Friday, December 11, 2009

Wormtown Weekend


I could find only one show this week that you should brave the arctic air to witness.
Guns of Navarone are playing 55 Pearl on Friday. You know, that new restaurant downtown at 55 Pearl St. I have never been there, and did not even know they had live music. I thought it was the kind of place where only the rich people go. Who Knew?
OH, it's a private party for the Worcester Rugby Club. Go crash it.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

What I'm Listening To

Worcester Telegram

THANKS to Telegram and Victor. Let the comments commence.......

What you’re listening to: LB Worm


By Victor D. Infante TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
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LB Worm Blogger, “Wormtown Punk Punk”
What LB Worm is listening to:

1. “202,” Angry Johnny and the Killbillies 2. “I Don’t Want To Be Left Behind,” by the Time Beings 3. “Bitch,” by the Plastiscines 4. “Good Old Days,” by the Numbskulls 5. “Psycho Boyfriend,” by Slitstich 6. “In Me Shed,” by Punks Not Dads 7. “Cape Cod Girls,” by Sharks Come Cruisin’ 8. “The Ballad of McNasty,” by the Pity Whores 9. “Monkey Man,” by Guns Of Navarone 10. “What’s Up Doc?” by Carbon Silicon LB Worm, blogger and WURN.org radio host, likes his music local and he likes his music loud. What else would you expect from someone behind the popular music blog, “Wormtown Punk”? The Time Beings, the Numbskulls, Slitstitch — Worm offers a veritable who’s who of the Worcester scene’s flat-out, straight-ahead rock, and he’s not ashamed to show his love.

For example, of the Time Beings’ “I Don’t Want To Be Left Behind,” he says, “This is Worcester’s own guitar god Preston Wayne’s garage band. Raw wild rock music played at high volume that will make the birds fly away from house.” And he says, of the Numbskulls track, “A song about friends and family in the rock ’n’ roll scene in Wormtown. One of the best punk bands to ever come out of Worcester.”

Which is high praise, from someone who’s relentless in promoting the music scene, and whose knowledge of the music extends beyond the city’s borders, and includes such unique bands as Sharks Come Cruisin’.

“SCC,” he says, “is a band out of Providence that plays traditional sea shanties and sailor songs with a modern twist. This, the opening track, is about women from the Cape, and how they live their lives and raise families.”

Other bands on his playlist come from as far away as Europe, such as the UK’s Punks Not Dads, which he describes as, “Old punks from the UK who prove that punks don’t fade away, instead they make loud music to annoy their kids and neighbors. A great song about the glory of your backyard shed, where you can get away from it all and relax.”

And of course, a few punk legends make their way onto the list, most notably on Carbon Silicon’s “What’s Up Doc?”

“This is former Clash guitarist Mick Jones and Generation X bassist Tony James’ new group,” says Worm, “who would rather give away their music than charge people for it. You can download this CD from their Web site. The song is faster and harder than most of the stuff Jones has played in the past.”

But in the final analysis, Worm’s someone who reserves the better part of his love for local acts such as Slitstitch.

“More punk noise from Wormtown,” he says. “This one starts slow then builds into a fast paced rave-up, ending in total destruction of your ears.”

And from where Worm’s sitting, that sounds about perfect.

Guilty pleasure: “No songs on my MP3 player to be embarrassed by,” says Worm, who played all the songs on his list on his radio show. “I don’t listen to bad music, and the only things on my MP3 player are old radio episodes of ‘The Jack Benny Program.’ ”

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Bye Bye, Wormtown

That's the heading of this editorial that ran in The Telegram after The Centrum opened in 1982.
How did that work out for you?

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Wormtown High Reunion

That's what it seemed like last Friday at Ralph's where dozens of old school Wormtown fans came out of the woodwork to witness the show of th year. Here's some pics and a video from Mike Malone.

Musclecah



Commandos



Crybabies



Time Beings



Thursday, December 3, 2009

Wormtown Weekend



I forgot, it's Thursday!
So, you already know, Friday at Ralph's it's the best Wormtown show of the year. The Crybabies, The Time Beings, The Commandos, Musclecah, and special guests The Darlings out of Boston. That's Billy Loosigian from The Boom Boom Band's other outfit. They play country rock, and are quite good. Talk about mixing it up.
Then on Saturday, Punk Rock mayhem over at London Billiards on James St with The Pathetics, The Pity Whores, pick up their new CD, "Quarter Life Crisis".Sadplant, will be releasing their new CD "The Kids Are Alright" that night too. Also on the bill are The Thickness, Social Suicide, Citizen, and CTA.
Now that's a fun filled weekend.

The Time Beings

They're also on the bill for the Big Wormtown Rock show on Friday at Ralph's.
I found some old press on them too in the archives.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

The Return Of Artie

This Friday at Ralph's, Artie Sneiderman returns to Wormtown with his latest line up of The Crybabies. I first met him when he was a doorman at Xit, Worcesters' one and only Punk Rock Club. He then sang for The Slumlords, The Chain Reactions, The Actions, The Belmondos, and The Crybabies throughout his long career. I decide to go through the archives and dig up some print articles that have appeared over the years, so you can read first hand of all the bands and great people he has played with over the years.