PLAYGROUND BOSTON

The Sun Lee Sunbeam - Photo by Liz Linder

Muy Cansado - Photo by Mick Murray

Sun Lee Sunbeam – “The Other Side Of The Wall” – unreleased

Sun Lee Sunbeam – “Bad Guys” – unreleased

Muy Cansado – “Not About A Girl” – unreleased

Muy Cansado – “Kiss The World” – Stars & Garters

All video shot by Mick Murray of In Your Face Photography, with editing credit for the ‘Beam vids going to Jessica Sun Lee. Gotta love those unreleased tracks! For more of Mick’s videos, check out his YouTube channel!

Sun Lee Sunbeam

Muy Cansado

Friday, June 11th – Rosebud Diner

Nice lineup here! Muy Cansado and Sun Lee Sunbeam are both PGB Favorites who’ve received plenty of coverage on these here pages. These guys rock out with the best of ‘em, and the two of them together on a bill at an extremely cool venue is an event not to be missed! This is Muy Cansado’s first show in months, as they’ve been locked up at Q Division hammering away at a new EP due out later this year. The 5 songs on the new album will be “Not About A Girl,” “Love & Fear,” “Sharpshooter,” “Giant,” and “Acquaintances” – and there’s a good chance you’ll be able to get a sneak peak of the new tunes if you get your summer lovin’ butts down to the Rosebud tonight!

Friday, June 11th – McGann’s Pub

OK OK to be fair, this isn’t really a flyer for this show so much as it is a listing for all the shows at McGann’s this month. However, its got Super Mario critters on it, so its going up on the site, dammit. Shows like this are helping McGann’s to gain notoriety as a quality music venue in this city. Artsy indie darlings The Hush Now have been exploding both nationally and internationally since their debut in 2008. They’ll be joined by the Hendrixian trash rock duo Kuuluuko, an incredible act in their own right! Also on this bill are The Susan Constant and El Fuego. But check this out – apparently a regular flyer wasn’t good enough for this show, so The Hush Now made a little video flyer with some artsy images and soothing music, to lull you into coming out to the show. Take a look!

Saturday, June 12th – Rosebud Diner

Rosebud’s got some great shows going on this weekend – isn’t it about time you checked the damn place out? Looks like our friends at Boston Band Crush have come up with another AWESOME idea for a show. This one strikes close to my Middle School soul (Even *I* had long hair back then. And yes, you’re right, it looked friggin’ terrible.) Rather than have a show full of covers of one specific band’s songs, the Mixtape series takes an entire year and lets bands cover whatever songs they like that came out at that time. Think about some of the albums that came out in ‘93 – In Utero, Vs., Siamese Dream, Rancid, Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can’t We, Black Sunday, The Wedding Album, Pork Soda, Are You Gonna Go My Way, Doggystyle, Pablo Honey, Last Splash, 36 Chambers, Undertow – holy shit, right? They picked a hell of a year to kick off this series with! This show’s going to be great, especially considering they’ve tapped some of Boston’s best to do the performing – The Luxury, The Rationales, and St. Helena will be joined by the newly formed Exile in Somerville, featuring members of Apple Betty, Kingsley Flood, Dark Martini & The Dirty Olives, and Ashley from BBC!

Friday, February 5th @ Church

Former PGB Track of the Week honorees Sprained Ankles highlight a bill chock full of irreverant punk rock down at Church. Check out the Ankles’ original brand of doo-wop garage rock, complete with female backup singers doing interpretive dances to songs like “Randy the Rock and Roll Pizza Wolf” and the legendary “Axe Gnome.” Nope, couldn’t make that up if I tried. Also worth checking out is Wasted Talent, featuring solo artist Nabo Rawk and DJ Paul Foley. Should certainly be interesting, click here to check out their video “Khed.”

Friday, February 5th @ O’Briens

I’m happy to report that rumors of the demise of Buried in Leather have been greatly overexaggerated. While they may only play a show every 6 months or so, they are still definitely alive and breathing. Sneering, guttural vocals laced over shredding guitar riffs, this band gets you pissed off and fired up like no other. You never know if or when you’ll have another chance to catch them, so make sure you don’t miss this one. Also appearing on this bill are Anarchunts, an all-girl gutter punk quartet having recently burst onto the Boston scene; Doggfight US, fist-in-the-air anthemic punk rock from up north; and local legends The Acro-brats. This is an unbelievable lineup, sure to pack the house at O’Briens and threaten to tear the roof down.

Saturday, February 6th @ Great Scott

A killer lineup is hitting Great Scott on Saturday night. Local rock giants Reverse might be the most influential band playing out in Boston today – almost every last musician in town counts these guys as one of their favorite acts to see. Full Body Anchor is a brand new outfit consisting of former members of some of the best punk and garage bands in the city – Blue Bloods, Darkbuster, The Dents, and more. Lead singer Eric Edmonston jumps back and forth seamlessly between a heartfelt croon and an eardrum shattering scream, accenting the crunchiness of the heavy noise-rock instrumentation. Sun Lee Sunbeam and Dirt Mall also take the stage for this show, assuring a nice mix of styles across the bill for your listening pleasure.

Saturday, February 6th @ Church

Church is doing themselves proud this weekend with the great rock shows. Look at the bands on this bill! Dirty Truckers, fresh off a win at the Xconomy Battle of the Tech Bands. Watts, featuring the incomparable John Blount on guitar and John Lynch on drums. (Lynch is easily one of the best drummers in the entire damn city, and is pulling double duty on this show as he also plays for the ‘Truckers). Garage powerhouses Muck and the Mires will also be making an appearance, the only band in town and probably one of the few in the entire country who have shared a stage with both MC5 AND the New York Dolls – if that’s not some serious credibility right there I don’t know what is. Rounding out the bill are The Cretins, back after an almost 10 year long vacation. Local hero Malibu Lou will be opening the night in celebration of his 40th birthday – go check out him and The Italians rock out up on stage, then buy him a PBR or two – happy birthday Lou!

All Photos by Pete Legasey

As the vibrator was once used by men to sober us “hysterical” women and our wandering wombs, I imagine a piano or a music lesson was also used as a way to distract and tame us. But, now, in the same way the vibrator has become a great symbol of female sovereignty, sexual empowerment, and self-discovery, so has the power of rock. And if you have any question, consider the carnal force behind Karen O’s vocals on “Bang” from the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s 2001 EP, listen to some PJ Harvey or go ahead and blare “Horses” by the always lovely Patti Smith.

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