The Michael Vick Award for Excellence in Canine Combat: Relax, PETA-philes, this has nothing to do with actual animal cruelty and everything to do with Western Mass.' supremacy in the Bodog Battle Of The Bands contest. Of course, as illustrated by the Dec.6 Advocate cover, local "yardcore" favorites Fear Nuttin Band recently landed a record deal out of the season one contest. But it should be known that the Valley has at least three other (Bo)dogs in the fight for the series' second installment. Although ambient-rockers Running With Karma were technically eliminated earlier this month, a groundswell of online fan votes at http://battle.bodoglife.net could help them return via the contest's "wildcard" system in much the same manner of Fear Nuttin's eventual resurrection at last year's finale.
Morever, singer/guitarist/keyboardist Richard Hernandez says that the performances RWK threw down during their official time in the sonic struggle have already scored them a meeting with management.
Meanwhile, area rock/reggae practitioners The Alchemystics and Danny Pease & The Regulators are also both still in the hunt for a slot in the contest finals—and the reality television show and million-dollar deal that potentially comes with it. Catch both bands at the Bodog regional semifinals on Saturday, Jan. 19 at the Paradise in Boston.
The Iron Man Award: To the Western Mass. heavy music scene, accepted by Killswitch Engage, All That Remains, The Acacia Strain and Shadows Fall. As Seattle is known for coffee and grunge and Detroit was synonymous with Motown, the Greater Springfield area must now be known for its chief export to the world: metal. These four local bands in particular continue not just to participate in but to define the metal genre—garnering opening slots for Slayer, Ozz Fest and more, gracing the pages of countless fan and player-oriented magazines and seemingly scoring higher and higher on the Billboard charts with each successive release along the way.
In 2007, Killswitch cleaned up at the Boston Music Awards, the Fall-boys scored another Grammy nod (their second—Killswitch was also nominated in 2005), and all four have videos entered in this year's MTV2 Headbanger's Ball End Of Year Countdown.
Speaking of iron men and dogs, it's a well-documented fact that, like dog years versus human, each year on the club circuit is equal to seven years wear on the human body. So congrats to the Drunk Stuntmen and The Mitchells, as the former celebrated 105 and/or 15 years of music-making and the latter 91 and/or 13 in 2007 (depending on whether one utilizes the "people" or "pooch" system).
On the flipside, 2007 also marked the end for both the popular Noho venue The Eagle's Nest and alt-rockers Pushboxx. As alluded to in last week's Crawler, the state of Westfield's Finn MacCool's is also in flux.
The Blues Christmas Awards: The first goes to Theodores' of Springfield, which caused the blues by halting performances in 2007. But Christmas came in September for lovers of "booze, blues and BBQ": world-class performers can once again be found at Theodores' every Saturday.
The second nod goes to Jim McNamara, who spearheaded the blues/jam scene at the former Tic Toc Lounge. While McNamara has no immediate plans to open a new Tic Toc, this Friday, Dec. 21, Club Meadows in East Longmeadow hosts a one-off reunion show.
In memoriam: The region laments the losses of at least two members of the musical community: Curtis Cassarino of Grey Cell Green and luthier Frank Lucchesi of Easthamp's Vintage Music Shop. Rest in peace, brothers.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email: Garycarra@aol.com.
