Music
by Advocate staff | May 1, 2008 | Music
Anne FeeneyDump the Bosses Off Your Back!(Independent) Dump the Bosses Off Your Back! is a rebel’s fodder for May Day. Feeney, a longtime activist, has taken up the void left by Joe Glazer’s death as labors troubadour and, like social justice advocates...
by Kendra Thurlow | May 1, 2008 | Music
For his upcoming role, Lord Russ (aka Russell Brooks) has to shave his entire body. Although he's not baring the full monty, Valley musician Brooks will be more scantily clad than normal in his upcoming one-man show Queen Elvis—The Musical. Set in 1973, the...
by Kendra Thurlow | May 1, 2008 | Music
Berkshire Hills Music Academy is a spacious, 40-acre property in South Hadley, just minutes from downtown. The only private, post-secondary residential school for young adults with cognitive or learning disabilities as well as exceptional talent for music, Berkshire...
by Matthew Dube | May 8, 2008 | Music
The energetic Gerry Tracy has lofty artistic visions for downtown Westfield, and dreams of his Tea Pot Gallery as the epicenter of the city's cultural renaissance. Shortly after holistically recovering from complications of a hernia operation after which doctors...
by Advocate staff | May 8, 2008 | Music
Crystal CastlesCrystal Castles(Last Gang Records)Crystal Castles' debut offers a guided tour through the world of videogame soundtracks, jagged robotic rhythms, moody synth pop and brash electro. The duo of Ethan Kath and Alice Glass dismantles and reconfigures...
by Gary Carra | May 8, 2008 | Music
Cellist Lindsay Mac has appeared on the cover of Strings and studied at London's Royal College of Music and other top-flight conservatories. While even the most casual music fan quickly realizes such credentials are well warranted the first time they hear her live...
by James Heflin | May 8, 2008 | Music
If shoegazing angst and a flailing guitar hand aren't your folk style, lend an ear to the old-school folk of Bill Staines. Staines started playing in the early '60s in Boston, and eventually emceed Sunday sessions at Cambridge's Club 47.Staines arrives in...
by Advocate staff | May 8, 2008 | Music
James McMurtryJust Us Kids(Lightning Rod Records) James McMurtry's latest is a muscular, masculine look at politics, relationships and life that's not for kids. On "Ruby and Carlos," he sings, "I can't go back to Tennessee/ that NASCAR...
by Rob Weir | May 14, 2008 | Music
Brattleboro's Hooker-Dunham Auditorium hugs a cliffside passageway about a quarter of the way between Main Street and the Connecticut River. It feels funky if you don't dwell on the fact that the rustic stone side wall is the foundation of the building above...
by Advocate staff | May 15, 2008 | Music
Michael RotherSterntaler(Water)For all their influence, Michael Rother's Krautrock outfits Neu! and Harmonia have made little dent in the U.S. It's a welcome surprise his first four solo albums received deluxe reissues. These classic instrumental albums are...
by Tom Sturm | May 15, 2008 | Music
A little more than a month ago, Valley freak flags flew at half-mast, mourning the passing of longtime comedian, musician, radio star (who, despite the song, gallantly survived attempts on his life by video) and general public personality Louis G. Roscher, a.k.a....
by Tom Sturm | May 15, 2008 | Music
Forget the five-dollar latte—it's all about Mocha this weekend. Starting Friday with (former Ware River Club frontman) Matt Hebert's Haunt (master angler Hebert is pictured), and special guest Oweihops, the Shelburne Falls venue cranks up the season as...
by Gary Carra | May 15, 2008 | Music
David O’Hagan may have officially retired from his military career in 1981. But the former member of the U.S. Air Force believes that he’s still able to be of service to the country he loves and the troops he’s happy to call his brothers and...
by Kendra Thurlow | May 21, 2008 | Music
On any given sunny afternoon on Orchard Street in Northampton, passersby might see a young couple and their toddler out for a stroll, an elderly couple gently rocking on their porch swing, or perhaps a grad student taking his daily dusk bike ride. Orchard Street is...
by Advocate staff | May 22, 2008 | Music
Windsor for the DerbyHow We Lost(Secretly Canadian)Windsor for the Derby take their own sweet time getting to things. The opening track, "Let Go," builds quietly for about three minutes before the vocals, which seem to espouse a sort of fatalistic...
by Matthew Dube | May 22, 2008 | Music
Metal is the cockroach of musical genres. It is often maligned, impossible to kill, and its proponents are usually averse to light. Yet every town in America has its scions of Sabbath, its progeny of Priest, churning out metal's myriad subsets. They thrive in...
by Matthew Dube | May 22, 2008 | Music
Since hanging his shingle at 38 Washington St. in Keene in 1988, Retro Music founder Jeff Firestone has adapted to a changing market and seen more than his share of instruments—and music royalty—pass through his doors.Retro began as an extension of guitar...
by Levon Kinney | May 22, 2008 | Music
The second Valley Worm Fest (organized in part by Advocate contributor Matthew Dube) features more than 20 bands playing to raise money for the Flywheel Arts Collective, which is renovating its new location in the old Town Hall in Easthampton. This year’s fest...
by James Heflin | May 29, 2008 | Music
Stephen Katz does some unusual things with his cello—he bows it, he strums it, and he has even been known to dance with it. Add to such innovations the practice of building orchestral textures with looping, and you get an experience far from the usual staid solo...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 5, 2008 | Music
Iwas waiting for photos from Eremite Records label founder Michael Ehlers. I was trying to be patient, knowing that he was currently on tour with two of his artists, saxophonist Peter Brotzmann and drummer/percussionist Han Bennink.Finally, one morning, a message...
by Tom Sturm | May 29, 2008 | Music
From the first track, listening to Mawwal's this is all there is, there is no other place is like absorbing some bizarre hallucinogenic compound through your armpits in a Waziristan sweat lodge. Drawing heavily on traditional Middle Eastern/South Asian music and...
by James Heflin | Jun 5, 2008 | Music
When summer rolls around, bringing its inevitable onslaught of good (barbecues, swimming pools, vacations) and bad (that squishy flip-flop noise, mosquitoes), loads of concerts heave into view. That list is also a mixed bag: musicians who spent the '80s in pink...
by Kendra Thurlow | May 29, 2008 | Music
A lthough he's been playing guitar and writing songs for nearly two decades, engineer and musician Frank Cable only began playing in public last year. Mostly self-taught—he took a few guitar lessons when starting out—Cable doesn't read music, and...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 5, 2008 | Music
Peter Mulvey was in a bad way. The singer-songwriter had just flown in from Wisconsin to play a Sunday night Iron Horse show to kick off an extended North American tour. Upon opening his road case, he discovered his guitar had been trashed in transit. Luckily, Mulvey...
by Advocate staff | May 29, 2008 | Music
Kaki KingDreaming of Revenge(Velour Recordings)Kaki's fourth album is by far her most collaborative and experimental, yielding many more successes than misses. Instead of being an artist in search of a voice—her percussive guitar has been distinct from the...
by Tom Sturm | Jun 5, 2008 | Music
Perhaps it takes the heartland to produce truly genuine perspectives on America—Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan are two examples (musically), and others in other disciplines, such as Mark Twain and Georgia O'Keefe, seem to maintain a flavor of legitimacy that is...
by Gary Carra | May 29, 2008 | Music
Considering that he's traded barbs with the likes of John Belushi, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray in his illustrious on-screen career, it's high praise indeed to elicit even the most miniscule of chuckles from Dan Aykroyd.Sitting with the famed funnyman this...
by by Advocate staff | Jun 5, 2008 | Music
CapercaillieRoses and Tears(Compass Records)In 1989, Capercaillie released Sidewaulk and rocketed to critical and commercial success. The ensuing parade of club remixes and Clannad-wannabe releases sounded more market-driven than creative. Roses and Tears recaptures...
by Gary Carra | Jun 5, 2008 | Music
He had barely finished executing the first of countless roundhouse karate kicks, and was just about to adjust one of the several oversized hats he would don when "Diamond" David Lee Roth decided to address the elephant in the Mohegan Sun Arena May...
by Gary Carra | Jun 12, 2008 | Music
Many is the local promoter who would consider assembling a multi-band bill of national notables at a large, outdoor venue the pinnacle of a career.Springfield's Dave Mech is certainly proud of having done that just shy of a year ago, when he lured Jefferson...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 12, 2008 | Music
Veteran sound engineer Tom Schieding has some advice for local bands cutting their teeth on area stages: "The most common mistake," he says, "is prioritizing the rock star thing over the basics. If you're a rock star, it'll show. If you're...
by Gary Carra | Jul 10, 2008 | Music
They've got the fireworks. And a performance by Springsteen sound-alike Bruce In The USA. And the Enfield Fourth of July Celebration will even lure the highly patriotic Jimmie Vaughan to the Enfield, Conn. town green on Route 5 this weekend.In fact, as the...
by James Heflin | Jun 12, 2008 | Music
It takes a big choir to do justice to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Fortunately, the Hampshire Choral Society currently clocks in at 160 voices. The amateur group (they even assure prospective members their auditions are "non-threatening") is taking on...
by Advocate staff | Jul 10, 2008 | Music
Simone WhiteI Am the Man(Honest Jon's)Singer Simone White's nicely somber cover of Carole King's exquisite "I Didn't Have Any Summer Romance" is reason enough to pick up this record. White's whispery singing is subdued and jazzy, never...
by Advocate staff | Jun 12, 2008 | Music
Sun City GirlsYou're Never Alone with a Cigarette (Singles Vol. 1)(Abduction)Sun City Girls are one of those cult bands that you hear about but rarely actually hear. SCG occupy that mythic place where all lines, all styles, all approaches converge. They somehow...
by Advocate staff | Jul 16, 2008 | Music
N.E.R.D.Seeing Sounds(Interscope)Intentionally or not, N.E.R.D. has made a concept album chronicling everything annoying about modern nightlife. "Everybody Nose" is about club girls queuing for bathroom booger-sugar breaks, and references to text messages...
by Gary Carra | Jun 12, 2008 | Music
Many is the wretched soul who has benefited from the benevolent, well-manicured hands of the Queer Eye crew. While singer/guitarist Ari Vais (known mostly around these parts for his former work with Humbert) can appreciate a good "manscaping" body hair trim...
by Advocate staff | Jul 16, 2008 | Music
SpiritualizedSongs in A&E(Sanctuary) I guess I should accept that Jay Spaceman won’t hit another peak as hard as Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space’s “Come Together.” Spaceman’s latest Spiritualized missive is a death...
by James Heflin | Jun 18, 2008 | Music
Compilation albums happen for all sorts of reasons, but the new album Selmer #607 has as its centerpiece something quite unusual: a single guitar, played by all of the album's contributors.That guitar is, well, Selmer #607. The brand (and style of guitar) is...
by Tom Sturm | Jul 17, 2008 | Music
When I ask myself why I still live in the Valley, with all its pettiness, ambivalence and transient stories of loves lost and dreams muffled, I look no further than its secretly-harbored gems like Lloyd Cole. Having settled (somewhat) in the area after a subtly...
by Advocate staff | Jun 18, 2008 | Music
Jamie LidellJIM(Warp) If you’re one of those sad sacks who just can’t accept the reality of white soul—Hall & Oates, Thicke, Amy Winehouse—then you might as well pass on Jamie Lidell. Your loss. I’ll admit Lidell isn’t Sam...
by Tom Sturm | Jul 17, 2008 | Music
For at least a decade or two, there has existed the notion that if one starts playing Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album at exactly the same time as the film The Wizard of Oz, a bizarre, almost too-perfect synchronicity is revealed. Whether this was the...
by Gary Carra | Jun 19, 2008 | Music
As if today's youth aren't receiving enough mixed signals. Don't take drugs—but here's some Paxil and Ritalin because you're just way too energetic for us to deal with otherwise. And if you don't contract salmonella or have an allergic...
by Kendra Thurlow | Jul 17, 2008 | Music
Celebrating its 22nd anniversary, The Green River Festival features three days of foot-stomping music, booty-shakin’ in the Dance Tent, tasty eats, playful kids’ activities and colorful hot air balloons. This year’s lineup includes bluesman Jimmie...
by Tom Sturm | Jun 19, 2008 | Music
Going by their name, you might not think that the John Bobbit Experience would be, well, a pleasant one, but judge not until you've had your own musical unit chopped off and subsequently re-attached. Bred like Uruk-Hai (Lord of the Rings orcs) in the viscous,...
by Matthew Dube | Jul 17, 2008 | Music
In just a little over a year, Easthampton's Blue Guitar Gallery has outgrown its original space. The response from the local arts community, evidenced by overflow crowds at many Easthampton City Arts monthly Art Walk events, has inspired Blue Guitar to usurp the...
by by Levon Kinney | Jun 19, 2008 | Music
Look Park has been an escape from the hustle and bustle of Northampton's congested streets for over 70 years, since Fannie Burr Look donated the land in honor of her late husband, Frank Newhall Look. Among its many attractions: a miniature steam train, a...
by Matthew Dube | Jul 24, 2008 | Music
As the music industry undergoes a giant sea change, traditional, well-established archetypes are shifting along with it. Record labels are becoming marginalized as new distribution models—for both traditional and digital media—continue to evolve. The role...
by James Heflin | Jun 19, 2008 | Music
It’s not an easy task for most local bands to fill up the Iron Horse. It seems to take a combination of popularity and good karma. Running with Karma apparently has plenty of the latter, and has long possessed the former. The group releases a new CD called...
by Advocate staff | Jul 24, 2008 | Music
Daniel OuelletteMonsterland—The Revenge of Daniel(independent)Daniel Ouellette is an example of why the proliferation of home recording studios may not necessarily be a good thing. Over a bed of staticky techno beats and what sound like keyboard demo loops,...
by Levon Kinney | Jun 26, 2008 | Music
For 140 years, the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) has helped protect and nurture women in need of assistance, from victims of domestic violence or sexual assault to those in need of training to enter the workforce. The Western Massachusetts YWCA...
by Kendra Thurlow | Jul 24, 2008 | Music
In the 1920s, the subterranean location and numerous exits of the Mole's Eye—then the downstairs lounge of the Brook's House Hotel—made it perfect for a speakeasy. The liquor-laden shelves behind the bar were safely sequestered behind a locked...
by Gary Carra | Jun 26, 2008 | Music
The city certainly wasn't built on rock and roll. In fact, its biggest claims to fame remain the Basketball Hall of Fame and a Wikipedia entry for being the birthplace of the sport. But in recent years, it's hard to imagine a steamy, summer Thursday night in...
by Gary Carra | Jul 24, 2008 | Music
The politicos love their "Super" Tuesday. And February's annual "Fat" one is, of course, Mardi Gras. But Platterpus Records proprietor Dave Witthaus can recall a time when any given Tuesday was an event at his record store; dozens of people...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 26, 2008 | Music
Los Hijos Unicos is a band on a mission: to make country music cool again. This might seem like an ambitious undertaking to some, but the eight-person outfit—with members from Northampton, Somerville and the North Shore—is a confident lot. Plus, it is...
by Sarah Gibbons | Jul 31, 2008 | Music
In the back room at Packard's in Northampton, the muffled strains of karaoke bring an array of amateur singers' choices and voices, offering an appropriate backdrop for talking about music, songwriting, identity and technique. At first, talking with drummer...
by Matthew Dube | Jun 26, 2008 | Music
In spring 2006, Brattleboro was about to lose The Weathervane Cafe, one of its few music venues. Two employees, Andrea Moriarty and Gina Richard, saw unlimited potential in the place, and wanted a crack at doing things their way. So the pair pooled their resources and...
by Levon Kinney | Jul 31, 2008 | Music
Not since Tiny Tim passed away has the ukulele received so much adoration in the lower 48. While the size and pitch of ukuleles can vary, the most famous model is a soprano, and it's most associated with grass skirts and flower necklaces. Jake Shimabukuro is...
by Kendra Thurlow | Jun 26, 2008 | Music
Dave DelloRusso has discovered "the power of Christ." Founder of and banjo player for The Primate Fiasco, DelloRusso, with his fellow primates, can occasionally be seen playing the band's brand of Dixieland jazz on sunny Saturday afternoons in front of...
by Matthew Dube | Jul 31, 2008 | Music
As on many nights before, there will be a turning of the key at the end of Jen Schwaber's shift. But Aug. 1 will be the final time she locks up Night Owl Records, the Cottage Street store she opened with partner and then-boyfriend, now-husband Mark...
