It has been whispered, prophesied, and all but demanded by those who experienced the proverbial salad days of Northampton’s punk/rock scene some quarter-century ago. Now, on the heels of the recently reissued In The Cool Room and a week shy of Hampshire College’s 40th anniversary, the man widely—and rightly—considered to be one of the founders of that punk/rock scene, Mal Thursday (aka J.M. Dobies), is returning to local stages for the first time in over a decade.
“Yeah, I’ve grown my hair out, re-learned all the lyrics and bought nonrefundable plane tickets,” the current Austin, Texas resident says of upcoming shows at the Sierra Grille (myspace.com/sierragrillemusic), the current occupant of the former Bay State Hotel space Thursday booked in the early ’90s in addition to running Chunk Records.
Thursday will first resurface at the Sierra this Thursday, June 3, with his band The Cheetahs (featuring King Radio’s Frank Padellaro on guitars, David Trenholm on bass and Paul Pelis on drums). The following week, June 10, he’ll return to front his fabled Malarians, a band that has shared stages with The Pixies, They Might Be Giants and Phish, to name a choice few.
“The whole reunion thing went from ‘never happen’ to ‘it’s on like red dawn’ in a matter of days,” he explains. “But with the reissue, we realized people remember us fondly, still love our band and want to buy discs and digital downloads. So the thinking was, line up a few paying gigs, sell some discs and T-shirts at the swag table, and the whole tour might just pay for itself… including those nonrefundable plane tickets.”
Speaking of remembering fondly, Thursday also noted that another obvious factor in the Malarians’ prolonged hiatus was the 1994 passing of bassist Slater Awn.
“With a founding member no longer with us, I wondered if a reunion could ever happen,” he admits. “But the Herculean task of learning all the old bass parts ended up falling on Les LeBarge (stage name, Les Fillin), and he rose to the occasion quite nicely.”
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In other news, a new duo with some serious Beantown credentials makes its Valley debut at the Iron Horse June 5. The project is called Farren Butcher Inc. (or F.B.I., for short) and its members—Charlie Farren and Jon Butcher—have fronted projects for Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and toured with J. Geils in years past. The show starts at 7 p.m. and tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door.
The following night at the same venue, June 6, Canadian indie rockers Wintersleep celebrate the release of their latest studio effort, New Inheritors. For more info on both, visit iheg.com.
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Meanwhile, the Guthrie Center in Great Barrington kicked off its “troubador series” last weekend with the acoustic-propelled folk pop of Meg Hutchinson and the well-pedigreed Kate Taylor (sister of James Taylor). Amherst’s own Bella’s Bartok picks things up again this week on Friday, June 4, followed by the timeless Mustard’s Retreat duo on Saturday, June 5.
For the uninitiated, the Guthrie Center is actually the old Trinity Church, where Alice of “Alice’s Restaurant” used to live. And we ain’t talkin’ Mel’s Diner or “kiss my grits” here, folks.
For the full backstory on the facility, complete summer schedule and more, kindly point your browser to guthriecenter.org.
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Last up, breaking news out of Windsor, Connecticut’s Summerwind (sscsummerwind) Performing Arts Center: while ongoing construction to the storm-ravaged amphitheater has delayed the highly anticipated start to the 2010 season (the venue has sat idle since 2004), the first official dates are finally starting to trickle in. They include the multiple-Grammy award-winning blues of the Robert Cray Band (Aug. 7), folk/country fave Mary Chapin Carpenter (Aug. 14), horn hero Arturo Sandoval (Aug. 28) and the harmonica-laced jam stylings of Blues Traveler (Sept. 5).
Catch the Nightcrawler every Wednesday at 8:50 a.m. on the Steve Cantara Radio Show, WRNX 100.9 FM. Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, PO Box 427, Somers, CT 0071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email garycarra@aol.com.
