[Photos] Cassavettes

Cassavettes rocked the house at this year's Rodfest concert at Paradise.

[ Click below to see photos ]

Cassavettes at Rodfest 8
Paradise Rock Club
30-Jan-2010

Boston's Cassavettes at the 8th annual Rodfest show. This year's line-up also included Three Day Threshold, Quixote and many others. Celebrating life and music at maximum volume.

Cassavettes are (alphabetically): Coyote Scott Jones (bass),
Mike McCullagh (guitar, vocals), Matt Snow (drums) and Glenn Yoder (vocals, guitar)

More info

• myspace.com/cassavettes
• myspace.com/rodfest
  

NEAF Tickets and Schedule

Tickets are on sale now for the New England Americana Festival, Feb 25-27 at Church of Boston. Tickets are $8 for Thursday, $10 for Friday, $10 for Saturday or a 3 Day Pass for $20!

More info at www.newenglandamericanafestival.com

Thu, Feb 25

The Accident that Led Me to the World 6:50-7:20

Jeff Byrd and Dirty Finch       7:30- 8:00

Odessa Rose                     8:10- 8:40

Bryan Pero and the Tired Horses 8:50- 9:20

Brown Bird                      9:30-10:00

Bean Pickers Union             10:10-10:40

Movers and Shakers             10:50-11:20

Kingsley Flood                 11:30-12:00

with 2nd stage performers/announcers: Avi Jacob, Brendan Murphy, and Kier Byrnes

                 

Fri, Feb 26

They Will Hate Us              7:10- 7:40

Route .44                      7:50- 8:20

John Colvert                   8:30- 9:00

Golden West Motor Lodge        9:10- 9:40

The Rationales                 9:50-10:20

Coyote Kolb                   10:30-11:00

Girls, Guns, and Glory        11:10-12:00

Highway Ghosts                12:15- 1:00

with 2nd stage performers/announcers: Ian Fitzgerald, Eric Royer with Dan Fram

Sat, Feb 27

Dave Sammarco Band             6:30- 7:10

Bees Knees                     7:20- 7:50

That Old Feelin                8:00- 8:35

Big East                       8:45- 9:20

Sam Reid and the Riot Act      9:30-10:10

Autumn Hollow                 10:20-11:00

Jimmy Ryan and Hayride!       11:10-12:00

Three Day Threshold           12:10-12:45

with 2nd stage performers/announcers: Katie McD Trio, Eric Royer and his guitar machine

Cracker @ Middle East

What the world needs now is another folk singer, like I need a hole in my head

Cracker with Camper Van Beethoven
Middle East 17-Jan-2010

I'm more of a Cracker fan, but this show also featured David Lowery's other band Camper Van Beethoven. CVB were actually the "rootsier" side this time, with the violin and steel guitar. Cracker was more the rock side, as their new album "Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey" would attest. I thought the sound was great for both bands (although I still prefer Paradise for rock shows) and it was packed for both sets.

Cracker does several well known cover songs, but technically it was CVB who covered Cracker covering The Clash's "White Riot". The song appears on the "Burning London" tribute and is very good, although not at all like the original.

There was no real banter with CVB, but David was more chatty as Cracker. He told a few humorous stories for songs like "Euro Trash Girl" ("the song about a whore") and how "Germans have no sense of humor".

On the new album there are some duets and they did "Friends" with guitarist Johnny Hickman doing the Patterson Hood part. I don't recall hearing them do "We all shine a light", a very X-sounding duet with John Doe.

Toward the end, they did all the hits; "Teen Angst" (my fave) and "Low", etc. They could've just left after that. My only complaint was that I didn't quite "get" the encore, so we left before the end.

[Video: Cracker - "Low"]



More info:

• www.crackersoul.com
• myspace.com/crackerhatesmyspace 
  

[Photos] Jimmy Ryan and Hayride!

Jimmy Ryan and Hayride! during their January residency at Lizard Lounge. And yes, the exclamation mark is part of the name. But for good reason. The band rocks!


The band does one acoustic and one electric set and include special guests such as Sean Staples, Ward Hayden and Sarah Borges.


[Click below to see photos]

Jimmy Ryan & Hayride!
with Ward Hayden
Lizard Lounge 20-Jan-2010

Jimmy Ryan (mandolin, vocals), Duke Levine (guitar), Andrew Mazzone (bass) and Billy Beard (drums)
 
Special guest: Ward Hayden (Girls Guns and Glory)

www.myspace.com/jrmando

www.myspace.com/girlsgunsandglory

[Photos] Girls Guns and Glory

One of my favorite Boston bands in one of my favorite NH venues. Girls Guns and Glory at The Press Room in beautiful downtown Portsmouth, NH. It was frigid outside, but the band kept the heat turned up inside. Special guest Avi Salloway (Hey Mama, Avi & Celia) sat in on slide (and beer-bottle slide) guitar.

[Click below to see photos]

Girls Guns and Glory
The Press Room, Portsmouth, NH
09-Jan-2010

Girls Guns and Glory

Be careful what you say to me, I'll put it in a song

It doesn't happen often enough that I get to see one of my favorite Boston bands at one of my favorite places. But in the span of two weeks, I've already seen Cassavettes at Toad (Dec 31) and Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles at Lizard Lounge (Jan 2).

The trifecta was complete with Girls Guns and Glory at The Press Room (Jan 9) in beautiful downtown Portsmouth, NH. Amazingly enough, these are all the venues where I first saw each band and I've been following each of them ever since.

GGG has won many Boston area awards, including Act of the Year (2008), Outstanding Americana Act (2007, 2008), Best Roots Act (2007, 2009) and even been named Best Local Act of the Decade. But maybe the coolest accolade was winning the WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble (2008), a first for an Americana band. They will also be representing Boston at the South by Southwest (SXSW) this year.

Here's a little video to give you an idea. Imagine a beard and longer hair on Ward and a couple of line-up changes, though. :-)

Girls Guns and Glory are Ward Hayden (vocals, guitar),  Colt Thompson (lead guitar), Justin Maxwell (bass), Mike (drums)

More info:

• girlsgunsandglory.com
• myspace.com/girlsgunsandglory

Upcoming shows

• Sat, Jan 23 @ Paradise (opening for Adam Ezra)
• Feb 25-27 New England Americana Festival
  
• Sat, Mar 6 @ Press Room

[Photos] Sarah Borges

I used my "real" camera and got some pretty good shots from the Sarah Borges show on Sat. They were recording a live CD (which I pre-ordered) over two nights at Lizard Lounge. The band sounded great and a good time was had by all.

[ Click on picture below ]

Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles
Live CD recording (02-Jan-2010)
Lizard Lounge, Cambridge, MA

One of my favorite Boston bands at one of my favorite places. Sarah Borges (vocals, guitar), Lyle Brewer (lead guitar), Binky (bass) and Rob Dulaney (drums). Happy 2010!

www.sarahborges.com
myspace.com/borgesrocks

Technical: Canon 20D, 50mm f1.8, 1600 ISO, no flash