Rita & Lolita

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