Boston Rock Photos And Stuff
Sometimes the obvious choice is the right choice. The Blizzard Of 78 played at MixTape 1978.
The hot one is coming!
The MixTape series has a history of turning out one-off groups. Corvette Somerville is one such band. This band was as tricked out as the vehicle in the movie they punned their name from.
Oh yeah, any event that ends with Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” is OK by me.*
* Like my wedding.
Cheap Trick, Player, The Who, Gerry Rafferty… Thick As Thieves present the hits of 1978!
Oh, the fun that is the MixTape series. These guys covered a wide range of ’70s styles with a little help from Oranjuly’s Brian King. The hits just kept on coming. For a rousing rendition of the Toto classic, “Hold The Line”, the band was joined by, you guessed it, Davina Yannetty…
Davina Yannetty was all over MixTape 1978. You may have just seen her jump up on stage with Nate Rogers to sing some harmony vocals. You may yet see her spontaneously join Thick As Thieves for a killer rendition of Toto’s “Hold The Line”. For now, here she is performing solo with her ukulele (and wah-wah pedal), you know, except for when she was joined by Josh Pickering on “Stayin’ Alive”. It’s all so complicated.
Hey! Here’s a little thing I learned from Davina Yannetty at MixTape 1978: You can do an amazing cover of “Renegade” by Styx with just vocals and ukulele.*
* Well, I don’t know if you can, but Davina can.
The Dirty Truckers
Washed & Ready
2006
Washed & Ready is another batch of gritty rock n’ roll tunes from The Dirty Truckers. Tom Baker is still at the wheel, but the rest of his crew has changed. Dave Foy replaces Jim Delios behind the drums and Tad Overbaugh joins in on guitar. Most importantly, long time ‘Trucker Jamie Griffith makes his debut on bass.
Tom still draws from the well of The Replacements on songs like “Off The Hook”, “Without A Sound” and “All She Ever Wanted,” but the songs are catchier this time around. “Heavy Metal Weekend” begs for a crowd sing-along (and gets it during live performances). The ‘90s indie rock influences that occasionally popped up on Bush League Romance are gone, replaced by a more straight up rock & roll feel. It’s a revved-up romp in the vein of The Rolling Stones (“Not Missing A Thing”) and Tom Petty (“Cunnin’”).
Like their debut album, Washed & Ready features two cover tunes. “Help You Ann” (Lyres) is solid and energetic. The album closer, Nick Lowe’s “Ragin Eyes”, features a fantastic harmonica solo by Jed Parish (The Gravel Pit).
Six years is a long time between albums. Thankfully Washed & Ready delivers more of what you would expect from The Dirty Truckers.
Where to get it:
Nate Rogers is the mastermind behind the Boston Band Crush MixTape series. For MixTape 1978, he decided to have a few MixTape veterans open the night with short acoustic sets.* Nate himself even got up on the newly carpeted Rosebud stage to perform Billy Joel’s “My Life” and Clapton’s “Lay Down Sally”. Davina Yanetty, another MixTape alumnus, jumped up to sing harmonies… for the entire set. She does that.
Kudos to the bearded one for putting together a fun night in the rock n’ roll time machine.
Full Disclosure: Nicole Anguish of Daykamp Creative did the bitchin’ poster for this show. Check it out here.
* Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the fine sets by MacKenzie and Stu of This Blue Heaven or Dave Mirabella of The Rationales. Rest assured, they were most enjoyable.
Bo Barringer and Rachel Arnold are mesmerizing together. Their set at P.A.’s was dark and beautifully textured.
Jonny Pape took to the P.A.’s stage with his guitar, a ukulele, a Fender Deluxe Reverb and his highly personal songs.
Phil Wisdom performed the songs of his band, Butterknife, at P.A.’s Lounge. He also mixed in a couple of covers with cool arrangements. Nice.
Ryan Lee Crosby
“The War”
2011
Ryan Lee Crosby has released a couple of singles recently. His latest, “The War”, absolutely smokes.
Ryan Lee Crosby’s work has always been raw and visceral. Rarely is it this combustible. The lyrics are perfectly matched to the late-’60s protest anthem feel. Nicholas Ward (bass) and Kevin Micka (drums) cause a dust-up while Elio DeLuca pounds away on a Fender Rhodes. It’s quite the groove they’ve got going on. Throughout it all Ryan lets the guitar solos fly.
“The War” is a fantastic racket.
Where to get it:
