Gymnasium @ Radio 10.12.2012

Gymnasium put their top-notch, classic rock inspired sound through its paces at Radio as part of the Bands For Babs benefit. Sweet.

Gene Dante w/ The Other Girls @ Radio 9.22.2012

Last year, Gene Dante and The Other Girls both did sets for the Joan Jett Tribute night that Nicole Tammaro put together. For this year’s event, the two acts joined forces like some kind of hot-blooded, leather-clad, rock ‘n’ roll Voltron. Yowza.

Aquanutz @ Moe’s Lounge 1.20.2012

I pretty much knew I was going to like Aquanutz. I grew up on hair metal, so this was right up my alley. I expected the Poison and Cinderella covers. I would have been happy to leave it at that. I got so much more.

When Aquanutz opened with “Slide It In”, I knew this show was going to exceed my already high expectations. When they covered “Blind In Texas” a couple of songs later I was all-in. I mean, who covers W.A.S.P. in 2012? Awesome bands do. Aquantuz does.

The Shakes & Pony Show @ Moe’s Lounge 1.20.2012

Thank goodness this is the final night of The Shakes & Pony Show residency at Moe’s Lounge. I’m getting tired of Rod and Jason’s mind games. I’ve been to all three shows and I still can’t figure out what the hell a Shakes & Pony Show is. Sometimes it’s a crazy mix of cover tunes. That was fun. Sometimes it’s Brownboot. That was fun, too. Tonight it’s Rod and Jason playing some ’80s power ballads. That was… oh, I get it now.

Fit To Be Tied @ The Rosebud Bar 9.23.2011

Fit To Be Tied closed out the fantastic Joan Jett tribute night at The Rosebud with a set that included two Barbusters songs from Light Of Day.* I went into the night expecting Tom Baker and gang to play the title track (Mr. Baker’s regular outfit, The Dirty Truckers, covered this song at a Springsteen tribute show last year), but “This Means War” was a real treat. Close out the night with an drunken all-hands-on-deck version of “I Love Rock N’ Roll” and I’d say Nicole Tammaro did a bang up job putting this show together.

* Unfortunately, no one covered The Hunzz classic “Rabbit’s Got The Gun”. New mission for me: Orchestrate a Fit To Be Tied reunion just so I can convince them to play that song.

The Other Girls @ The Rosebud Bar 9.23.2011

These are The Other Girls.

Andrea Gillis, Michelle Paulhus, Amy Griffin, Linda Shore and Melissa Gibbs have all made their mark on the Boston music scene. They’ve played in some of the best original bands in town. Every once in a while they get together to play some cool covers. For this show, they got together to play some really cool Joan Jett covers. It was, after all, a tribute to Joan Jett on her birthday… er, the day after her birthday… uh…

You know what? You shouldn’t need a special occasion to play Joan Jett covers. Hell, half the songs she did were covers. Joan Jett rules. Kudos to Nicole Tammaro for recognizing this and putting a show together in her honor.