Sidewalk Driver @ Brighton Music Hall 12.14.2012

When Boston Band Crush puts on a Holiday Spectacular, Sidewalk Driver is going to be involved. That’s a given. The fact that this was the last show to be presented by the beloved music blog made their appearance all the more fitting. There was a lot of love in the room. There were inflatable unicorns in the room, too. Those poor inflatable unicorns.

Richard Bouchard was “dragged” on stage during “Dancing With Her Friends.” The joy of the moment was palpable. These are the moments we need to hold on to.

Davina Yannetty & Phil Wisdom @ Radio 10.13.2012

After camping out at Radio for the two night Bands For Babs benefit, we made it back to our home away from home just in time to catch the very end of Davina and Phil’s set to open the club’s first anniversary show. I’m a huge fan of both Davina Yannetty and Phil Wisdom on their own. The fact that they enjoy doing sets together is A-ok in my book.

Sidewalk Driver @ T.T. The Bear’s Place 7.27.2012

A couple of weeks ago, we presented a show at TT’s with our good friends over at Boston Band Crush. Sidewalk Driver was on the bill. I may have posted some pictures of these guys before. I kinda sorta like ’em a little bit. They’ve got these songs. Really cool songs. Songs about magnets and Tad’s face. And they play the hell out of ’em. They do all that while blowing confetti all over the friggin’ place.

One of my favorite things about a Sidewalk Driver show is telling my boys about it the next morning. As I was describing this particular show, Big Little One suspected I may be embellishing the tale a bit.

“You’re teasing.”

I assured him I wasn’t, although I understood his skepticism. It all sounded to fantastic to be true. It was too much for his six-year-old brain to process. I paused a minute to let him take it all in.

Then I told him about the parachute…

Brendan Boogie @ Moe’s Lounge 3.30.2012

Brendan Boogie brought his new, as-yet-unnamed band down into Moe’s Lounge to show off some new tunes and scrape his knuckles on the ceiling. OK, the second part may not have been intentional.

The Rationales @ Radio 10.7.2011

The Rationales were the first band to grace the stage of Radio, Somerville’s newest rock club. This honor was not lost on them. The band treated the ever-growing crowd to a tight set of Americana-tinged power pop. The band was even moved to debut a new song. It’s called “Radio”. Nice touch.

Sidewalk Driver @ Brighton Music Hall 10.1.2011

I love Sidewalk Driver. I imagine, though, that there are some people out there that hate Sidewalk Diver. Really hate them. That’s the way these things work, right? For every person out there that loves yogurt, there is someone who thinks it tastes like the disgusting thing it is: A dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. Think about that the next time you go to eat yogurt.

I thought it might be fun to play devil’s advocate to my usual Sidewalk Driver-loving self. The problem is, everything I thought of as my alter ego just made Sidewalk Driver sound more awesome. It was an exercise in futility. I mean, telling someone to avoid a band because they have a song about the singer potentially dispensing of his man-parts* to get in good with a girl who may or may not be into said man-parts is like telling a 5 year old boy to put the bug down so he doesn’t squish it. It ain’t gonna happen.

So, I guess it’s OK to listen to and enjoy the music of Sidewalk Driver.** Why not check out their fantastic record, For All The Boys And Girls? But whatever you do, don’t go to their live shows. You might get covered in confetti.

* Be it by scissors or knife.

** I suppose there are still people out there that don’t like Sidewalk Driver. I’m content not to be one of them. I still don’t like yogurt, though.

BatmanHalen @ The Middle East Downstairs 9.24.2011

BatmanHalen. The first act of One Night Band 3, the annual musician melting pot event put on by Boston Band Crush. The first band to make me truly wonder what may have been going on between Batman and Robin.

I had the honor of taking the band’s official press photo earlier in the day. Seeing John Colvert, Davina Yannetty, LoWreck, Jesse Sherman and Sarah Rabdau return that evening with three brand new songs (and a cover, of course) was pretty cool…