The Blizzard of 78

The Lights Out

Old Jack

I took this photo of two pink peonies in Central Square in front of Betahouse. View the image on Flickr to see a larger view of the flowers.

[Aloud at Arlington Regent Theater, April 2009, photo by Annie Burns]

I go out to see a lot of live music and it’s always more fun to share it with other people. Annie Burns and I started up a new group called The Rock Out Boston Club on Facebook. The first concert outing is for Aloud at TT The Bear’s Place on Tuesday, May 12th in Central Square. We’re meeting up for drinks and appetizers at nearby ZuZu at 8 and then the band goes on at 9pm.

My hope is that people who might not go out to see live rock shows all that often will join us. And since Aloud goes on first at 9, it won’t be a late night if you can’t stay past the first band on a school night. There are approximately 393,038 great bands in Boston. You can go out any night of the week and see what this town has to offer.

Everyone who joins us will get a free CD from Aloud with live and unreleased songs on it.

Join The Rock Out Boston Club’s group on Facebook and RSVP for the first outing on May 12th.

Marc Pinansky, singer and guitarist for Boston band Township, is exploring his mellower, singer-songwriter side with a collection of new songs that he tested out at TT The Bear’s Place last week.

I absolutely love Township. Their style of unabashed rock and roll is the real thing. But I wasn’t sure what it was going to be like to see Marc with just his voice, an acoustic guitar and a lot less volume. Chris Lay summed up the (very good) experience:

Marc added further evidence to my theory that inside every hard-driving neoclassic rocker is an acoustic balladeer struggling to get out, and also convinced me that that is a good thing.

Here’s the concert video I recorded for Sooz TV of Marc Pinansky singing “As A Child.” Who knew he was such a world class whistler, too!

Subscribe to Sooz TV on iTunes.

Download a free MP3 of “Rivers Suck” by Marc Pinansky at Boston Band Crush.

The Lights Out with Rumble host Anngelle Wood on night six of the WBCN Rock N' Roll Rumble Preliminaries. TLO won the night and will compete in the semi-finals on April 16.

The Boston Herald has a story by Michael Marotta about the impact that the internet and social media has played in this year’s WBCN Rock N’ Roll Rumble. I couldn’t agree more! But what is up with The Boston Herald only linking to one website in the story? They mention Boston Band Crush and Ryan’s Smashing Life but don’t link to each website.

I skipped the Rumble the first 13 years I lived in Boston and first checked it out a few of the nights in 2007. Last year, SoozFavorites Girls Guns And Glory competed (and then won) so I went to the two nights they performed plus maybe one more.

Mostly whenever I go to rock shows to photograph I just do my thing and leave. It’s not that I’m not a sociable person; but for whatever reason, at concerts, I always feel a lot more shy about saying hi to bands and other people that are there.

But this year’s Rumble has been an entirely different experience for me. After deciding to turn the lights out at Exploit Boston! (RIP 2002-2009), I collaborated with Ryan Spaulding who runs the popular music blog Ryan’s Smashing Life: his words plus my photos and video. We had an exhaustive blast covering the six nights of preliminaries last week. I still can’t believe I saw twenty-four bands on six nights (one night in the middle was designated as “day of rest”)! Mike, Sophia and the rest of the gang at Boston Band Crush have also shared speedy coverage of each night of the Rumble with lots of tweeting and video roundups.

The rock photographer’s cabal

Joe Harrington, Johnny Arguedas and I were at all six preliminary nights shooting photographs. Other photographers that were there for some of the preliminaries included Just Bill, Nicole Tammaro and Kelly Davidson.

Tweet, tweet, tweet

So many people are using Facebook and Twitter to share tidbits, accolades, pointers to their blog stories, photos, etc. (Not just “social media experts!!”) Everyone felt like they were part of something that was bigger than just four hours at a rock club.

A good host and organizer makes a huge difference!

Of course, there’s also this year’s new host, WBCN DJ for local music show Boston Emissions, Anngelle Wood. She is a long-time music tastemaker and very well respected within the Boston music community. Anngelle did a great job wading through lots of Boston bands to select twenty-four that would play in this year’s 31st Annual Rock N’ Roll Rumble. Her Boston Emissions cohort Shawn Sixx has also played a part in making this year’s Rumble so awesome.

Be there for the semi-finals on April 16-17 at The Middle East Downstairs

If you are in Boston on April 16-17, you really owe it to yourself to attend both night’s of the Rumble semi-finals at The Middle East Downstairs. Avoid the online fees and stop by The Middle East on Mass Ave in Central Square to pick up your tickets in person or buy them online through Ticketmaster.

Bands playing in the semi-finals on April 16th: Have Nots (9:30-10:00), Sarah RabDAU and Self-Employed Assassins (10:30-11:00), The Lights Out (11:30-12:00), Gene Dante and the Future Starlets (12:30-1:00).

Bands playing in the semi-finals on April 17th: Destruct-a-thon (9:30-10:00), The Luxury (10:30-11:00), The Dirty Truckers (11:30-12:00), Gravehaven (12:30-1:00).

Recap of reviews, photos and videos of the six nights of Rumble preliminaries

Ryan’s Smashing Life: night one, night two, night three, night four, night five, night six

Boston Band Crush: press coverage roundup

Sooz Photography (that’s me!): Photo sets for each night of Rumble preliminaries

Sarah RabDAU at WBCN's Rock N' Roll Rumble

My collaboration with Ryan’s Smashing Life continues with an assortment of photos and a video from the fourth night of preliminaries at WBCN’s 31st Annual Rock N’ Roll Rumble on April 9th. Visit RSL to see a review, photos and video.

On the surface, it seems like a great idea to go to nine rock shows in two weeks. It turns out to be a little crazy. It’s fun — but I’ve learned to really appreciate good shoes and the right pair of socks!

The crazy band of music loving bloggers over at Boston Band Crush are also writing about each night at the Rumble.

Here’s a video I shot on Thursday of Sarah RabDAU and Self-Employed Assassins who won the fourth night of preliminaries. They’ll go on to compete in the semi-finals at the Middle East Downstairs on April 16th or 17th.

(The Motion Sick competed on the second night of preliminaries)

Ryan’s Smashing Life has reviews of the second and third preliminary nights of WBCN’s Rock N’ Roll Rumble at The Middle East Upstairs including my photos and videos.

Video of The Dirty Truckers performing “Boston Wrangler” at Rumble preliminaries

Here’s the video I shot of The Dirty Truckers performing “Boston Wrangler” at the third preliminary night on April 7th. They will compete in the semi-finals on April 16th at The Middle East Downstairs.