Boston Rock Photos And Stuff
Corin Ashley and Dave Aaronoff play together quite a bit, so it was no surprise to find them closing out this bill. Watching them, I got the feeling that if they weren’t on stage at TT’s that night they very well could have been playing these songs on somebody’s couch. It’s just what they do.
Just about a year ago, the Springsteen faithful gathered at TT’s for a tribute show. The thing I remember the most about that night* was Eric Salt blowing everyone away with his version of “She’s The One”. Still one of the best covers I’ve heard. He was playing as part of Jenny Dee & Friends that night, but when they gave him the mic he absolutely stole the show… from everyone.
With that memory burned in my brain I was happy to hear that Eric Salt was taking part in this year’s Springsteen tribute. Eric and his band delivered. I’m going to propose a local club rule wherein every Bruce Springsteen tribute in the Boston area must have Eric Salt and Uke Springsteen on the bill. It’ll be like the “two-week rule”, but nobody will complain.
* Aside from playing with Jonny Pape in a band that would eventually become Paper Snakes, of course.
This morning I had the pleasure of shooting the first promo shots of four of Boston’s newest bands.
One Night Band 3 is happening TONIGHT! Get yourselves down to The Middle East Downstairs to catch all the crazy action. Not sure what One Night Band is? Check out this here link for the lowdown. As part of the day’s festivities, the bands had to get a promo shot taken before they could embark on their musical journey. I handled four of the bands, Joshua Pickering took the other four (you can see all of the pictures here).
This morning was a blast. Tonight should be tons of fun. All of the proceeds go to Zumix, a very worthy cause indeed. C’mon down!
Walk Of Shame
Golden Owl
Flying Blue Squirrels
BatmanHalen
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.
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.
When I posted up the pictures from this show, I commented on the enthusiasm and wit with which Davina Yannetty performs both her original material and cover songs. Here is an example of the latter. An example of the former can be found here.
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.
The Rationales opened and closed their own CD release show for The Distance In Between. They booked a great bill with friends OldJack and The Future Everybody. They had special guests join them during their sets. The Rationales did it up right.
The first set was a stripped down acoustic affair featuring mandolin, cajón and melodica. Good stuff.
This is a video of a thing that happened.