I started "The Bay State Cabaret" with a grant from the Northampton Arts Council to produce an eclectic blend of music, comedy and spoken word. But when the comedy bombed and the spoken word sucked, it quickly became all music. After several shows had done well, I did one with Sebadoh in January of '93 that was packed to the rafters with scenesters. That led to the offer of a full-time job from owner Ron Sarazin. For a time, the Bay State was the local club, and, in the wake of the closing of Sheehan's, the only one, for a lot of bands.
We did hundreds of great shows, including Arthur Lee & Love, Built to Spill, the Chesterfield Kings, the Figgs, the Grifters, Lyres, New Radiant Storm King, and the Unband, among many others. At the time, I was also running Chunk Records, an independent label that released a lot of stuff by local bands.
It was fun while it lasted, but it all came crashing down at the end of '95, when I got canned over a salary dispute shortly after getting married (the first time, that is). I returned after the divorce to produce "Mal Thursday's Monday Night Cabaret," a low-budget shadow of its former glory, but with several truly memorable evenings in its 18-month run, including one with Fountains of Wayne that was pretty sweet. Of couse, this was well after my reign as the Valley's King of Rock. By then, it was, "What have you done for me lately?"
JM Dobies currently resides in Austin, Texas and hosts The Mal Thursday Show and Florida Rocks Again! on GaragePunk.com.
