Boston Rock Photos And Stuff
In the grand tradition of Puppet Show and Spinal Tap comes Paper Airplane Fight and Mellow Bravo.*
* Yes, I know this wasn’t technically a Mellow Bravo show, but I didn’t know what else to call it.
So much good music at Radio this past Friday night! Quality tunes upstairs and down all night long. I shot down to Moe’s Lounge after Reverse’s amazing set just in time to catch Tad & Kate doing their thing as part of Keith Pierce’s new series, Practice. Keith even jumped behind the kit for a couple of tunes. His Mellow Bravo band mate, Seager Tennis, followed suit on bass. This is pretty cool. I want more!
Rodrigo Van Stoli and Jason Baldock were tasked with opening Moe’s Lounge* with a bang. The duo cooked up a residency where they would pick a different theme for each night** and assemble a ragtag group of local rockers to help them pull it off. Night one was Mixtape-Mixtape night, where the gang*** performed selections from the various nights of the MixTape series they’ve been involved with. What you ended up with was a mishmash of covers spanning decades. A couple of highlights were some great interplay between Rodrigo Van Stoli and Rona Mattocks on “Beast Of Burden” and a snappy cover of Robert Plant’s “Tall Cool One”. The night ended with a “Daydream Believer” singalong.
Welcome to The Shakes & Pony Show…
* Moe’s Lounge is downstairs at Radio. Seeing a show there is like hanging out in your friend’s basement. Good times.
** To find out what’s in store for the rest of the residency, check out this amazing poster by the wonderful and talented Nicole Anguish of Daykamp Creative.
*** Which at various times included 2/3 of Brownboot, 2/5 of Sidewalk Driver, 1/5 of The Future Everybody, 1/6 of Fit To Be Tied, all of Tad & Kate and 4/5 of Bright Lights, Big Rod.
Tad! Kate! Radio! Radio! Moe’s Lounge! Fun!
Tad and Kate. Kate and Tad. Hearing those two names together makes me happy. I think about plane crashes and the world coming to an end. I think about hobos, bad presents, karaoke and being kidnapped. I think about all of these things and I smile. It’s some kind of Pavlovian response. I’ve become so accustomed to being entertained by this duo that I just can’t help myself. At least I don’t drool.
Tad & Kate
“Bad Presents”
2011
Like some demented version of “The Twelve Days Of Christmas”, Tad & Kate bring you “Bad Presents”. Rogue Roombas, allergic reactions, over-sized turtleneck sweaters and the unfortunate outcome of a dog eating chocolate covered fruit-shaped flowers are not your typical holiday song fodder. Even so, any song with lines like “I don’t mean to sound naughty / But if I could stuff your stocking / With the heat that I feel when we touch” is bound to be a holiday classic.
Where to get it:
Bright Lights, Big Rod. Let that sink in for a minute.
MixTape 1988 brought us a super duper supergroup. A superdupergroup. Bright Lights, Big Rod featured some of the fine folks that brought you Brownboot, Sidewalk Driver, Boston Band Crush, Parlour Bells, Noble Rot*, Low Static Romance, Bang Camaro, Bikini Whale, Waste Management, Boston.com and who knows what else. They joined forces to dust off some of the hippest songs of 1988. Like “In Your Room” by The Bangles. Seriously, how great a song is that?!?!
As much fun as the whole night was, MixTape 1988 will be defined by one thing for me: Bright Lights, Big Rod’s “Robert P Medley”. It was a seamless blend of Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible” and Robert Plant’s “Tall Cool One”. How could that not be awesome? It couldn’t not be awesome.
* Which I just mistyped as Noble Rod. I rule.
A couple of months back, Sidewalk Driver opened for The B-52s up at Hampton Beach.* When I heard about that show, two things crossed my mind:
Alas, it wasn’t in the cards. Fast forward to the announcement that Sidewalk Driver would be opening for The B-52s as part of Epilepsy Therapy Project’s fundraiser at the House Of Blues. Two things crossed my mind:
Oh, House Of Blues. You’re usually not too keen on people bringing cameras to take pictures of your innards. I was pretty sure this wasn’t going to happen. Then fate Kate smiled upon me and got me a photo pass. So happy. So very happy.**
Come showtime, Sidewalk Driver did what they do best: worked their glorious confetti and power chord magic to make the audience swoon.*** Isn’t that what they always do? Hell yes, it is. This band lives to entertain.
…
A couple of days later I was looking through the photos on my computer.
“Who’s that?”
My five year old had just wandered into the office with his little brother close behind.
“That’s Tad from Sidewalk Driver.” I replied.
“Side-walk-dri-ver?” questioned my curios 2 and a half year old.
“That’s the band that sings ‘Tornado’!” exclaimed his older brother.
I couldn’t have been more proud. For the next ten minutes we scrolled through the photos, the boys quickly learning to identify each band member. So happy. So very happy.
* I’d like to point out that when I started this blog, the thought never crossed my mind that it would have any references to The B-52s. Live and learn, I guess.
** Have I mentioned how happy I was? Seriously, it’s a little embarrassing. When I got word that Kate had secured the photo pass the combination of sheer joy and the sudden realization that “Golly, I better take some good pictures at this thing or I’m a complete jerk” nearly incapacitated me. I was a wreck. Still… so very very happy.
*** Did I mention showtime was 30 minutes before the stated start time on the House Of Blues website? Surprise! No matter. Sidewalk Driver still kicked ass. No surprise there.
Remember how I said I wanted Tad & Kate to sing me to sleep? This could be one of the songs they sing. Yeah. This’ll work.
Note: I had some computer issues that kept me from posting this one sooner. File this one under better late than never, I guess.
I want Tad & Kate to sing me to sleep so I will have beautiful dreams of hobos and fire raining down from the sky.
