New Villager @ Radio 11.3.2011

Let’s get one quick thing clear. This New Villager is the brainchild of Caleb Cliff, not NewVillager, the San Fran meets New York multimedia artists. Got it? OK.

Now… Caleb and his friends opened a benefit show for The Boston Initiative to Advance Human Rights to an enthusiastic crowd. His nylon string guitar gave way to a full band setup with laptop support without missing a beat.*

* In fact, it added some beats. A dance number was played during the switchover.

Bikini Whale as The B-52s @ Radio 10.28.2011

Holy mackerel! Bikini Whale were AMAZING!

I’m not going to pretend to be some diehard B-52s fan. I like some of their stuff, but I don’t think about or listen to them often. That may change. Bikini Whale were that good. So much fun.

With any luck, these guys and gals will reconsider the one-off nature of this gig. I’d love to change all of those “were”s to “are”s.

Louder My Dear as INXS @ Radio 10.28.2011

Halloween at Radio continues with Louder My Dear busting out INXS songs and campy Australian accents. A vocal minority wanted to hear “Devil Inside”. I think Louder My Dear was happy to leave the “devil” songs to Mötley Böö.

Gondoliers as Mötley Böö @ Radio 10.28.2011

Gondoliers performed as Mötley Crüe, I mean Mötley Böö. Their set that was as much performance art as it was musical tribute, complete with fade outs and a cameo from an overdosing Nikki Sixx vomiting oatmeal.

Plume @ The Cantab Lounge 10.21.2011

The sounds of Plume’s prog/psych blend swirled around the basement of The Cantab as I snapped a few photos.

The Dirty Truckers @ Radio 10.8.2011

Nicole Tammaro once commented: “Dirty Truckers shows are fun. Everybody plays. Everybody gets up on stage.”

The Dirty Truckers show at Radio was fun. Everybody played. Everybody got on stage.

Watts @ Radio 10.8.2011

Watts was the seventh band to play at Radio. When they performed their song “Radio”, they became the fourth band to perform a song with the club’s name in the title.

I posted this little tidbit on Facebook.* The next day I saw a comment from Wattsman Dan Kopko asking “Yes, but how many of those bands have a song entitled ‘Radio’?” I informed him that the answer to his inquiry was three.** Everybody chuckled.

This has to be some kind of good omen for the club.***

* Hey! Did you know that Daykamp Music has a Facebook page? Go like it. I’ll wait here.

** Sidewalk Driver, The Rationales and, of course, Watts all played their own songs called “Radio”. AM Stereo played their song “Southern Rock Radio”. Unfortunately, no one covered Elvis Costello.

*** And/or clever booking by Ashley Willard.

AM Stereo @ Radio 10.8.2011

*AM Stereo are criminally underrated. Their sound is cut from the same cloth as The Replacements, but ends up coming off more like Superdrag meets Superchunk. Superdrunk, if you will. Just listen to the songs. “Drink Club”, “Money Store”, “The Company Line”… damn, there are so many great ones. They’ve got meaning and still manage to knock you silly. I love these guys.

Oh, they also played their song “Southern Rock Radio”, making them the third act in Radio’s young history to play a song with the club’s name in the title. Remember this when we talk about Watts’ set from this night…

* Purveyors of Boston’s finest disaster rock since 1998.