Boston Rock Photos And Stuff
The Modifiers banged out a set of no-frills rock in front of an appreciative crowd at The Rosebud. No impending hurricane was going to put a damper on these festivities. Good times.
Reverse. Wait. The Mighty Reverse.
Reverse is, without question, one of my favorite bands. Their song “Victoria” is the most played song in my iTunes library.* Their latest record, Monkey Mind, took about a bazillion years to record. It was worth the wait.
As much as I love their recorded material, Reverse is a live band. That should be obvious; any band with Mike Piehl on drums is a live band. The man is a groove monster. Throw in the unflappable Mike Quinn on bass and you’ve got a killer rhythm section for Ian Kennedy to torture his telecaster over. Seriously, how does he make a telecaster sound like that? Ian and Mike also have great complimentary voices. Reverse is amazing.
OK. Enough. You get it.
* I just did the math. “Victoria” was played exactly 50% more than the next most played song in my iTunes library.** The song is that good. Also, I’m not claiming that I’ve heard this particular Reverse song more than any other. I listen to music on vinyl, cd, cassette and blah blah blah as well. Not to mention all of the music I listened to before I digitized everything many years ago. I’m pretty sure the song I’ve heard the most in my life would either be a hair metal song or something by Barry Manilow.
**The next most played song is “Go Easy Now” by The Hellacopters. In reality, the play count difference is much smaller than it would appear, as the By The Grace Of God album played nonstop in my car for at least 6 months when I first got it.
Members of OldJack* closed out the release party for the new Nate Leavitt EP, Inference. Nate himself even got up and played a few songs with the band. To start their set, Dan Nicklin, Ryan Peters and Derek Feeney played several numbers that OldJack are currently working on in the studio. Then they busted out some familiar favorites with a few of their past collaborators. Ryan Spaulding, of Ryan’s Smashing Life, even got in on the action. It was loose, fun and a fitting way to end the night.
* I wont lie. I debated long and hard about what to title this post. Calling this an “OldJack” show isn’t completely accurate, despite members of the band doing songs by the band. However, “Dan Nicklin, Ryan Peters, Derek Feeney (For The Majority Of The Time) And Assorted Former OldJack Collaborators @ The Rosebud 8.25.2011” seemed a bit obnoxious.
Meet Tad & Kate: Two huggable, lovable musicians that sing songs for the whole family in perfect two part harmony. You know, if your family is into songs about plane crashes, kidnapping, hobos, karaoke superstars and exhuming celebrity corpses. But then, whose isn’t?
Let’s face it, I knew this was going to be good before I even walked into The Rosebud. I’ve seen enough of Tad and Kate in Sidewalk Driver to know they weren’t going to half-ass this thing. They didn’t. It was great. I can’t wait to see them again. That’s it.
Nate Leavitt celebrated the release of Inference, his new EP, with a fantastic night of music at The Rosebud. It was a multi-set affair for Mr. Leavitt, his guitar and his harmonica. He was even joined by Dan Nicklin of OldJack for a couple of songs.*
*Nate returned the favor by performing with the members of OldJack. More on that later…
You know all of those photos I’ve been posting all week of Space Balloons, The Bella Birds and Craig Robertson? None of them would be up here without the hard work of Davina Yannetty.
Davina is the woman behind the Uke-Arist series. She’s a powerhouse vocalist and a ukulele assassin (oh, and a killer piano player). She performs covers and her own material with equal passion and wit. She’s impossible to ignore. Thankfully, you’d never want to do that.
Kids music played at 11pm in a bar? Must be Space Balloons.
I have to admit I was quite excited that Space Balloons were performing as part of Uke-Arist II. I wanted to see what kind of nonsense this trio could stir up. I was not disappointed. There were songs about reading to mustaches, square grapes, hovercrafts full of eels, hug wars, balloons in lagoons, life on Balloononia and dessert for breakfast.
I laughed.* I cried.** I watched Richard Bouchard chase Navigator Joe around the bar with a giraffacrockasomethingorother.*** I took some pictures. I had a good time.
* I did.
** I did not.
*** This almost made me laugh so hard that I cried. Alas, I did not (see **).
Bella Birds were a last minute fill-in for Uke-Arist II after two acts fell ill and were unable to perform. Their enjoyable set was full of beautiful harmonies and more whistling than I can remember ever hearing at a show.
Craig Robertson entertains and makes you think. During his set at The Uke-Arist II, Craig played a nice mix of originals and timeless covers accompanied by an upright bass.
There’s this movie called I Get Off. It stars a white 1974 Pontiac Trans AM driven by Sheila, played by an otherwise unknown actress who now makes her meager living charging people $20 a pop to have their picture taken with her and a replica of said car at comic conventions. In this cinematic masterpiece there are bar fights, mustaches, a Columbo knock-off police detective, bricks and bricks of an unspecified narcotic and a guy in a banana suit.
In the climactic scene, the Trans Am races head-on toward a tanker truck in the desert. The windows are down. Sheila’s hair is blowing in the wind. She lifts her sunglasses. Her eyes are focused. There’s a shotgun on the passenger seat. Her hand reaches down to turn up the radio.
Mellow Bravo blares from the speakers as a sly smile comes across Sheila’s face.
Then it gets messy.
