PLAYGROUND BOSTON

Come's Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw, performing live with TraniWreck at Club Oberon. Photo Credit: Tim Bugbee

Now in its seventh year, TraniWreck, the brainchild of Aliza Shapiro (aka Heywood Wakefield) combines many facets of LBGT culture and entertainment for an experience that is ribald, kitschy, and just plain fun. In their own words, ”TraniWreck is the legendary, award-winning, cabaret variety show featuring genderbending irreverence: Drag, Burlesque, Aerials and Performance Art. Since 2004, TraniWreck has been the home of brilliantly revealing costumes, inconceivably long nails, facial hair of astronomic proportions, gold lamé, debauchery and more attitude than a $13 cocktail” – and that’s 100% accurate. TraniWreck’s “TraniWrock” event at Club Oberon alternated between freewheeling cabaret, stand-up comedy, campy skits, and daring aerial maneuvering – the show was packed with excitement! The evening also included Teenbeat’s Cotton Candy (label honcho and ex-Unrest founder Mark Robinson, and ex-Blast Off Country Style singer Evelyn Hurley) to provide some mutated jingles to cover costume changeovers.

Aerial acrobatics abound at Club Oberon during TraniWreck's TraniWrock performance. Photo Credit: Tim Bugbee

Once the parade of glitter, latex, fishnet and lycra was over, it was time for the return of Come. For those not in the know, Come was an amazingly powerful band during their reign in the ’90s, and for my money, hands-down the best Boston band I’ve ever heard! They did a two-date world tour last year (a warmup gig at TT’s the week before Matador’s 21st ‘Lost Weekend‘ anniversary blowout in Vegas), and tonight would be the first of another two-parter (they played in Brooklyn on Saturday, along with Eleventh Dream Day). The bristling, spiky, blues-soaked dual guitar attack of Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw remained intact, and original rhythm section Sean O’Brien and Arthur Johnson just crackled with power and precision. I can’t really think of another band that can meld two distinct guitar sounds so well; certainly they are up there in the pantheon of greats like Television, Thin White Rope, and The Church (though sounding wildly different from any of those).

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Rush Live at the TD Garden - Photo Credit: Tim Bugbee

Rush takes their Time Machines tour on the road, playing old and new songs from their storied career as progressive rock legends, including the entire Moving Pictures album from 1981. Shot at TD Garden, Boston Massachusetts on Tuesday, September 14, 2010. © Tim Bugbee / Retna LTD

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Thanks to Tim Bugbee for the amazing photos! See more of his work at Tinnitus Photography!

Rush

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Spoon - Photo by Tim Bugbee

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All photos by Tim Bugbee. For more of Tim’s work, check out www.tinnitus-photography.com

For Tim’s review of this show, click here!

Spoon

Deerhunter

Strange Boys

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Spoon - photo by Tim Bugbee

Spoon’s upward trajectory has been pretty impressive to watch, with their course self-righted after the disastrous foray into the major label feeding frenzy that bit into and spit out A Series of Sneaks, via the mouth of Elektra.  Of course, that’s old news, being released over a dozen years ago, and on the accumulated strengths of the last three records they have steadily marched into the rarefied strata of performing on Saturday Night Live and selling out large theaters – the night before saw them play a sold-out Radio City Music Hall!  This is a band whose strengths lie in their tight songwriting styles and a keen eye for a strong lyrical turn of phrase, as well as leader Britt Daniel’s looks. The teen-aged girls to the left of me made no bones about their carnal desires regarding Britt, shouting out a request (or was that a threat?) that certainly wouldn’t get printed in any family papers.  Likewise, the crowd seemed to have a good amount of women who might have been those girls’ mothers, hanging out in the back of room and dancing to the music.  Spoon: a band that can bridge generations easily.

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Progressive rock bands always receive far too much stick than they really should.  Yeah, they are the easy targets – the geek who whiled away afternoons diligently practicing their craft while the metal bands chased girls and smoked pot out in the woods.  Perhaps because of their musical proficiency, this collective jealousy has slowly calcified into outright disdain and dislike.  I’ve got more than my generous helping of primitive rock records in my collection, and I cannot deny that the 70s punks had good measure to rally around a new musical form, but on the other hand I cannot argue against the merits of King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator, and Yes.  When you’ve a band which can meld together a massively complex musical vision without losing the primal urge to rock, well you’ve got a winner by all accounts I can come up with.

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Photo by Samantha Yanofsky

The Rock on! Groove Cruises’ ship embarked on the Boston Harbor Friday night carrying a bunch of instrument toting dudes with amps, some tucked away smokable contraband, and a crowd ready to punish the dance floor. What tops that on the Summer Solstice’s eve eve in New England? Beer and maybe rum and cokes you say? Ah yes, those elements definitely came into play as well. So, your buzz would be greatly rewarded this humid evening on the water with special guests Rhode Island’s own rock impromptu artists, the Attic, and the reggae funk-inspired 6-piece collaborative, Spiritual Rez, blessing the stage respectively for 3 hours.

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