September 25, 2003 - American Legion - Northampton, MA - with: Minus A Map, Chicken McHead, Petulant Child
Henning says: Last night we played at the American Legion on Riverside Drive in Northampton. I had only been here once before, that was for Lord Russ' wedding reception. I arrived in the rain to find Tony sitting in his car in the parking lot...creepy. We went inside and were greeted by Sarah or Petulant Child. Now, the pieces fell together for me, so this is Sarah. I remembered her from interviewing Tony for a Humbert article in her Zine and also from making sandwiches for me at Subway years ago. Of course, I also recognized her just from seeing her all around town and at countless show throughout the years. Sarah informed us that we were all waiting for a band called Minus A Map to show up, since they were bringing the PA and since they were the first band. It was getting late, and the other bands started trying to rig up a makeshift PA with a guitar amp and a microphone. Luckily, Minus a Map showed up in the nick of time. It seems that they got lost, which is funny when you look at their name. So, soon, the show began. The room was pretty scarcely populated but the crowd was friendly and family like and Dancing Larry was there to spread his never ending enthusiasm around. Minus a Map, Chicken McHead, and Petulant Child all played before us, and I enjoyed them all. Minus a Map was a little darker and heavier than the others, Chicken McHead was awesome old school punk rock - and really funny, too. Petulant Child, who were celebrating their one year birthday were great, too. They have the garage rock thing down and switched off on vocalists. Good songs about beaches and dripping. We took the stage and again borrowed some equipment. It was such a nice casual atmosphere and before long half of the crowd was out on the dance floor all dancing together. I don't mean they were all out there dancing, I mean they were literally dancing together in a big circle of swinging arms and giant smiles. We played another aggressive fast set, I change the words from One Lady Dancing to One Larry Dancing. My friend Lee's family used to have a canary called Larry (it was a bird, get it? Larry Bird?!) who they eventually discovered was female so they renamed It Lady - so that switching of words was old hat to me. It turned out to be a really fun night, I even had fun seeing the three older regulars on the other side of the bar trying to have a conversation while the punk explosions filled the room. The rain didn't even bother me. The band has really been bouncing around with dynamics lately. We played three really aggressive shows (Alumni Club, Harry's, and American Legion) and one quiet show (Koffee Too?) and now tomorrow night it's back to quiet again at the Thirsty Mind. It's like a roller coaster. Weeeee. Brian Says: Thursday: Lo Fine did a 5 song set at the Alejandro Escovedo benefit at Veracuzana. He is an awesome singer/songwriter (uplifting pop) who is w/out health insurance and contracted hepatitis C. They are having benefits all across the country for him. It was a great get together where I felt more of a Noho music spirit than I have in quite some time. Then THE RED SOX CLINCHED THE WILD CARD Then El Beez and I drove over to the VFW/American Legion on Riverside Drive in Baystate (that little area that's not quite Noho,not quite Florence, but comes with grapefruit). It's 30 paces from a house I lived in from 96-98. It was loud when we arrived and I had to adjust my attitude with a walk around the neighborhood (I was tired, alright?). But the lovely night air started to do the trick, THEN a beer and Chicken McHead took me the rest of the way. Aw, they were great! So much fun. Petulant Child continued the fun vibe. This bill was straight outta Baystate '94. I loved Petulant Child's songs and drummer. Then SFTD played and Larry was filming us for Link2Rock.com (a great site BTW). The sound on stage was weird. I was convinced my snare drum was broken, or wicked loose or something. When I examined it outside it was fine as ever. But the sound on stage made it sound goo-y and loose. Bleh. But thanks for the drum loan--awesome vintage Gretch kit! Tony Says: Had so much fun at this show. I felt silly upon arrival. It was SFTD amongst a punk backdrop so to be as punk as possibe, I wore a Bsoton Red Sox shirt, a Boston Red Sox ballcap and a UMass jacket. Maybe because the flavor of the show reminded me of the shows I used to play in my old band The Generics, which was a very silly band indeed. And Sara Urban, who put the show together and who plays in Petulant Child was a mainstay of all those Generics shows. So I (we) just went with that when we played. The vocals were way distorted but the energy level was high. And the mood was upbeat. Always is when Dancing Larry's around. Henning asked not too long ago to come up with people who just seemed happy all the time and there's one for you. A stroll through a request of "Something European" to close out the show cemented the Genric-ness of it all- after all, it's a tune I wrote during those days when I was about four years old (well, seventeen. At seventeen... it was a very good year...). I was a little distracted by The Red Sox game to fully appreciate Minus A Map but Chicken McHead was fun and funny, especially when Larry kept screaming "Anthony! Anthony!" a la the old spaghetti commerical. And Petulant Child's song "Take Me To The Beach With You" is one of the most perfect pop songs anyone could ever come up with.