It's A Joke , Son

As I mentioned a couple days ago, I've always had fun at the City's' expense when it came to their marketing gimmicks proposed to sell Worcester to anybody they thought was buying. I know, a lot of work went into these projects, even one that was designed by a former co-worker who would probably try to sue me if she ever saw my take on her creation. I think the statue of liberty ran out on that though. And so, here are some of the Wormtown Campaigns I created, thanks to them.

To quote The Simpson's,
Marge: "Homer, it's easy to criticize"
Homer: " And fun, too!"

Let's Go To The Beach!!

It's January, and believe it or not, it's fuckin' cold out.
Here's a video from the last vacation I took.
That one was by choice.

Economic Downturn

Yeah, it hit home today. After five and a half years of running a press just like this, I was let go from my job. I was responsible for printing signs and forms for 36 retail clothing stores throughout the eastern half of the USA. Well, make that 26 stores now, since they're closing ten in the coming months. It was a one man operation, and I was it . Keeping up with impossible workloads, last year I printed over 1 million signs. Then today, of all the ironic twists, I was laid off just as I was half way through printing 15,000 job applications. I cleaned out my desk, deleted my files from the work computer and bid adieu to the job I thought I'd retire at. Welcome to 2009. Obama, can you spare a dime??
Oh, and I finished the job too.

First Anniversary

WOW, it's been a year already for this blog. Where does the time go. I originally started this to chronicle the 30th Anniversary of Wormtown, but decided to keep on going after the party in May. The logo I came up with for that has proven to be the most popular parody of Worcester Marketing that I've ever co-opted . So, now, I've dropped the 30th off of it and added an exclamation point to emphasize that this is where it's at, Wormtown here and now!
Now to celebrate the Blog Birthday, here are some videos from the other night at The Lucky Dog. First is Wormtown Band of 2008, The Pathetics, and two from Sasquatch and the Sick A Billys. They both played to a packed house , and Sasquatch says it's the last time The Sick A Billys will be in Wormtown for a while. He said he'll be back in a couple months with a wild Metal Band he's planning on starting.

Wormtown Weekend

Wild times are coming this week. The Lucky Dog,on Friday is the only club in town with enough balls to book Sasquatch and the Sick-a-billys. This band has been asked not to return to many venues throughout it's career, and you can go to Green Street and find out why. They are on the bill with the Wormtown Band of 2008, The Pathetics! It will be a sick evening.
Meanwhile over at Ralphs, one of the clubs that refuses to book Sasquatch, Jamie Severance and his Fighting Cocks are headlining. You may remember Jamie from his old Wormtown band Unattached. So , flip your mental rock n roll coin and decide which show you want to witness.

Ron Asheton, RIP

News today that Ron Asheton, guitarist for The Stooges passed away of a heart attack. The band that started it all back in the late 60's early 70's, and Ron Asheton became a guitar hero to everyone who desired to pay loud , raw rock n roll. The Worm Bros had the opportunity to see them up close and personal in 2007 and here's are a few shitty pictures of that night.
Go visit Rons' myspace page and leave your thoughts, and check out The Stooges page for more music from this punk pioneer.

Wormtown Weekend, Happy New Year

After 2008, the new year ought to be as nice as Stewie Griffin, so he's my New Year Baby.

Why not start off on the right foot with the shod foot. Kick off the new year this Saturday night over at The Hotel Vernon, there's a big, diverse show with Can't Kill Katie and Hoodrat who host two bands from Virginia Beach, J Karner and the Petersen Bros and The Fastermores, PLUS from Portland ME, Lead Stiletto. The Vernon gets my vote for Bar of the Year in Wormtown for it's line up of punk shows, cheap gansetts, and no cover. How can you beat that?
I would guess in the year ahead they will continue with more.

Speaking of what it was in '08, let's look back.

Bummer of the year: Ralph's Passing.

Show of the Year: DUH! The Wormtown 30th Weekend in May '08 was IT! Wormtown Bands from now and then made Ralph's rock like it hasn't in years! And I heard, The Odds will be back there in March.

Band of the Year: The Pathetics. Releasing two CDs and playing more shows in a year than they probably played in their life, these bastards get my vote. Expect more drunken follies in '09.

Invasion of the Year: The Wormtown Beetles. The Unfab Four Million. That's either the number of them, or the down payment to get rid of them.

Sale of the Year: Womag. What a Landmark this was. Watch it now as it slowly becomes irrelevant.

Pipe dream of the year: A tie. The Blackstone cAnal Repro. Yeah, let's see The Gubmint give you the money to build that now. And Shitty Square, do people really still believe that they will knock down The Galleria? Why not just use it for a Homeless Shelter. PIP with a view.

Radio Station of the Year: WTAG. What? Well even though WCUW got new management, transmitter, online streaming, 'tag lead Wormtown County through the worst natural disaster in more than 50 years with info and updates and letting residents air their complaints.

And finally, Website of the year: Wormtown Taxi. If you really want to know a city, ask a cab driver. Jeff has done a great job, it's the only site I check multiple times a day.

Sorry if I forgot to mention YOUR special contribution to life in Wormtown. Why not try harder this year.