Behind the Scenes at Boston Stands with the ACLU @ Paradise Rock Club 3.18.2017

Perhaps you saw my photos from the Boston Stands with the ACLU benefit show at The Paradise and thought to yourself “That’s unusual. Johnny is usually right up front when he takes pictures, but most of these photos are from the back. Was it crazy crowded and he couldn’t get up front? Was he trying out some new perspectives? Was there something else going on that prevented him from standing in one spot for 6 hours?” Well, I have answers to these imaginary questions you may or may not have asked yourself! Yes, it was sold out! Yes, but only because it was so crazy packed I couldn’t get up front! And yes, because I was also busy taking all of these photos!

Some really wonderful people were involved with putting this show together. The night raised $24,800 for the ACLU. The musical lineup was unbelievable. Seriously. Did that really happen? Jokes were told. Songs were sung. My head is still spinning. I’m going to take a nap. Right after I leave these here…

Check out performance photos from all of the acts on this amazing night:

Ken Reid
Bill Janovitz
The Gravel Pit
The Sheila Divine
Evan Dando
Belly
Juliana Hatfield
Nada Surf

Impossible Stairs @ The Middle East Downstairs 9.8.2012

One Night Band is always full of surprises. At some point in the night a band may take the stage that has you feeling like you’ve been tricked. A band that just sounds like a band, with no further description needed. A band that plays you their tunes and closes their set with a Cheap Trick cover. Why? Because it rocks. We had one of those bands at One Night Band 4 courtesy of Abram Taber, Eric Ramsley, Josh Pickering, Sharon Crumrine and Ted Billings. Impossible Stairs…

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.

Corvette Somerville @ The Rosebud Bar 9.10.2011

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.

Davina Yannetty @ The Rosebud Bar 9.10.2011

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.