Cloaca Melodia

The Saint, Asbury Park, NJ.... I went primarily to see Dorothy, who had written a song I was obsessed with at one point. The show also served as a birthday celebration for WBJB Music Director Jeff Raspe and The Saint manager Scott Stamper.

The Bitter End, New York, NY.... Since the summer of last year, I've been working on writing a book about the music scene of 1992. One of the bands that my old radio station, WHTG, used to play in '92 was called the Cliffs of Dooneen, a rock group of Scottish and Irish lads transplanted to Boston. I was surprised to see that Flynn, the former Cliffs frontman was not only still recording but was doing a solo show at The Bitter End in New York this evening. I decided, at the last minute, to zip in to the city and see the show.  Irish rock band Stand, a quartet of expats, opened.  

Arlene's Grocery, New York, NY..... My friend Suzanne always raved about The Vitamen, so I went to see them. They're sort of a Ween-meets-Pavement band: very quirky lyrics and indie rock sound, but not afraid to mix in different styles. Their song "Pretty Little Secret" is a perfect example--an R&B styled song filtered through modern lo-fi with, um, offbeat lyrics to say the least.  That night I also met former Sumak frontman and current "Boy Wonder" Mark McAdam. His solo album was titled Boy Wonder, and it was perhaps the best unsigned album I've heard in a long, long time. McAdam's songs are a touch of Tom Waits, a bit of Leonard Cohen, and maybe some of Paul Westerberg's wry self-deprecation. His old band Sumack, purveyers of self-described "junk rock," were more like a typical pop-rock band, albeit with really sharp lyrics (although McAdam's future direction was certainly foreshadowed).