Anne's Show Picks for the Weekend (August 28)

By Anne Castellano

The last unofficial weekend of summer is upon us, and fortunately there is a lot of good live music to enjoy. Get the weekend started early if you wish, because there are a couple of shows across the river on Thursday night. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Sandy “Sandman” Allen and bassist Mike Palazzolo will be playing at Sneekers Cafe in Groton. You've probably seen Sandy and Mike with the Hoolios, and they are also former members of the Rivergods, but here is a good opportunity to hear Sandy play his own tunes. In addition to the excellent music, you'll also hear a lot of great stories from his many years of traveling and playing with bands. Music starts around 7 pm and continues until 10:00. It's a friendly place, there's no cover, and you might want to arrive hungry, because Sneekers is well known for its delicious food.

CD Review: Straight To VHS - Weekend Weekend Weekend

Published August 25, 2014
By Adam Wujtewicz

"You ain't no ninja!". That's pretty much the sum of the lyrical content of the first song on New London garage rockers Straight To VHS' new album Weekend Weekend Weekend. Bad grammar aside it shows the straight-forward-no-frills-completely-ireverant-style they're going for. With the bass in the right headphone, guitar in the left, drums and vocal in the middle -  they're pushing the retro punk aesthetic to it's limits. It's a classic punk rock sandwich that's been proven to work and with a little pop and blues sprinkled in there STVHS is bound to start ears ringing this fall.

Anne's Show Picks for the Weekend (August 21)

By Anne Castellano

We have a pretty good weekend coming up for live shows, and it starts on Thursday. The Oasis Pub in New London has a Thursday night show with Terrible Roars, Dr. Martino, and Nosy Mangabe. All three bands will be playing the Oasis for the first time. Terrible Roars is a CT indie rock band that is the side project of Ross Page, of Bristol band the Raven and the Wool. Dr. Martino is a vocal-driven surf rock trio from Willimantic, and Noisy Mangabe is a theatrical progressive folk band from Boston (or is it Miami? Go to their Facebook page and try to read their bio...) whose instrumentation includes upright bass and ukulele. This is a rare opportunity to see some out of town bands on a weeknight, and these are always good shows. Cover is $5 and the show starts at 9 pm.

Anne's Show Picks for the Weekend (August 14)

By Anne Castellano

Thursday seems to be the busiest night of the upcoming weekend, with a couple of shows taking place on Golden Street in New London. The good news is that you will easily be able to see both of them. First up, there will be an early show at the Telegraph record store with Pocket Vinyl and Nemes. New London duo Pocket Vinyl has released three albums, most recently Death Anxiety  in 2013. Eric Stevenson plays piano and sings while his wife Elizabeth Jancewicz paints. At the end of the set, the brand new painting is sold to the highest bidder. They've been taking it slow this summer while Elizabeth works on her art, but they plan to do a lot of touring beginning in October. Indie rock band Nemes will be visiting from Boston. (In case you want to talk to your friends about the show, you pronounce the band's name like "knee•miss." It must be a drag for them to have to explain that all the time, but I digress.) The current lineup of the band, which includes two brothers, has been together for about two years and they plan to release their first full length album in the fall. Not your typical four piece, their instrumentation includes guitar, bass, drums, and violin. They have been nominated for several New England Music Awards, and Alternative Press has named them one of the top 5 unsigned bands in the country. The show starts at 6 pm and you can BYOB. All ages are welcome, and there is no cover.

Anne's Show Picks of the Week (July 31)

By Anne Castellano

There are a lot of shows this weekend, and there should be something to suit anyone's taste. On Friday night, there's a four band show at Strange Brew Pub in Norwich. The bands are Eastern Hollows, Dances, Straight to VHS, and The Mendition of the Quay. Jangle-psych quintet Eastern Hollows is from Brooklyn, NY. They released their debut LP, The Way That You've Gone, in May. Garage pop trio Dances, who is also from Brooklyn, put out a new EP called Whiter Sands  in April. The Mendition of the Quay is a four-piece garage/psych/pop band from New Haven, who formed in 2008. They have released one album and a single, with a new one on the way soon. New London trio Straight to VHS, in addition to taking home a statuette for Best Garage Act at the recently Whalie Awards, recently released a new album called Weekend Weekend Weekend. The bands on this bill seem to be well matched, and this looks to be a great night. The show starts at 8 pm and cover is $5.

CD Review: Horns of Ormus - Bashful

Published July 28, 2014
By Adam Wujtewicz

I've referred to Horns of Ormus as intelli-punk before and I'd say that their new release Bashful only solidifies that classification. Drawing as much influence from the arty leanings of bands like Television and Sonic Youth as they do the fury of bands like Wire and the Dead Boys, Bashful gives me the same feeling as I had when I first heard J Reatard's Blood Visions, "Wow I actually still enjoy punk!". HOO isn't reinventing the wheel but they're walking such a fine line with an incredible amount of grace that it's a pleasure to listen to. They're never obtuse, they're never hardcore and they're never ever ever up their own ass. It is an incredibly rare thing when smart and raucous go together without being any of those things. There is a jangly attack that runs through the entire record. Whether it's the high end scrape and cut of Chris's guitar or the sandpaper melody of Greg's vocals...these guys don't play defense. 

Anne's Show Picks of the Week (July 24)

By Anne Castellano

We have a slow weekend ahead for live music, but there are still a few shows happening. On Friday night, Craig Johnson and Dana Takaki will be doing a happy hour set of originals and classics at the Bulkeley House in New London. Craig plays bass in Monkey68 (Vincent Tuckwood's band) and the Rivergods, but he occasionally does acoustic singer/songwriter type shows as well. Craig also hosts the highly successful Common Ground Open Mic that takes place on Wednesday evenings at the Bulkeley House. He'll have accompaniment on Friday from violinist Dana Takaki, who has been extremely busy lately. Dana is a classically trained player who performs with orchestras as well as with local artists such as the Rivergods, Dogbite, and Arlene Wow!. She plays a wide variety of styles, and it should be great to see these two talented musicians play together. The show takes place outdoors on the patio from 5-7:30 pm, and there is no cover.

Anne's Show Picks of the Week (July 17)

By Anne Castellano

On Friday night, Sasquatch and the Sick-A-Billys will play a show at 33 Golden Street in New London, along with NYC trio The Bloodshots. It's been years since the Sick-A-Billys have played here, but Dave "Sasquatch" has performed at 33 several times in the meantime with King Sickabilly and his Full Moon Boys. From what I understand, this Providence psychobilly band recently reunited, and they just finished a two week tour that took them to Virginia and back. They played their first show in 2001, they've done a lot of touring, and they've had a bunch of lineup changes. I'm not sure who is in the band these days, but you can bet it will be a wild show anyway. I've seen this band a bunch of times, and I've definitely seen some crazy things happen onstage. You never know how his shows will turn out, but I can tell you that the best Sickabillys shows are the ones where Sasquatch does more music and less talking. Drunkenness and other antics aside, the music is excellent, and Sasquatch is a really good guitar player as well. Also on the bill are the Bloodshots, a Brooklyn rockabilly trio fronted by Little Lesley, who sings and plays upright bass. She's from upstate New York. Guitarist Brian "Swifty" Swift is from California. He's the son of a preacher, a situation which seems to create a lot of great songwriters. Staten Island native Bobby Lee plays drums. The band has been together about two years, and they have played a lot of shows in that short time period (including at least one show at 33 Golden Street). They have shared stages with legends such as Robert Gordon and the Rockats, and their live show sounds like it's extremely entertaining. This should be a fun night. I always love checking out the fashions and hair at the rockabilly shows too. The show starts at 9 pm and cover is $5.

Bruce Carpenter Memorial Benefit Show @ Mystic German Club Sat July 19

"Frohsinn Hall" German Club

54 Greenmanville Avenue

Mystic, CT

6pm to midnight
$5 - all proceeds are going to Lisa Carpenter
ALL AGES
Facebook Event Page


(6:30-7:00) I left my gun in San Francisco
(7:10-7:30) Crime
(7:40-8:10) We Got Mouths
(8:20-8:50) Matt Gouette
(9:00-9:30) Debcaster
(9:40-10:10) The Feels
(10:20-10:50) Anderson Family Picnic
(11:00-11:30) Riki Rocksteady
(11:40-12:10) Doll Steak