Elvis and Nick at WBCN 1978

Talkin' 'bout my alma mater. In fact, I saw Elvis solo at UMass in 1983 or '84. He was fantastic.

Mick Ronson

One of my all-time fave guitar solos. My reaction when listening to it can be seen mirrored by the girl in the audience at about 1:36, even if Mick looks a little Nigel Tufnel in his own expressions.

Toad in February

Hello kids,

Toad on Saturday nights in February is the place to be and don't let no one tell you nothing else. Thursdays are tough for those of us with kids and/or jobs. I understand. We moved the residency to Saturdays for you. How about that?

Cathy Piantigini wrote a fantastic piece on those Thursdays of yore, last June to be precise. You can find it here.

T-Shirts on the Way for the February Toad Shows

A nice guy named Thomas has a sports apparel company and has offered to make some t-shirts using Stephen Dowling's picture that makes it seem that I rock the stadiums and the coliseums. He might do some fulfillment of mail orders, but we have not gotten that far yet. I think we'll start with 100 for the shows. But if we get a lot of orders, we will make more. Keep your eye on this post and I will edit with more information as it becomes available.

Hot Stove Cool Music

This has to be my 25th year with this event. Honestly, I lost count. It is natural to feel like it is getting old, stale, and for the participants to be less excited as the years go by. And I can only speak for myself, but this is sometimes the ennui-like winter feeling that sets in each December/January. Part of it is the post-holiday exhaustion and typical winter darkness. But it is precisely that inertia and negativity that we must battle in life. And Hot Stove Cool Music proves year upon year to be the unexpected reward for getting my ass out of the house, meet and chat via emails and phone calls with the main organizers, and rehearse the various segments of which I am part. Just when you think it is time to move on, we end up getting down to the Paradise, seeing old friends, playing great music, brushing elbows with young Red Sox stars on their way up (see me and Wild Thing Papelbon, above) and I end up having one of the greatest times, not just of the winter, but of the year. Get your tickets now. Raise money for a great Boston charity event.

Poster by Gary Greenberg

The Amazingly Talented Mr. Dowling

I am tweaking the look of the page. Thanks in great part to our friend Steve Dowling, a kiwi by birth and temperament, and a Londoner by edict and mayoral proclamation, who has been coming to soundchecks and shows for years and taking great photos. The one I am using as the top shot is from the Netherlands in 2007, just about a year ago. He's a good guy to have on the road, as he is skilled at breaking up fistfights, paying off the local constabulary, and serving out local brews. Links to his page are on the right. Here are some other good ones.












See the link to his page in the links section on the right. From his site, you can also explore his Flickr site, which has many compelling pictures of Buff Tom and bands such as Iron and Wine, Calexico and more.

Nice Mention in Today's Boston Globe

Nice mention of this page (have any alternatives for the word "blog" come to the fore?) here in the Globe today. Thanks to the fabulous Sarah Rodman, whom I believe I last saw roaming the streets of Austin Texas in 2006. Say it ain't so, Sarah!

NY Times Piece on Music and Marketing

Interesting article on music in marketing by Jon Pareles in today's Times. Nothing groundbreaking; even Jon seems unable to offer anything conclusive.

Magnet Magazine Mention

Nice to see some other sites picking up on the Cover of the Week project. Bradley's Almanac had an early post about it. Magnet Magazine takes notice here.

Juliana Hatfield Responds to Post

If I had a dollar for every time a girl/woman told me it's not me it's her...

Our friend from way back, Juliana, graciously offers her version/explanation of the events described in my Dreaming post.

Bill, it's not you; it's me. Don't take it personally that I said I would sing on "Dreaming" and then I took off. You see, I suffer from a sometimes crippling disorder called "Rock Club-itis". It is a phobia; a fear of being in any rock club for even one second longer than I absolutely have to, in order to do my work.

Like an alcoholic develops a sick liver after years of tippling, a touring indie musician can develop an intensely strong physical aversion to being in rock clubs. A drunk is affected, over time, by too many drinks, too many hangovers; I have been damaged by too many hours hanging out in the darkness, sitting on too many dirty, beer-stained, puke-scented couches in cramped, freezing-cold and stifling-hot backstage kennels. I guess you could call this affliction a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. Or post-rock stress disorder. PRSD. The inevitable result of all my years on the club circuit; years of forced exposure (work; touring) to that stifling, harsh (everything always so LOUD! Too loud! Hurts my ears!), unsanitary and uncomfortable environment. (I won't even get into how a gig schedule screws up one's circadian rhythms.)

This is how bad it is: When I'm walking down a street and I spot rock club in the distance, I get queasy and nail-bitey and I have to cross the street in order to avoid passing too closely to the venue lest my growing anxiety (proportionate to how close I am to the club) overwhelm me and, like, throw me into a fit of hysterics or something.

And that is my explanation for bailing before you guys played "Dreaming". I wanted to sing with you, I really did, but as I stood waiting for the song to come up in your set list, I started to feel that old familiar nauseous/frightened feeling and the flashbacks started happening and the walls started closing in on me and I knew then that I had to flee the venue, for sanity's sake. I had hoped that I could stick it out until "Dreaming" rolled around but I failed. I failed you, Buffalo Tom, and I failed myself. I am weak.

Plus, I am really shy. Jumping up on stage with a band during their show always SOUNDS like a good idea in theory, but when showtime rolls around and my guest appearance looms, I sometimes chicken out. I can't speak for Westerberg, but maybe he experienced something similar.

Oh, and FYI- I did actually play guitar in the first incarnation of the Blake Babies; you were correct about that. We were originally a quartet, with Seth White on bass, myself on rhythm guitar, and John Strohm on lead (Freda on drums). I later switched to bass, when Seth quit the band. From then on, the Blake Babies were known as a trio.

Regretfully,

Juliana Hatfield

Another, Younger Janovitz

This is my brother, Tom. I was 16 when he was born. That makes him, lemme see...12.

Lovely voice, lovely guitar. Sort of Ry Cooder meets John Fahey.

Congratulations Bandini, Low Anthem, Ed V., Billy B and so many others.....

I want to say, hey, congratulations to my brother, Scott, and his band, the Great Bandini, for winning best local song, "One and One." Also, I recall loving Wait Until Spring, Bandini, from John Fante, back when I read it close to 20 years back.

Also, I have to say you should check out The Low Anthem, who won best new act. I picked up their record, What the Crow Brings, which is delicious. But I really look forward to the new collection, which can be previewed at their myspace: very pretty songs. This is especially recommended for people that liked the Show People CD from Chris Toppin, me, Phil, Dean, Paul, Mike, et. al. But if you like Waits, Dylan, the new kids with all that string band stuff, etc., I think you might like some of their songs a great deal.


http://www.lowanthem.com

http://www.myspace.com/lowanthem

Are You Excited for the Faces Reunion?

Further on Kenney Jones

Requests

Thanks to everyone for their feedback. I have gotten some good requests, many of which I already had on my short list. So look for future versions of, among other things, Slip Slidin' Away (I have played this out at least once), Dreaming (BT has been doing this since 1987), He's Gone (oh no, the Grateful Dead!), and some others. I will look back.

The deal is not an auction for top bidder. You are an honest enough bunch that I will trust you to make a donation to a charity. I am leaning towards the Foundation to be Named Later, since I am already affiliated with it a bit and since they do such fine work. I will try to do it by next week, so that those of you who need one can have a tax deduction!