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boston area shows of note:


friday, july 25th

comedian joel mchale

(from the soup)

@ the wilbur theatre


saturday, july 26th

bon iver

bowerbirds

@ the museum of fine arts


sunday, july 27th

the new collisions (debut)

red quiet

melt

@ tt the bears


sunday, july 27th

sunfold

antiques

@ the middle east upstairs


wednesday, july 30th

we are scientists

@ the middle east downstairs


wednesday, july 30th

earlimart

@ the middle east upstairs


wednesday, july 30th

spiritualized

the dirtbombs

@ the wilbur theatre


thursday, july 31st

the police

elvis costello & the impersonators

@ the tweeter center


friday & saturday

august 1st & 2nd

eddie vedder

liam finn

solo @ the opera house


saturday, august 2nd

wolf parade

@ the paradise


monday, august 4th

coldplay

@ the garden


tuesday, august 5th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge


wednesday, august 6th

neil halstead (slowdive/mojave 3)

rogue wave

jack johnson

@ the tweeter center


saturday, august 9th

margot & the nuclear so and so's

@ the middle east


saturday, august 9th

melvins

@ the paradise


sunday, august 10th

ho-ag

six finger satellite

the in-out

certainly, sir

@ great scott


tuesday, august 12th

thao nguyen with

the get down stay down

david schultz & the skyline

pepi ginsberg

@ tt the bears


tuesday, august 12th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge


wednesday, august 13th

radiohead

grizzly bear

@ the tweeter center


thursday, august 14th

grizzly bear

violens

outside in the courtyard

@ the museum of fine arts


friday, august 15th

the ex

getachew mekuria

debo band

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, august 16th

+/- (plus minus)

broken river prophet (cd release!)

animal hospital

ba-na-nas

free kickass cupcakes from 9-10pm!

@ the middle east upstairs


tuesday, august 19th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge


wednesday, august 20th

human league, belinda carlisle, abc,

flock of seagulls, naked eyes

@ the bank of america pavilion


thursday, august 21st

yndi halda

caspian

irepress

@ tt the bears


friday, august 22nd

obits (ex-hot snakes/rftc)

@ the middle east


saturday, august 23rd

amo joy!

franklin bruno

(from nothing painted blue)

one happy island (ep release!)

@ the lily pad


saturday, august 23rd

newbury comics / unnatural axe

30th anniversary bash

the meatmen, queers, nasties,

unnatural axe, sleazies

@ the middle east down


tuesday, august 26th

the final installment of...

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed august residency

@ the lizard lounge


wednesday, august 27th

liz phair performing

'exile in guyville'

@ the paradise


wednesday, august 27th

xiu xiu

prurient

@ the paradise


monday, september 1st

the juan maclean

@ the middle east downstairs


friday, september 5th

silver jews

@ the middle east downstairs


saturday, september 6th

my morning jacket

@ the bank of america pavilion


sunday, september 7th

ryan adams & the cardinals

@ the bank of america pavilion


tuesday, september 9th

paul weller

@ the berklee performance center


saturday, september 13th

wfnx disorientation 2008

the kooks, flogging molly,

alkaline trio, rogue wave,

and more to be announced

@ bank of america pavilion


monday, september 15th

james

@ the paradise


tuesday, september 16th

a place to bury strangers

@ the paradise


thursday, september 18th

the walkmen

@ the middle east downstairs


friday, september 19th

sigur ros

@ the bank of america pavilion


friday, september 19th to

sunday, september 21st

all tomorrow's parties

with my bloody valentine, low

built to spill, mogwai, shellac,

polvo, yo la tengo, lilys, autolux

dinosaur jr, mercury rev, & more

@ the catskills in nyc


monday, september 22nd

mogwai

fuck buttons

@ the wilbur theatre


tuesday, september 23rd

writer dennis lehane

(release day for 'the given day')

@ the coolidge corner theatre


wednesday, september 24th

low

@ the museum of fine arts boston


saturday, september 27th

built to spill

performing 'perfect from now on'

dinosaur jr.

meat puppets

@ the orpheum


sunday, september 28th

the bird and the bee

willoughby

@ great scott


thursday, september 30th

boston spaceships

(gbv's robert pollard)

big dipper

@ the paradise


sunday, october 5th

pinback

@ the paradise


monday, october 6th

the wedding present

@ the middle east downstairs


monday, october 6th

stereolab

monade

@ the paradise


wednesday, october 8th

wire

@ the middle east downstairs


sunday, october 12th

the residents

@ showcase live, foxboro


sunday, october 12th

the notwist

@ the roxy


tuesday, october 14th

cold war kids

@ the paradise


friday, october 17th

jonathan richman

with drummer tommy larkin

@ the somerville theatre


saturday, october 18th

ra ra riot

walter meego

the morning benders

@ the middle east


tuesday & wednesday

october 21st & 22nd

billy bragg

@ the somerville theatre


wednesday, october 22nd

lyle lovett & john hiatt

(acoustic, on stage together)

@ the orpheum


thursday, october 30th

of montreal

@ the orpheum


saturday, november 1st

henry rollins (spoken word)

@ the orpheum


monday, november 3rd

coldplay

@ the td banknorth garden


visit tourfilter for more shows




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Thursday, July 26, 2007

Before the Bordello: When Eugene was a Fag

And here's the post that, if it hasn't happened already, officially adds the Almanac to the profanity-blocking filters of every American school system...


I can't help but be fascinated following along with Eugene Hutz's story over the last 15 or so years: First, newly-arrived Ukrainian immigrant, guitarist/songwriter putting up 'bandmates wanted' signs around Burlington, Vermont; Soon after, manic three-chord, punk rock frontman for a trio he confrontationally (for VT, at least) called the Fags; Then, after incorporating the musical leanings of his ancestry and leaving town, the NYC-based leader of the gypsy-punk collective known as Gogol Bordello; Next thing you know, movie star on his way to being Madonna's Live Earth sidekick. Totally surreal.


Surreal for me mostly because I'd answered Eugene's call for 'bandmates wanted' way back when. In Vermont, he was Eugene Nikolaev, and if you know of him through his Gogol Bordello performances or the many interviews he's been doing to promote their out-now album, "Super Taranta!", he was pretty much exactly the guy he is now, minus the carefully-cultivated wardrobe. A rock star waiting for the rest of the world to catch up with him, a bona fide showman full of enthusiasm, punk attitude, and energy enough to make shit happen.

That musicians-wanted poster listed influences like Sonic Youth, Fugazi, and Dinosaur Jr., so even though I was in another band at the time, I couldn't not give the guy a call. Burlington was tiny enough, and so completely Phish-ified back then, that finding another musician with similar tastes was a relative rarity. So we hooked up to mess around on a few covers ("Waiting Room" and "Kool Thing" among them, I think) in my band's practice-space basement. Fatefully, nothing ever came of it, as Eugene would go on to find a more like-minded (and far more punk-rockin') drummer in Dana Shephard, and the two would start up the Fags.


I was a Fags fan from the get-go, even though their punk-on-their-sleeves attitude and Eugene's over-the-top on-stage (and off-stage) personality rubbed some of my friends the wrong way. Not me, though. I dug him, and his band, and not just because no other local acts playing at the 242 Main teen center were doing anything like what they were. The thickly-accented vocals (which, at first, some mistakenly assumed were contrived) fronted undeniably catchy songs... it was punk with melody, some bite, but without a raging mean-streak. The only full-length they released, "No Fleas, Lunch Money, and Gold Teeth", even threw in a touch of acoustic guitar, accordion, and some additional percussion, something most area punk or hardcore bands at the time wouldn't dare try. Their live shows always trumped their studio recordings, as is the case with Gogol Bordello, mostly because Eugene & co. brought so much energy to the stage.



The Fags circa 1995: Dana Shephard, Jason Cooley, and Eugene Hutz

While Dana was the Fags' only-ever drummer, three different (and all great) bass players would come and go: Josh Levy, Shawn Flanigan (who's now in Fire The Cannons), and for the longest and most productive period, Jason Cooley (who co-runs Icebox Records). I'll leave it to some future historian to chronicle the Fags' "Behind The Music" story that details their difficulty in keeping a bass player, but it maybe says a bit about Eugene and Dana that they were able to get such talented guys to fill the spot, and have trouble holding onto them (Denny and I would eventually snag Shawn to play with us in our own band).

So before I left Burlington behind, I'd somehow become a sort of local music scene booster, writing about area bands, putting together shows, and releasing a series of split 7" records (on the imaginatively named Split Records). In the small pond that was Burlington, I always tried to tread kindly, steering clear of negativity and doing things with bands I wasn't necessarily all that into musically in order to foster a closer sense of community. But with the Fags, I was always psyched to see and play with them, always into the songs they'd contribute to compilations, a few of which I'll share here...

The first comes from the last of the six Split 7" singles, which was released in the fall of 1995. The Fags recorded one of their most frenetic numbers, "Pills Of Patience", for the three-song record that also had cuts from local bands Jesus Nut and Rocketsled. I'll never forget the day I got back that test pressing... it just sounded so perfect on vinyl, and I played "Pills..." incessantly. But since I can't mail each of you one of the dusty extra copies I've got in my basement, have an Mp3...


In 1996, I put out a cassette compilation of local bands recorded on a four-track by Denny Donovan called "4-Track Action", and the Fags song "Let's Not Be Friends" was the lead-off, and a personal fave. By then I'd become increasingly tired of Burlington's small-pond syndrome, and Eugene's biting lyrics were exactly what I wanted to hear...

Mp3: The Fags - "Let's Not Be Friends"

I guess you don't really understand
That I don't give a fucking damn
About winning your respect
Oh no, it's nothing I collect

Let's not be friends, let's not be friends
Let's not be friends, let's not be friends

And I don't care what kind of shit
Flies off your mouth behind of me
Or your retarded, sucky zine
Or your position in the scene

Let's not be friends, let's not be friends
Let's not be friends, let's not be friends

The last track I'll share isn't one I helped release, but is one that is long out-of-print. It's the song they offered up for a 1996 Big Heavy World cd compilation of Burlington-area bands called "Sonic Tonic"...


Last I checked, someone had made the entirety of "No Fleas..." available for download over here. Looks like that zip file was made from a cd burn I created for a Gogol fan awhile back, and it includes some other extra tracks.


A related postscript: In 1994, in one of the stranger (sloppier?) and short-lived incarnations of cartoonist/songwriter James Kochalka's backing band (aka James Kochalka Superstar), I had a total blast playing drums behind James, Eugene on guitar, Pistol Stamen on guitar (of the Pants), and my pal Colin Clary on bass (catch him now in the Smittens & the Magogs). Here's a little video evidence, from a show at the still-missed Club Toast...


I'll be sharing up more of that performance eventually, but considering it took me years to get that one clip posted, don't wait up...





random mp3s of the moment
week of july 7th, 2008

vermonstress
1992 sub pop festival
in burlington, vermont
on october 10th & 11th, 1992

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