Walter Sickert And The Army Of Broken Toys @ Brighton Music Hall 10.31.2012

Walter Sickert And The Army Of Broken Toys turned Brighton Music Hall into their own personal SquidHouse Of Horror for Halloween. The night featured a wild menagerie of music, burlesque and dark humor, capped off by Walter and the gang delivering a healthy dose of all three.

Walter Sickert And The Army Of Broken Toys @ Brighton Music Hall 3.16.2012

Walter Sickert and his traveling band of SteamCrunk gypsies make their way to the stage. It has already been an eclectic and memorable evening. Black Thai overpowered us with their thunderous roll. Sidewalk Driver made us a sandwich. Planetoid tried to power their spaceship with our souls and/or melt our faces — which is a better fate than Mary Widow and her seductress companions wished upon us. Now we’re being tipped on end by sights and sounds as varied as the night is long. The Army Of Broken Toys are putting their musical and physical wares on display in an attempt to bring the crowd under their spell. We tumble along, once again avoiding the grasp of Mary Widow as “Ghostbusters” rings through the rafters…

Brian King @ Radio 12.10.2011

Who’s that all decked out like a scruffy Bret Michaels? Why, that’s Brian King of What Time Is It, Mr. Fox?

Backed at times by various members of The Brendan Burns Instrumental Heptad, Mr. King tore down the hits of 1988. His rendition of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” prompted the first sing-along of the night, with Nate Rogers and Rod Van Stoli jumping in on the action.

The Brendan Burns Instrumental Heptad @ Radio 12.10.2011

Nate Rogers, king of the MixTape series, originally billed this ensemble as The Brendan Burns Instrumental Quartet. As it turned out, there were seven players involved. Quick thinker that he is, Nate re-dubbed them The Brendan Burns Instrumental Heptad. I probably would have gone with the more obvious Brendan Burns Instrumental Septet.* Whatever the name, this group of talented players gave their own unique twist to the songs of 1988.

* Upon further review, The Brendan Burns Instrumental Heptad is way cooler.

Wagon Battle @ The Middle East Downstairs 9.24.2011

Wagon Battle. One Night Band. Pioneercore.

We saw John Brookhouse, Chrissy Vaccaro, Danny McNair, T.J.Horn and Mary Flatley circling the wagons. They were tight. They were aggressive. They covered The Misfits (sort of). They took no prisoners. To top it all off, John Brookhouse let loose with an absolutely jaw dropping solo on their final song. No one was left standing. Wagon Battle killed.