catches fire as we’re still playing. People start going nuts and cheering us (or maybe the fire?) on as we rip into some serious noise breakdown and then finally someone in the audience runs up and dumps a beer on the flaming speakers.I thought that was it but the sound man was actually pretty psyched and had me plug directly into the sound system to finish our set! It was pretty exhilarating. People came up to us afterwards and said they had never seen or heard anything like that, with one guy throwing around Jimi Hendrix references blah, blah. We were like…you gotta come to Providence, ha! The next day we played an uneventful show in Paris and then flew home.

Noise: How many records do you guys have out?

Dan: We have four official releases and dozens of cassette tapes and cd compilations that we make for each other and close friends. Our sound has developed over the past 19 years into something quite different than our humble beginnings but really it’s just the same ole’ shit n’ tricks, just put together in a different way, ha!

Noise: That’s a lot of rock! Tell me a little about some of the influences on OSS.

Dan: As far as influences go, there are so many it’s hard to choose a few artists or bands to list because others that may be just as informative to our sound will certainly be left out. I’ll do my best to sum it up without any specific name dropping etc. Our sound is definitely an amalgamation of Rock, Punk, Heavy Metal and even some jazz all thrown together but not in a overtly conscious manner. I’d also like to think we are just as much influenced by non-musical aspects of life in general than we are by certain bands or music scenes. It’s funny because it’s all relative. We’ll play some rock show and we’ll be seen as the noise guys, we’ll play a noise show and suddenly we’re the rock guys, it can be a little weird when you play on the edges of all the scenes, but we really don’t care. We just play how we play without over thinking it. We never set out to play a certain genre or find people to play with us to fit a certain aesthetic or style. I think it’s cool that Adam has his unique style that he’s developed over the last 30 years of playing drums and hopefully I’ve done the same thing with my 25 years of playing bass. Our music could certainly be considered challenging to some folks with a limited knowledge of musical history or even boring perhaps because we don’t mind vamping on riffs for extended periods of time. It can be abstract at times and very linear at others, but it’s always played with an intensity and aggression inherent in our nature.

Noise: So do your personalities come out in the music, or are they kind of lost in the thunder?

Dan: I feel our personalities bleed out of the music because we happen to be kind of intense individuals. We are friendly guys but very opinionated and not afraid to express it. When we play live we play very loud. Adam beats his drums into the ground and looks pretty scary doing it. We usually lug around what some bands would consider excessive gear but we want the bass to be really loud and a prominent feature in the music, not just to be heard but to be felt as well. We might even get psychedelic at times but definitely don’t play mellow music, even when it’s a stone cold groove, ha!

Noise: So what’s the future hold for you guys?

Dan: Like the back cover of our first release states… Olneyville Sound System: To serve to strive and not to yield!

Noise: Thank you Dan. (Check out Olneyville Sound System at a warehouse or venue near you, they will change your life forever!)

CHUBBY DRUNKS

Rita: In the old days it was much simpler. Any chubby drunk could dress up like Santa and get a part-time job at Macy’s in Downtown Crossing letting little whining brats sit on their laps and demand holiday gifts. Lolita: I resent you calling me whining and demanding. It was always you the security guards were after… Rita: Be that as it may, for our last call of the year we asked musicians who would make a good Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus or one of their elves?

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MR & MRS SANTA & ELVES

Lolita: Hey Jon, get in the holiday spirit and let us know who reminds you of St. Nick? JON BUTCHER (Jon Butcher Axis): Santa: Dan Larson (The Dan Larson Band) because Dan’s personality is larger than life and he has a laugh like a bowl full of jelly. Mrs. Santa: Christine Ohlman, the Beehive Queen,  is the perfect Mrs. Claus because she’s festive, merry, and styles tinsel and mistletoe like nobody else. The Elves: John Anthony and Chris Martin of the Axis because they get into trouble without supervision and have had questionable relationships with Rudolph, Donner and Blitzen. *** JAMES MONTGOMERY (The James Montgomery Band): Santa Claus – Short’y Billups  (also politically correct) – second place: Woody Geismann (The Del Fuegos). Mrs. Claus – I’m sticking with Holly Harris. I think David Hull (The James Montgomery Band/ Joe Perry Project/ Aerosmith) would make a good elf. I know he was very mischievous when he was younger. *** HOLLY HARRIS (Spinning the Blues WUMB):  I think Sugar Ray Norcia as Santa and Michelle Willson as Mrs. Claus. They both have great smiles, can sing like hell, separately and also make great music together that is a ‘gift’ to all of us. They sang, “You Got What it Takes,” previously and that was memorable. On Anthony Geraci’s new CD, Fifty Shades of Blue, they sing the title track and it’s killer – slightly naughty and fun. I think the Boston Blues All-Stars should be/could be the Elves. *** REV. KERRY KEEFE (Rev. Kerry Keefe & the Good News All-Stars):  Here we go, the local musician that would best play Santa would be me.  The Right Rev. Kerry Keefe. I am the same size and shape.  I’m jolly and often generous, at least with my time and talents. Besides I look good in red.  Mrs Clause… hmmm… Toni Lynn Washington comes to mind.  She would add some flavor and soul to the Santa story and she’s not afraid to belt out a spiritual or two even in blues clubs.  The elves would have to be my good friend and virtuoso drummer’s group, The Gaslight Tinkers out of the Northampton area.  They combine reggae rhythm with celtic melodies which are impossible not to dance to.  That could keep me rockin’ in the workshop till Christmas Eve. ***ALIZON LISSANCE (The Love Dogs): Santa would be Nate Dow. I have no concept of Mrs. Santa, every side person in every band would be an elf. 

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END OF THE YEAR NEWS

Lolita: Let’s see if I can track down Rita by yelling “Ho Ho Ho” so we can tell you what’s happening on the music scene. JON BUTCHER’s new CD 2 Roads East has 15 new and original songs. It should be out before Christmas. Guest artists include JOHNNY A, TOMO FUJITA and LEE SKLAR. *** Folkie ELLIS PAUL is celebrating his 24th annual New Year’s Eve show at Club Passim. He’ll also be there on December 30. Don’t miss it! *** Another great New Year’s Eve gig is at The International Golf Resort in Bolton with THE JAMES MONTGOMERY BAND and Friends. The friends include The Beehive Queen CHRISTINE OLHMAN, THE UPTOWN HORNS (The Rolling Stones and The J. Geils Band), MITCH CHAKOUR, CLIFF GOODWINN, GEORGE McCANN, DAVID HULL, and JEFF THOMPSON. *** THE CARS were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What about THE J. GEILS BAND? *** LOVEWHIP recently opened for English Beat at The Brighton Music Hall. *** SWINGING STEAKS joined Denny Laine (The Moody Blues/ Wings) onstage for a romp through Abbey Road. They did “Band On The Run” for a few gigs with him last summer in New Hampshire. *** TED DROZDOWSKI (The Scissormen) was featured in Guitar Player magazine with “Unconventional Blues – The Psychedelic Juke Joint of Ted D’s Scissormen.” *** Guitarist MIKE BIERYLO (Berklee/ x-Body Politics) back from a week in Shanghai, China, performing with colleagues at The Shanghai Electronic Music Week Festival. *** Famous local honker SAX GORDON is back from a month tour in France, Belgium, and Holland playing with European star Jarekus Singleton. *** Former DEL FUEGOS guitarist WARREN ZANES is now a Professor at NYU. He also wrote a new book – Petty: The Biography. The Del Fuegos once opened up for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in the ’80s. *** KENNY CHAMBERS has had the first official MOVING TARGETS practice with J. ARCANI and QUINN DRISCOLL.  J. bought Pat Brady’s old kit from Pat’s family. We can’t wait. *** HEATHER RICE FAHEY (The Lizzie Borden Band) sings backing vocals on 23-year-old Rhode Island singer/songwriter Aubrey Mable’s beautiful song “Blessings.” *** DUKE ROBILLARD‘s 2016 B.B. King Memorial Calendar is now available. He will even personally autograph it for you. Go to his Facebook page to order. He is successfully healing from recent shoulder surgery and MONSTER MIKE WELCH has been sitting in with his band on guitar while Duke sings. It’s been a long time since DAN ACKROYD gave little Mike Welch the nickname Monster. And Mike sounds great with keyboardist BRUCE BEARS, bassist BRAD HALLEN, and drummer MARK TEXEIRA. *** Funkster DANNY BEDROSIAN is taking time off from his gig with George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic to bring his band Secret Army to The Electric Haze in Worcester on December 17, Penuches in Manchester, N.H., on December 18, Hinge in Northampton, MA, on December 19, and Opus in Salem, MA, on December 20. *** Rock diva CASEY DESMOND opens up a few gigs for Nat’l band The Security Project with Trey Gunn of King Crimson and  Jerry Marotta of Peter Gabriel and McCartney’s bands. She will also join them onstage for a few songs. Check them out December 10 in Natick, December 11 in Fall River, December 13 in Londonderry, N.H., and December 18 in Northampton. *** THE GROWNUP NOISE has temporarily (?) transformed into the solo act of PAUL HANSEN. *** KINGSLEY FLOOD is a hard-rocking folk/punk band that it’s been said “makes you want to dance with the person standing next to you and then punch them in the face. In a totally good way.” Check out their new release The Good Fight. Bandleader Naseem Khuri writes his music about his his two cities – Boston and Washington, D.C. and you’ll love his tremelo guitar driven music. Check them out on December 3 at Cafe Nine in New Haven, CT. *** Rita: Wake up Lolita it’s time to get back to our question of the month. Lolita: I’m not sleeping. I’m just thinking about my favorite band The Dogmatics. I’m on the lookout for an upcoming show in Feb. Jerry who do you think looks good in a red suit with a white beard?

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MORE ELVES

JERRY LEHANE (The Dogmatics):  I’d have to go with Dave Unger (White Dynomite) as Santa – he’s got that look down, maybe Michelle Paulhaus (Andrea Gillis/ Other Girls) as Mrs. Claus, just because, and Pete, Jimmy and Danny O’Halloran (Dogmatics/ Black Cheers) as the elves because they are indeed elves. *** SATCH ROMANO (Pete’s Grill Blues Jam God-emperor): Ricky “King” Russell would be Santa because he has given so many guitar lessons to virtually every viable blues man in NE and continues to spread the good word of the blues with all minions and fans worldwide. Mrs. Santa is my #1 fan and friend Kathy Vassalotti who helps me spread the good word about my jams and shows at Pete’s Grille in Quincy and attends every single show! Santa’s helpers are the jammers who show up to perform over the years and the count would be in the thousands. *** JESSE VON KENMORE MAYER (Shake the Faith): Mr. & Mrs. Clause – Alvan Long and Gail Rush. Elf – Tony Savarino because he’s small, creepy and never stops working. Print that… he will laugh his ass off ’cause I called him creepy. He’s a very, very good guitar player who plays tons of sessions and gigs with lots of people. He is also Ruby Rose Fox’s lead guitar player. *** JEN D’ANGORA (Jenny Dee & the Deelinquents/ The Downbeat 5): Okay, here goes – Tad Mckitterick as Santa, because he makes kids and fans everywhere go bananas. Mrs. Claus would be Andrea Gillis, because she’s got a heart of gold and enough balls to keep everyone on track. The elves are the Petty Morals, of course, no explanation needed there! Lolita: Rita I am dragging you along with me to catch her when she sings with Chandler Travis at his Christmas Cavalcade at Johnny D’s on December 10. The Downbeat 5 also play with Tim Gearan at Atwoods on December 18.

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OUT WITH THE OLD IN WITH THE NEW

JULIANA HATFIELD and Paul Westerberg from The Replacements have formed a new band called THE I DON’T CARES. Their debut album is gonna be called Wild Stab. *** SATCH ROMANO celebrating 20 years hosting open mic nights at Pete’s Grille, in Quincy. He’s run over a thousand jam nights since 1995. He also blows the harp in his own jump blues band MIGHTY HOUSE ROCKERS and his classic rock band LICKETY SPLIT. *** Connecticut harp player JAY STOLLMAN (Debbie Davis Band) has a new CD Room For One More that has been nominated for a few blues music awards. The release is from Vizztone Label Group who’s head honcho is also legendary blues harp player ROSY ROSENBLATT from ERIN HARPE & THE DELTA SWINGERS. *** BIRDSONGS OF THE MESOZOIC played a rare gig with founding member Roger Miller’s (Mission of Burma) new group The Trinary System. *** GOV. BAKER gave JAMES MONTGOMERY a shout out on TV show On the Record(WCVB Channel 5). In a musical trivia quiz the Gov. mistakenly attributed JONATHAN RICHMAN‘s “Roadrunner” to James. Funny. *** THE KNICKERBOCKER ALL-STARS CD release is at the legendary Knickerbocker Cafe in Westerly, RI, for theirGo Back Home to the Blues. The very talented WILLIE J. LAWS sings four killer songs on it too. *** Congratulations to JERRY KLAVANS (The Fans/ Mirror Mirror) who married Shannon Farrington in November. *** MAYOR WALSH announced the selection of 11 artists for Boston’s first Artists-In-Residence program, Boston AIR, to highlight the city’s dedication to finding different ways to incorporate innovative ideas and creative thinking into the local arts and entertainment scene. Check it out and get involved! *** News from Maine – recently, pianos popped up outside in parks around Bangor for anyone’s use as part of the city’s “Artober” month-long event. Pretty cool! And plan ahead for The Winter Blues Bash on January 17 in Portland with SUGAR RAY & THE BLUETONES (with Monster Mike Welch and Anthony Geraci, Mudcat Ward, and Neil Gouvin), MIKE & THE MOJO, THE JUKE ROCKETS BLUES BAND and POKE CHOP & THE OTHER WHITE MEATS (with Ron Gill, Marc Perez, Thom Hanes and David Engel). *** MATT FARLEY has released around 1500 songs in 2015. He broke it down to his top 20 songs and believes he has the best album of the year. Find it on Spotify – Motern Media Songs. *** Drummer MIKE LAMMfrom Axminster has a rocking son SHANE who pounds for Saugus band RYSE. Their debut single “Bigger Than You & Me” is loud and full of attitude. See them on January 15 at The 3065 Live club in East Wareham, MA. *** Congratulations toLIVINGSTON and GAIL TAYLOR on Martha’s Vineyard for their recent wedding. Siblings James, Sister Kate and Hugh were all in attendance. *** MORPHINE drummer BILLY CONWAY plays Cuisine En Locale (Somerville, MA) on December 5 with CAITLIN CANTY of Vermont opening. She sings like Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris and you can also catch her at the Harwich Junior Theatre in West Harwich on December 6. *** ERIC BAYLIES (Eric Baylies Band/ The Noise) is the newest member of PETER PRESCOTT of Mission of Burma’s MINIBEAST. *** AERONAUT DOWN brings a crowd to The Middle East on Friday, December 4. *** RIGHT TURN’s annual holiday party is planned for Thursday, December 10 (5-7:30pm) at their new location in Watertown, MA (440 Arsenal St). Their weekly Artist in Recovery Meeting will follow the festivities. *** Plan ahead: The Cape Cod Resort and Convention Center in Hyannis is hosting the New England Blues Summit in May 2016. A mini-blues weekend bender with SUGAR RAY & THE BLUETONES, THE LOVE DOGS, and RACKY THOMAS are scheduled already. *** HUMMINGBIRD SYNDICATE is a new band featuring JON MACEY and LENNY SHEA (Fox Pass), MARYJAYE SIMMS, LYNN SHIPLEY, CHRIS MacLAUGHLIN, and TOM HOSTAGE. *** MARINA EVANS brings her sexy and talented style to the Cat in the Cradle Coffeehouse in Byfield, MA, on December 12. *** On that same night THE NICKEL & DIME BAND FEATURING RICK BERLIN shows off at the Midway in Jamaica Plain. *** Noise publisher, T MAX holds his CD release party for The Portal’s Rhyme: Undoing the Secret of Time at the Tavern at the End of the World in Charlestown, MA, with ERIC MARTIN (Neats) on Thursday, December 17. *** Jazzmen EITHER/ORCHESTRA celebrate their 30th anniversary at Johnny D’s on December 18. *** CHRIS SMITHER plays the Spire Center for the Performing Arts in Plymouth, MA, on Saturday, December 19. *** SHINY BEASTS  is a new band that includes members of Triple Thick, Mente, and The In Out. They’re at The Midway in Jamaica Plain, MA, on December 28. *** BONNIE SPERZEL from Wallignford, CT, is releasing her first single at the end of December. She is also busy working with harp player MARK ZARETSKY (Cobalt and The Rhythm Kings) on new music. *** THE NTH POWER with NIKKI GLASPIE on drums and NATE EDGAR on bass will be releasing Abundance at the end of December. Nikki learned how to play funk at Wally’s in The South End. She arrived as a kid and left as a woman. Nate is from the North Shore and played in John Browns Body and Dub Apocalypse. Lolita: Thinking of the apocalypse always gets me thinking about you, Rita. And since it’s the end of the year and near the end of this month’s column, let’s finish up with the final answers to our question about Santa, Mrs. Santa, and the elves.

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THE LAST WORD ON SANTA

LOUIS ST. AUGUST (Mass): Mr. & Mrs. Tom Scholz (Boston) get my vote for Santa and Mrs. Santa for they made this boy very happy a few Christmas’s ago by inviting me to appear as a special guest on the latest  BOSTON release “Life, Love & Hope”  I sing on the opening track called “Heaven on Earth”!

They are truly an amazing couple who give back to many organizations publicly and privately year round!  The elves get a shout out to all my band members in MASS as we have donated thousands of dollars each year to the Toys for Tot’s organization! *** CHRISTINE OHLMAN (Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez/ Saturday Night Live House Band):  Santa… Sal Baglio, Mrs. Santa… Grace Curran. No real reason but they look jolly! Elves… Charlie Farren and Jon Butcher of course. And I nominate Cliff Goodwin (Rebel Montez guitarist), with his silver hair and impish grin. (See Christine on the SNL yearly Christmas show on December 19). *** JON MACEY (Hummingbird Syndicate): Santa would be Mr Curt but each present would come with some sort of advice. Mrs. Claus would be Marty White. I know what you are thinking but shame on you. The elves would be me and Lynn Shipley, stealing everyone’s guitars from under their trees. *** MARIAN FERRO (Rock Under The Radar WCAC): To play Santa, I’d say Des (The Bentmen) – he’s a jolly fellow and he’s got the look that would work. I’m not sure about Mrs. Santa, maybe Erin Harpe. As for Santa’s elves, I’d say Jeremiah, Nicole and Ryan from The Devil’s Twins – they’re all quite creative and they work so well together! *** RUSS GERSHON (Either/Orchestra):  Santa and Mrs. Santa should be played by Wayne Viens and Janice, his lovely significant other. As for elves, I’m taking any six-piece or larger band that can fit into the window of the Middle East Bakery. *** HIRSH GARDNER (New England): Who I would like to see as Santa? Me! Cause all my musician friends would get free shit… guitars, drums, basses and more. Who would I like to see as Mrs. Santa… ahhhh, Angelina Jolie?! And my elves would be AJ and T Max. Talk about, “Oh look how high Santa’s sleigh is up in the sky.” Rita: Like usual, Hirsh gets the last word. Lolita: Not this time, Rita. To all our readers we wish you a happy and healthy holiday. See you next year!

R.I.P.
Richard Nolan from Third Rail.
Christine Luther from Lady Luck and Skin Tight.
Ziv Gidron from The Vinny Band.
Dan Boutchie aka Georgetown Fats
Joseph Steinberg (Elliot Easton from The Cars’ dad)

Wed Dec 16  WALTER SICKART & THE ARMY OF BROKEN TOYS + @ Once Lounge, Somerville, MA

Thur Dec 17   T MAX CD Release Party w/ ERIC MARTIN @ Tavern at the End of the World, Charlestown, MA

Fri Dec 18  SPEED FOSSIL @ Tavern at the End of the World, Charlestown, MA

Fri Dec 18  EITHER ORCHESTRA 30th Anniversary Concert, Johnny D’s, Somerville, MA

Fri Dec 18  CALIPH BIG CHIEF NEVILLE & THE DEFEASTRATORS, @ The Cantab, Cambridge, MA

Sat Dec 19  DANNY BEDROSIAN & SECRET ARMY @ Milky Way Lounge, Jamaica Plain, MA

Sun Dec 20  TROPHY WIVES + @ The Middle East, Cambridge, MA

Sun Dec 20  KEN BONFIELD & RAYMOND GONZALEZ @ Cape Ann Cinema & Stage, Gloucester, MA

Mon Dec 21  JUSTIN SILVA + @ The Midway, Jamaica Plain, MA

Sat Dec 26  ELI PAPERBOY REED + @ The Middle East – Zuzu, Cambridge MA

Sat Dec 26  THE CATBIRDS @ The Full Sail, Plymouth, MA

Sat Dec 26  SUPERHONEY reunion @ Johnny D’s, Somerville, MA

Mon Dec 28  SHINY BEASTS (members of Triple Thick, Mente, The In Out) + @ The Midway, Jamaica Plain, MA

Wed Dec 30  ELLIS PAUL @ Club Passim, Cambridge, MA

Wed Dec 30  41PROSPECT @ Grady Tavern, Manchester, CT

Thur Dec 31  CHRISTINE OHLMAN opening for JAMES MONTOMERY + @ The International Golf Course & Resort, Bolton, MA

Fri Jan 1  LOVEWHIP + @ The Middle East, Cambridge, MA

Fri Jan 1  ( 3:00pm) ALDO ABREU + @ Saunders Theatre, Cambridge, MA

Wed Jan 6  THE DUPONT BROTHERS @ Passim, Cambridge, MA

Sat Jan 9  LYNNE TAYLOR @ Cat in the Cradle Coffeehouse, Byfield, MA

Sat Jan 9  MELT + @ The Catab, Cambridge, MA

Sat Jan 16  T-BIRD BANCINI Beatles’ Help Benefit @ Saint Susanna Parish, Dedham, MA

Sat Jan 23  LOVEWHIP + @ The Midway, Jamaica Plain, MA

Sat Jan 23  RYSE @ Sammy’s, Revere, MA

Sat Jan 30  LYRES @ The Middle East, Cambridge, MA

Fri Feb 5  THE DIRTY TRUCKERS + @ The Midway, Jamaica Plain, MA

Fri Feb 5  OLD KING’S HIGHWAY opening for MONICA RIZZIO @ Me & Thee Coffeehouse, Marblehead, MA

Sat Feb 6  THE CATBIRDS @ The Full Sail, Plymouth, MA

Fri Feb 12  MELISSA FERRICK + @ Me & Thee Coffeehouse, Marblehead, MA

Thur Feb 25  WILL DAILEY @ Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA

Fri Feb 26  DEBRA COWAN + @ Me & Thee Coffeehouse, Marblehead, MA

Sat Feb 27  SETH GLIER @ Circle of Friends Coffeehouse, Franklin, MA

Sun Feb 28 (day show) CHANDLER TRAVIS PHILHARMONIC @ The Midway, Jamaica Plain, MA

Sat Mar 5  PESKY J. NIXON @ Off the Common Coffeehouse, Bridgewater, MA

Fri Mar 4  DON WHITE with CHRISTINE LAVIN @ Me & Thee Coffeehouse, Marblehead, MA

Sat Mar 19  DROPKICK MURPHYS @ Agganic Arena, Boston, MA

Sat Apr 30  41PROSPECT @ Luthier’s Co-op, Easthampton, MA

Wed Aug 3  JAMES TAYLOR @ Fenway Park, Boston, MA

GETTING FUNKY WITH DANNY BEDROSIAN

by A.J. Wachtel

Danny Bedrosian is one funky dude. From classical piano training in Lawrence, MA, as a youngster, to performing electronic dance music in arenas around the world as an adult, you’ll never catch him sitting still for a second. From George Handel to George Gershwin to George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Danny says, time to get funked up!

Noise: You were born in Lawrence, MA, and your parents were concert level classical pianists who taught at their own piano school. Your first recital was at five years old. Is there any relationship between classical music and funk? Are they similar in any way, and how are they different?

Danny Bedrosian: Classical music, thanks to my mentor (and original P-Funk keyboard whiz) Bernie Worrell, who was also classically trained, is very much a part of the things going on in the P-Funk. Bernie’s injection of classical training, and orchestral influenced music is a huge part of the P-Funk canon. Listen to things like “Aqua Boogie,” or even more obviously stated on “Opusdelite Years,” “Atmosphere,” “Let me Be,” and others in the P-funk songbook. Obviously, there is a training focus that is so important to classical music, and believe it or not, this stance of hard study is not only helpful in learning the P-Funk music due to its vast scope, but it is studied with a similar diehard frame of mind.

Noise: Your parents went to UMass/Lowell and majored in music and you attended the University of New Hampshire to be a historian of Middle Eastern studies. Were you just being an independent teenager or were you really planning on using this knowledge to further your career as an academic? Do you play any Middle Eastern instruments today and do you use anything you learned in college with your music?

Danny: Well, being Armenian, Middle Eastern studies was something I was very much at home with. I was looking to do something that was different from music, as I had already studied classical piano for 15 years straight at that point and was still continuing to do, so it was just an alternative and something I have always been passionate about.  It also pervades into my music. Much of my melodic and rhythmic foundation comes from Armenian folk music from the Middle East. I do play some Armenian folk instruments too – the Duduk, Zurna and Shvi, but I am still a novice on those amazing woodwind instruments.

Noise: When you were about 10 you became interested in jazz and r&b amidst your classical studies. What happened?

Danny: My father hipped me to a lot of cool music, like jazz, Art Tatum, Ray Charles, and even James Brown. My dad took me to my first concert when I was around that age, and it was James Brown at the Lowell Auditorium. It changed my life.

Noise: Sweet Motha’ Child, your super-funk New England band, played locally from 1997-2003. What New England acts did you like on the scene back in those days and what were your favorite and least favorite area clubs to gig at and why?

Danny: I cannot remember any other acts from that time. We were pretty self contained, being an up to 19-piece group. We were into our group big time! There were tons of dives in the Merrimack River Valley that were just garbage. Today there are a lot of great clubs that I love playing with my bands – I think it has improved vastly. Favorite venues to play back then were on-campus gigs at the colleges around New England. They always paid the best and had the best crowds.

Noise: You have worn many hats in your career including writer, producer, performer, programmer, engineer, manager, promotions, street team ringleader and recruiter, web team, art department, photographer, publicity man, radio blitz team, and music educator. Am I missing anything and is there anything you haven’t or wouldn’t do? Care to share what you did as a street team ringleader and recruiter, and while on the radio blitz team?

Danny: I continue to wear most of those hats… getting street team is just like meeting friends and supporters. Radio blitz work is just tedious but worth the work. The more one does the more they get back.

Noise: I have heard that recently you were playing in 10 bands live and working on 10-15 different studio projects. Is this busy schedule your normal work load or do you sometimes take a break?

Danny: It is my normal workload, yes. Yearly, my average is five to 15 bands, and five to 12 album releases, both with my own bands and other people’s.

Noise: Not long ago, you performed your long planned Armenian Genocide Centennial Concert in Tallahassee, Florida. A two hour tour de force with your dectet playing music spanning 3,400 years of Armenian history. Why did you need ten players and what instruments did they play? And how do you fit 3,400 years of history into two hours of music?

Danny: It was a dream come true. I liked having the ten piece, but I could have had more! It consisted of two percussionists, a guitarist, bassist, contrabass, clarinet, three female singers, and myself on grand piano and vocals. We used mostly western instruments, with the exception of the percussion. The oldest piece we did was the “Hurrian Hymn,” from 3400 years ago (the Hurrians were one of the tribes of the Armenian Highland), hence, the great year span. I also included a lecture series in the concert and a film. It was an amazing experience.

Noise: Speaking of your lecture series, what is included in a typical Danny Bedrosian discussion?

Danny: History, music, musicology, ethnomusicology, business, marketing strategies, political science – all kinds of stuff.

Noise: George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic recently released the three disc First You Gotta Shake The Gate. You have been with the band for 12 years and are featured on 19 of the 33 tracks with the following artists: George Clinton, Sly Stone, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Michael Hampton, Blackbyrd McKnight, and Soul Clap. What are your favorite songs on the CD and care to share a story about Sly Stone with my readers?

Danny: My favorite songs on the album are “If I Didn’t Love You,” “Catchin’ Boogie Fever,” “Meow Meow,” and “Boom There We Go Again,” but I like them all really. Sly Stone is a genius through and through. He has done lots of shows with us as well, even a hugely received Chicago show, where he came out with his guitar, and churned through three or four of his biggest hits. Sly is a huge influence, and I love his music.

Noise: In 2015, you are involved with many international releases – Dutch, British, Australian, Italian, and American. You are playing on albums by Gotcha, Space Bugs, Ishan Cooper, and Less-On. Am I missing anything?

Danny: Also the Metropolis Live album we released in the UK at the famous Metropolis Studio. That’s with P-Funk.

Noise: On your last global tour with George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic you covered four continents, 14 nations, and most of the U.S. How are American audiences similar and different from crowds in Europe and around the world?

Danny: American audiences take their American music a bit more for granted, but I am hoping that will change.

Noise: I know you toured South America and did a gig on The Island of Le Reunion in the middle of the Indian Ocean. What was that show like and is it the strangest place you’ve ever played? Do they get funked up in the middle of nowhere?

Danny: Le Reunion is technically part of Africa. It was the most out there place I have ever been, but it was beautiful and the people were awesome.

Noise:  You’ve also played at one of the inaugural balls in Washington, D.C., for President Obama. Did the Leader of the Free World and the First Lady get up and dance or did they just chat at the White House dinner table while you were onstage?

Danny: Not sure. That day was a whirlwind.

Noise: You’ve released your 11th album this year, The Clock. Is this new music from your own band Secret Army or is this a solo project? Can you tell us a bit about it? What songs should listeners really check out?

Danny: It’s a solo project, me delving into the electronic funk I have been playing with for years. It’s kind of an electronic album with acoustic percussion and piano added to the synth madness. It has influence from everything from doo-wop, to neo-soul, to video game music, of course p-funk, Armenian music, r&b and hip hop and much more.

Noise: Any advice to young artists trying to get their music heard in these tough times?

Danny: Now is the time more than ever to collect money on your music digitally and physically, and to own all your own output. Now is the time.

Danny Bedrosian & Secret Army are playing live at The Milky Way Lounge in Jamaica Plain on Saturday, December 19, and at OPUS in Salem, MA, on Sunday December 20.

http://www.dannybedrosian.com/

THREE DAY THRESHOLD & FRIENDS

The Santa Versus Godzilla Project: 12 Songs of Christmas

19 tracks

My name may appear on track six but I won’t let that get in the way of an honest review for a project designed to raise money for the Greater Boston Food Bank.

If Johnny Cash and Ray Davies (The Kinks) had ever been locked up in Santa’s workshop I’m sure they would have ended up with something similar to this collection of Christmas songs. Mandy Byrnes opens the proceedings with her friendly, star-quality voice cuddling up next to hubby Kier Byrnes (the juggernaut of Three Day Threshold) on the classic duet “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” It’s a great way to set the bar for 3DT’s many “Friends”–more commonly known as Boston music notables.  You’ve got Max Heinegg going Frank Sinatra on “Have Yourself a Merry Christmas,” Lyle Brewer chicken pickin’ on “To Mrs. Clause From Santa,” Evan Garvy visiting Mardi Gras on “Santa’s at the Second Line,” and Anita Suhanin and Kevin Rose rocking the nobility in “We Three Kings.” The title track has an arrangement that sounds like it could have been included in The Kink’s Preservation rock opera. “New Elf in the Family” drives like a Bruce Springsteen rocker and is a personal message from Kier and Mandy who now have two young fun kids. You get this and more on the first 12 tracks. The next seven tracks are pure bonus with guest appearances by members of Comanchero, The Whiskey Boys, Joe Pleiman of Summer Villians, and Devin Byrnes wrapping this present up with an artistic reading of “The Night Before Christmas” backed by a hypnotic bass and drums with spacy sound effects and clips from It’s a Wonderful Life.

I saved my favorite for last – track 8 “Dominic the Donkey” – it features Jay DiBiasso (guitar/vocals) and has a playful sick polka feel with a big crowd of wild voices having a wonderful time with “hee-haws” and a catchy chorus of many “la la las.” It leaves me with a big smile after every listen. What more can you ask for? Go on Three Day Threshold’s Bandcamp site to make a deposit in the Greater Boston Food Bank and be rewarded with a collection of songs that will trim your Christmases for many years to come.  (T Max)

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NRBQ   

Clang!
Christmas Wish—Deluxe Edition

19 tracks
As proud owner of the band’s self-titled 1969 Columbia debut, I’m well aware of how much irreverent fun NRBQ can summon up, and as a big fan of such, I was all over this release like white on rice. It’s essentially a CD version of their 1986 Mini-LP on Rounder, and the tracks from the original album are the strongest: picture Brian Wilson producing and arranging Randy Newman and you get a bit of their flavor. This update has ten new live and studio sides attached. Some are snippets, and other full-blown, um, versions—like, dig the instrumental take of “Christmas Wish” and the twisted cover of that good ole Charlie Brown Xmas fave, and the anomic scorching of poor old Mel Torme’s “chestnuts roasting on an open fire.” Who will this record bug? Superannuated grandfolk who expect croony goop to continually exude from their creaky hi-fis come Yuletide. Headbangers, goths, and sick babies who instinctively fear anything with whimsical texture and/or jazzy chops. Gloomy fundamentalists who are convinced that anything mostly secular is a Mephistophelean passport to hellfire. Who will it delight? Nearly everybody else in the world, I would hope. (Francis DiMenno)

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VARIOUS ARTISTS

Sonic Trout

Another Christmas Gift For You

21 tracks

As someone who hates Christmas, and REALLY hates Christmas music, this is a perversely enjoyable surprise. Sonic Trout are label-hosts mainly to Chandler Travis Philharmonic and The Incredible Casuals, but many a furry friend and oddball offshoot are featured here to stellar effect. The main reasons it works so well are, A) the songs which DO mention Christmas are great enough on their own that the context is completely negligible, whereas B) the unavoidably thematic ones are so charmingly fucked that you could never, say, play them at the office holiday party without getting fired (Rikki & Johnny’s cordially alien “Sleigh Ride,” among others). In these instances alone, you’re getting significantly toasted entertainment which never condescends, yet which works beautifully if you ever got the actual seasonal itch for some reason, and yet AGAIN, would sound great any time o’ year regardless. How many NON-Christmas records can you say all that about? And yet, aside from some masterful power-pop, there are drippingly surreal jazz warps, perfectly lovely little choral treatments, waltzes with accordions, and a number of things no one’s ever tried before. My only beef is the three minutes of silence two-thirds in for no good reason. Otherwise, a swell thing that’ll sound just as good in July, which I guess makes it a pretty good Christmas present after all.   (Joe Coughlin)

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THE WEISSTRONAUTS 

StereOrrific

I’m Dreaming of The Weisstronauts’ Christmas

5 tracks

Pete Weiss rounds up the cowboys (and gals), takes ’em surfin’ in December, and ends up with this rightly styled circle o’ plastic, just the right size for a Christmas present.  Light a fire and kick back to the surf-country feel of  “Jingle Bells.”  If you want to get up for some swing dancin’, try “Nuthin’ Comin’ Good This Christmas.” But if that tuckers you out, kick off yer spurs and lie back down in front of the fire for “Silent Night, ” and make note of what those children want for Christmas. Remind them what the holiday is really  about—“Sweet Baby Jesus”—a tune with a nice ’60s pop progression (like the Beatles’ “Eight Days A Week”) that breaks down into a rambling vocal jam and ends with sweet harmonies.  We go live into a club for the final holiday party, where Mel Weiss remembers to put the Santa back in Christmas (“Santa Baby”).  So who is the real baby of Christmas—Jesus or Santa?  And can you really hang 10 if you’ve got cowboy boots on? This disc won’t help you decide—but when you hear someone yell  “surf’s up” in December, remove yer spurs…  and sing along.   (T Max)

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BOSTON POPS ORCHESTRA

A Boston Pops Christmas, Live from Symphony Hall

14 tracks

Compiled from their holiday shows over the last two years, the Pops’ newest holiday CD is a bonanza of Yuletide spirit. The Boston Pops, led by Keith Lockhart, are world class musicians and their virtuosity make these holiday songs shine as bright as Rudolph’s nose. The Pops kick it off with a bang, rifling through holiday classics like “Carol of the Bell” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Also included is the Pops’ signature holiday tune, “Sleigh Ride”; a song that they helped make famous in 1948 with Leroy Anderson. My favorite tracks include the Pops version of 12 Days of Christmas, where they cleverly mix in melodies from other songs, like “All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth” for the second day of Christmas and “We Three Kings for the third day of Christmas.  The Pops rendition of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” narrated by Will LeBow, will warm the hearts of children ages one to ninety-two. They end the cd like they end their shows; with a sing along of holiday staples like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Jingle Bells.” I know what I’m asking for this Christmas. (Kier Byrnes)

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TOTARO

Spank Dawg

Christmas Carols

12 tracks

This is a Christmas CD. Can it get any worse? Why am I listening to this? OUCH!!!! MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!! They fucken’ hurt now!  I am starting to feel sick—I feel as if I am slipping away. I was once normal but now I fade in and out of normalcy and recently things have gotten worse. I don’t sleep anymore. I have given up on sleeping because it’s a waste of time and because I just lie there thinking about the end of the world and how we on a downward spiral. Not taken over by Zombies but by the very wealthy whose ideals are completely demented and distorted sort of like these Christmas songs. It was the Christians who have caused ninety percent of the earth’s catastrophes and mass murders so I don’t want to sing or listen to any of their songs. Soon they will take over the planet and make everyone dress like Ronald Reagan, believe in a false idol and follow a restrictive set of laws. Good luck to us all. (Leonid)

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THE BLACKSTONE VALLEY SINNERS

Valley Records

The Cold Hard Truth About Christmas

12 tracks

Most Christmas albums are take-it-or-leave it affairs, strictly for seasonal listening, but this one is an exception. At its best, this Rich Gilbert-fronted and Pete Weiss produced collection is a shit-kicking, yodel-happy, steel-guitar slathered romp, with at least one brand-new certified bonafide Yule-or-anytime classic, “Katie Dang,” evocative of a cross between the Notorious Byrd Brothers LP and Pure Prairie League’s “Amie.” And “Song of the Desert” is at least the spiritual step-son of Hank Williams’ “Kaw-Liga.”  Not all of this CD works as well, but tell me this: is it possible that the western swing stylings of “Jingle Bell Rock” aren’t to your taste? Could it be that the well-nigh irresistible 1950s Doris Day ska rendition of “Mary’s Boy Child” doesn’t tickle your innards? And does the mind roasting rockin’ 48-second intro to “Feliz Navidad” leave you cold?  Then all I can say to you, my friend, is this: bah, humbug.             (Francis DiMenno)

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VARIOUS ARTISTS

Greetings From Music Lane

4 tracks

This Christmas CD features a variety of artists collaborating on reinterpretations of Christmas songs.  SuperPower covers “White Christmas” decently as a lo-fi punk number.  Jose Ramos with Howard Teasley presents a bluesy “Merry Xmas, Baby.”  Apart from a quick and random insertion of “hey baby come over here” in Spanish and a cheerful send-off at the end as well, the song isn’t of much interest.  Daisycutter, which appears twice with several guests, gives a funny technopop take of “Santa Claus” (the one where he “comes to town”).  Their techno/goth/metal version of “Silent Night” steals the show hands down.  It almost makes me want to go to church.  Almost.  Now I have to go listen to Cradle of Filth.  Merry Walpurgisnacht!  (Z)

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BLEU (with lots of guest stars)   

Maid

Bing Bang Holidang

10 tracks

Bleu has put together an entire 10-song Christmas album featuring reinvented standards along with a handful of original seasonal tunes. Packed with an impressive cast of Boston-bred celebrity cameos (Dicky Barrett, Bill Janovitz, Kay Hanley, Jason Kendall, Mary Lou Lord, Jed Parish, and Ramona Silver, to name a few) and a worthy charity’s cause, Bleu has managed to produce a record as musically diverse as it is timely.
Bleu combines a stylistic range reminiscent of Beck with the kitsch of sugar-voiced crooner Bing Crosby. His studio skill evident in the record’s varied and individually strong instrument and vocal sounds, Bleu also proves himself adept in modern dance beats and production. This is particularly noteworthy in his version of “Jingle Bells” which features an old Andrews Sisters vocal sample over a house beat.
Also worth mentioning is “The Twelve Days Of Christmas,” which features the majority of the record’s cameo appearances. Bleu has each singer interpret their “day” over music representing the band’s style and frequently uses the band name. The song is played as a bluesy rocker and stretches on too long, but such is its nature. There are a few lackluster cameos, but simply put, the song separated the singers from the vocalists. Holistically, it gets an A for effort. Personally, my choice for the hit on this record is the original “Snow Day.” An up-tempo pop song in the style of earlier Elvis Costello, it has a big hook and the added push of a chorus reinforced by a mob of kids screaming.
Bing Bang Holidang begins and ends with Bleu’s tribute to Bing Crosby, adding his own cleverly effected vocals over sampled big band music and electronic beats. Crossing genres throughout the record, Bleu proves himself an intelligent and well-rounded musician. All proceeds go to the Boston Institute for Arts Therapy, a local charity that provides therapy to mentally handicapped kids, abandoned children, teenage mothers, and others.                           (Danimal)

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PAULA KELLEY & THE MISFIT TOYS

Why Christmas? (the longest day of the year)

3 tracks

Paula Kelley writes some of the slickest pop songs you’ll ever hear. On this adorable slice of holiday heaven, the honey voiced chanteuse offers up “Why Christmas (the longest day of the year),” an original Christmas song as sweet and addictive as candy kisses. This tribute to holiday insanity is worthy of any Phil Spector jewel as delivered by any ’60s girl group, and the message is as wonderfully Scrooge-ish as The Waitresses’ staple, “Christmas Wrapping.” On the chorus, Paula is joined by The Misfit Toys, a talented mob that includes Aaron Tap, Lisa McColgan, Corin Ashley, Linda Bean, and Ad Frank. Also check out the faithful rendition of “Blue Christmas,” and an unlisted bonus track: the Misfit Toys’ all-humming version of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” speckled with boozy-sounding flubs and giggles. It ends with Paula saying “Should we try to get it right or not?” and somebody yelling, “Shut up, what do you mean!?”  Pure fun!  (Lexi)

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VARIOUS ARTISTS

Gulcher Records

Xmas Snertz – Have a Very Gulcher Christmas

16 tracks

This eclectic Christmas Sampler from Gulcher Records contains four songs of local interest.  Mach Bell (of Thundertrain and Joe Perry Project fame, and more recently of Mach V) contributes the very entertaining “C’mon Santa.”  Bell earns his surname by beating his cowbell throughout this track, and also adds some harmonica.  But it’s his voice that really puts this one over the top – a voice that conjures an image somewhere between the little boy on Santa’s lap and the lecherous old man trying to get little girls to sit in his lap.  Musically, the song is a one riff rip-off of Van Morrison’s “Gloria,” and Bell’s lyrical list of Christmas wishes is as much a tribute to ’50s and ’60s pop culture as it is to Christmas.  Kenne Highland & His Vatican Sex Kittens contribute the raunchy “Can I Please Crawl Down Your Chimney?”, in which we find Mr. Highland doing his finest Iggy Pop imitation.  Stanton Park Records mogul Aram Heller contributes a spine melting guitar solo, while Carl Biancucc and the rest of the Sex Kittens provide a gritty but solid foundation.  Highland also lends his vocal chords to The Korps, led by Ken Kaiser, who sings “The Blizzard of ’78” in a style that makes me think of Jonathan Richman hooking up with ShaNaNa.  Kaiser’s band, X-Ray Tango close out the collection with a surf-guitar instrumental version of “We Three Kings of Orient Are.”  Not necessarily guaranteed to put you in the holiday spirit, this collection is a lot of fun in any event. (Brian Mosher)

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VARIOUS ARTISTS

Q Division Records

Viva Noel—A Q Division Christmas

15 tracks

Q Division has built itself up as one of Boston’s best record labels and recording studios. A Q Division Christmas, a holiday collection assembled in 1999, was their first foray into the world of compilations. On the first track Jen Trynin gracefully tackles the old chestnut, “The Christmas Song” making it her own with a unique voice that adds a new edge to the song. With “2000 Miles,” Merrie Amsterburg accompanies her amazing vocals with mandolins that help create a dreamy soundscape to a song that was also done by The Pretenders. You can hear the longing in her voice when she sings, “The snow is falling down/ It’s colder day by day/ I miss you/ I can hear people singing/ It must be Christmas time.” By covering the Elvis staple, “Blue Christmas,” The Gentlemen have big balls but get credit for not attempting to copy the King’s version. Lead singer, Mike Gent does a sarcastic deadpan vocal take and even though he’s a bit plodding, he creates his own unique take on the song. Singer Brian Stevens (Cavedogs) brings good feelings on “The Christmas Waltz/ Tinsel (Medley),” with a waltzing melody that recalls a night of spiked eggnog and embarrassing dance moves. The Sheila Divine offer up a smooth version of “O Holy Night” that at times is boringly true to the standard with only a few instances of actually picking up a bit of steam. Local legend Aimee Mann performs the second version of “The Christmas Song” on the CD and manages not to create overkill. Ms. Mann’s version has a nice jazz feel to it. Creating a kooky edge to the CD, The Gravel Pit playfully cover “Marshmallow World,” a Phil Spector-era nugget with a great big kick and spin.  You’ll want to run down the street proclaiming the joys of Christmas, oh it is indeed a wonderful life!  The CD closes with The Gravy contributing easily the strangest addition with “Mele Kalikimaka.” Lead singer Todd Spahr goes into his alter ego Fatty Pineapple for an eccentric version of “The Hawaiian Christmas Song.” This would not be out of place on Dr. Demento’s radio show. On an honorable note, all proceeds from the sale of the CD are going to the Mark Sandman Music Education Fund. For more information on the fund go to www.morphine3.com. With great music and a good cause, it’s another quality release from Q Division Records and an important holiday addition to your CD collection.   (Simon Cantlon)

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THE SHOWCASE SHOWDOWN

TaRio Records

“Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh” b/w “Merry Christmas, I Fucked Your Snowman”

2 tracks on red 7” vinyl

Since I recorded the songs  (“Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh” and “Merry Christmas, I Fucked Your Snowman”) at Straighjacket Sound Studios in Allston, I probably can’t do an unbiased “real review” of the record without going on and on about how great the engineer is (ME) and how FUN the band was to record. It was cut raw, live, and fast. Vocal crooner Ping Pong overdubbed sleigh bells (that lock-groove loop at the end of the record) after the guitar, bass, drums were laid down by band members: Cloherty, Victoria, and Chez Nips. Although most of the bands I recorded back then were way heavier and weirder, there was just something about the kooky pop punk of The Showcase Showdown that was lovable. The record was released in time for Christmas 1995 on 7-inch 45 rpm red vinyl record (TaRio Records). I am mostly a Scrooge, but whenever I see a snowman, I just grin and hum the chorus… “Merry Christmas, I fucked your snowman”—but since the actual verse lyrics are pretty tame, I suggest you add your own x-rated ones.  (Bill T Miller)

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VARIOUS ARTISTS

Volunteer Records

Ho Ho Ho Spice

40 tracks on two CDs

Christmas compilations, especially those whose proceeds go to charity, tend to be spotty, at best: Lots of songs, only a few worth a first listen.  The Del Fuegos track “That Punchbowl Full of Joy,” is fun, but with the list of bands on this CD consisting of such worth while notables as the dB’s, Klark Kent, and NRBQ, I’m surprised Volunteer Records couldn’t find anyone aroud Boston more currently buzzworthy. But, then again, it is a Christmas compilation for a charitable cause. Some songs are cool, but most of them are forgettable throwaways. So if you like hospice care and dig the Del Fuegos, go for it.  (Joel Simches)