Farewell, Number 54

Today Tedy Bruschi, stalwart linebacker for the New England Patriots, retired after 13 years of service to one NFL team.

He was drafted as defensive end in the 3rd round in 1996 out of Arizona, but was switched to linebacker when he became a Patriot. Over his NFL career he tallied 30½ sacks, intercepted 12 passes (running four of them back for touchdowns*), and went to the 2005 Pro Bowl. While he was with the Patriots he helped the team to 8 AFC East titles, 5 AFC titles, and 3 Superbowl wins. Eight months after what should have been a career-ending stroke in February of 2005, Bruschi returned to the field. Not only did he become the 2005 Comeback Player of the Year, but he went on to lead the team in tackles twice ('06 and '07), something he'd never done before the stroke.

He was a leader on the field and off, playing with heart, dignity, and determination. He never took his spot on the roster for granted, and he never complained. He truly knew that there is no "I" in "team", and did his best to motivate and lead by example (with a smile).

Here's to a long and happy retirement with your wife and kids, Mister Bruschi. Thanks for the Superbowl Rings, and thanks for the memories!

*Bruschi is the only player in NFL history to return four consecutive interceptions for touchdowns!

Free Products Overload!

I just received a box of free promotional items that I had made at VistaPrint for our contributors and readers.

The box included a couple of t-shirts (see 'carpenter' image below, and stake your claim!), a bunch of small refrigerator magnets, a pair of window clings, and a notepad for any rambling I care to include into any envelopes getting sent out to deserving contest winners and/or frequent comment-leavers. Plus I made a free cap for myself with "Nantucket '98" on it, because that's when our annual week-long trips began, and thus it's an important date for me.

I am going to mail out the magnets when I get a moment. If you would like one (see 'microphone' image below), so you will always be able to find something fun outdoors to do, or never miss a local live music date, just send your mailing address to NotLameMinus@gmail.com and I will zip it on out to you!

And stay tuned this weekend for a recap of Saturday's "One Night in Cambridge", where most (if not all five) of us will be watching Jay's friends in Air Traffic Controller rock Tommy Doyle's!

Album Review - thenewno2: "You Are Here"

Hello readers. Apologies in advance for the brevity and clumsiness of this review. You see, when Our Fearless Leader asked us all to do an album review, I realized two very important things:

1) I don't know how to write an album review
2) I can't remember the last time I sat down and actually listened to a complete album.

That being said, I have made a couple of musical discoveries recently. One of them has been around for a while, and if you like interesting music that stands the test of time, check out some early Peter Gabriel. He is best known for a couple of catchy tunes, and of course "In Your Eyes", from the boom-box scene in the quintessential "Hey, I can relate to Lloyd Dobler but I'm just not as cool" movie "Say Anything". But to stop there would be an injustice to a fine aural and lyrical artist.

But I digress.

thenewno2 is a duo consisting of Dhani Harrison and Oliver Hecks. The album has a consistent tone throughout, and that tone is moody. A little melancholy, a little rebellious, with maybe a twinge of anger and some hidden uncertainty. It's definitely not going to rock the masses at the next LakeFest, and you shouldn't use it as a conversation starter with the goth girl you've been trying to find an excuse to talk to, but it's good.

No, this album is what you put on when you need to turn the lights down low and get some serious thinking done. It's best enjoyed in a quiet environment. A journal, a pen, and something hot to drink would also be advised. There is the usual social commentary, and in truth, if "You Are Here" were a muffin it would be fair to say that I've removed and eaten the easily consumed top, but haven't digested the spongy, crumbly contents within yet.

The short of this short review is that I like this debut album. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

You Are Here - Thenewno2

Yours,
DamnRenegade

Tee Shirts

Two t-shirts have been printed!

I have been wearing one of the "King Tiki" tees for a few months now, and I just had a handful of them made up for the Not Lame Minus crew. I also had a womens tee made up with a cute "I ♥ Local Music" logo on the front, and the names of the bands/artists we feature on the back. There are only a few available, so they will go to whoever reads the blog most frequently, and who doesn't mind wearing such a 'busy'-looking tee shirt (haha). If you are a frequent reader (please leave comments on the posts when you stop by!), and would like a pink tee shirt, please send your shirt size and mailing address to NotLameMinus@gmail.com and I will send it out a.s.a.p.!

Thanks again to everyone who stops by to read our rambles. It is much appreciated! And please keep supporting the local bands and artists you love. They help our economy (and enrich our lives) by getting people out, and spreading the fun!

Wachusett "Larry" Imperial IPA

After having been a fan of my hometown's brewery & beer from its founding in 1994, I finally joined the Wachusett Brewery's 'Growler Guild' last Saturday, because I really wanted to try their new double IPA, which is available only on tap. I brought a full growler down to a family gathering at our lot on Wyman's Pond, shared the half-gallon out, and enjoyed my four pints immensely. And on the way down to a small LakeFest yesterday, I stopped by the brewery (located in scenic Westminster, MA) and happily got my jug refilled for $8.50.

It's funny, I sat down to write a serious beer review, but I realize I don't have a proper grasp of the terminology to describe things in the 'official' language of beer. All I know is that if you love the hoppy aroma and taste of a good IPA, the Larry ramps it up a few notches. It has a fruity-bready smell that I can't get enough of. Be warned: the 7.10% ABV (alcohol by volume) sneaks up on you rather quickly though, so make sure you eat as you drink, or at least pace yourself. Due to the weather down at Wyman's Pond being so exceptional, and the beer being so amazingly delicious, I downed that growler pretty rapidly (except for the pint I poured for my friend Jim C)... I also had a few bottles of the Wachusett Nut Brown, a perennial favorite of mine.

If anyone out there has the knack for writing about beer (and/or wine), and a hankerin' to see yourself in print, feel free to submit a beer review to NotLameMinus@gmail.com. If we like what we read, we will publish it with full credit to you, the author, and would consider allowing space for a regular column for you, as Christopher has for his weekly album reviews. Plus, I will personally send you the "NLM Brew Reviewer" cap for you to be photographed in with each beer you write about! ☺

Wachusett Larry Imperial IPA - get it on tap at the Wachusett Brewery while it lasts! Open Wednesday through Saturday, noon to 5pm (6pm on Thu & Fri). 175 State Road East Westminster, MA 01473

Photo: Rob, Brian & his new friend Nikki.

Lots of New Stuff!

It's been a busy week here at Not Lame Minus:

• I've added nationwide links for locating golf courses and miniature golf courses to the SUMMER FUN section.
• Christopher has added this week's album review (see previous post, with Lala music player, below).
• Please welcome The Kreellers to our LOCAL MUSIC DATES and LOCAL BANDS sections! I've known bassist Christopher Wall since high school, and he & his bandmates crank out some fantastic Irish music!
  
• I've been busy this week designing a couple of t-shirts for any 'followers' who would like to show their appreciation for our favorite local musicians (and/or love of this site), and there are other goodies on the way!
• Plus: new live dates for Air Traffic Controller and The Kreellers.
  

And, if you are a 'follower', please send your mailing address to NotLameMinus@gmail.com for a couple of 'we are grateful for your support' items!

Thanks to all of our readers, and especially to our 'followers'. Just by joining the ranks, you are helping us grow, keeping our enthusiasm fueled, and aiding us in assisting our friends & families in finding useful links to outdoor fun & live music! An aside to our frequent readers: why haven't you joined yet? It's easy, and you become eligible for all kinds of cool stuff once we hit 20 'followers'! Yahoo & G-Mail users can sign up in seconds, and other e-mailers need only take a minute or two longer. ☺

See you all at a live show or LakeFest sometime soon, and remember to check out Christopher's weekly album reviews (scroll down, or type 'music review' into our SEARCH PAST POSTS feature). There is some great music in there!

Album Review - Lightning Dust: "Infinite Light"

About a third of the way through Infinite Light, you realize that you aren't going to be able to pin down Lightning Dust to any one prevailing style or influence. The composer(s) are resourceful and seem to draw from a number of popular influences, including (but by no means limited to) electro-pop, musical theatre, lovelorn pop auteurs like (albeit less cynical than) Stephin Merritt, even Saucerful of Secrets era Pink Floyd, as on the last track "Take It Home." The lean orchestrations of chamber pop collide noticeably with a dramatic ambition worthy of thicker instrumentation--but this isn't a let down at all, it actually works wonderfully. The singer's voice is ghostlike with it's tense and rapidfire vibrato, which contributes to the sense of emotional urgency prevalent throughout the album. Infinite Light is a grandly modest work, and well worth checking out. 8/10

Infinite Light - Lightning Dus...

Album Month: Ken

Whenever I make a new friend, after some time has passed I try to immerse myself in the music he/she loves, in order to get to know him/her a little bit better.

Back in the fall of 1989 when I was resuming my college education at UMass-Dartmouth (known back then as Southeastern Massachusetts University) after a year off, I was hanging out with five guys who would go on to become life-long friends. Keith & I had similar musical tastes (R.E.M., U2, Tears for Fears, B-52's, Depeche Mode, etc...); Bob was a Led Zeppelin/Jimi Hendrix fanatic; Darren blasted Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Sugarcubes from his room; and Jeff loved Madonna & Tina Turner. I had heard of all of these bands/singers, and enjoyed songs by all of them, but as I got to know John, and listened to the vast collection of cassettes* he had atop his minifridge, a whole new world was opened to my ears. There were all kinds of strange bands with names like Bauhaus and New Order. My Bloody Valentine and Dead Can Dance. Brian Eno and Joy Division. I had just gotten through reading "Hammer of the Gods" and listening to all of Bob's Led Zeppelin tapes in chronological order, and wanting to do something similar with John's catalog, I asked if I could borrow all of his Cocteau Twins cassettes (the band I had chosen randomly from the stacks, mostly because I liked the album artwork, and the songs all had such mysterious names). He readily agreed, and I took them to my off-campus room in New Bedford, to listen to them while I worked on my various art projects, thus knocking over the first domino in a life-long chain of aural love for most things "shoegaze" and the 4AD record label.

I played the cassettes in order (6 albums and 8 eps, but I won't bore you with that info), and it was interesting to see how the band transformed from aggressive to mellow over the course of their then 6-year career, losing Will Heggie very early on, immediately adding Simon Raymonde, and finally, recording a whole album with Harold Budd in '86. I enjoyed each to varying degrees (preferring the later stuff), but their latest album, 1988's "Blue Bell Knoll" was the crowning achievement that sent me down the path to musical nirvana.

Blue Bell Knoll (Remastered) -...

I played his copy of "Blue Bell Knoll" to death, and as soon as I could, I bought my own. My exposure to the band caused me to seek out other bands with similar sounds, and many of them were on the same 4AD label, to my great joy. Over the next few years, by scouring used record stores every time I went up to Boston, I filled my shelves with Pale Saints, Dead Can Dance, Lush, This Mortal Coil, Swallow, Throwing Muses and other non-4AD bands like Chapterhouse, Bleach (who John got to interview for our college radio station), Ride, Curve and Slowdive. But I always came back to the Cocteau Twins, and especially "Blue Bell Knoll".

There was just something about the soaring soundscapes, and Liz Fraser's indecipherable lyrics. Her voice was integral to each song's sound (unlike many bands, where in my opinion, the music is fantastic, but the voice is somehow 'wrong' to me, for example: The Cure), and they wouldn't be the same with another voice. During the school year I had an art project where we had to 'illustrate' a song with color, and I chose "Suckling the Mender", to this day one of my personal Top 50 Songs of All Time. I still have no idea what Liz was singing, but my imagination found the words "beauty and the perfect girl" in the chorus, and that always makes everything all right in my world. The way the music rose and fell with just the right drama, and the 'glide' through the middle transition, both uplifted me, and the song ended with a satisfying resolution. There is no overall message or single phrase hitting one over the head in any of the songs on the album, which I heartily approve of. Looking back to that time, I think it is where my love of voice & music over lyrical content originated. While I do love a good story set to music from time to time, I prefer to overlay my own thoughts, emotions and memories onto the music I listen to.

I was fortunate enough to see the band live twice before they broke up for good in late 1996:

• The first time, on 03/10/94 at the Orpheum Theater in Boston, wasn't as good as I'd hoped. I was there with John & his girlfriend, and this hot Russian girl I used to work with, and I was wrapped up in the excitement of being able to see my favorite band live after a four-year wait. However, Liz was experimenting with new vocal stylings (which, to my horror sounded like shrieking, perhaps due to the psychotherapy she was undergoing at the time), and Robin Guthrie was coming off a drug & alcohol addiction. Add in the super-stressful 'big event' of the two of them splitting up after 11 years (with a 4 year old daughter between them), and the performance was rife with negative energy. So to sum up: it was magical to see them in person (and to hang out with Sasha outside of work), but the music itself was underwhelming, and I went home disappointed.
• The second time was SO much better! I had bought two tickets (one for me and one for John) to their 06/10/96 show at the Avalon Ballroom (now the House of Blues Boston), but on the day of the event, John couldn't make it. So I sold his ticket for ten bucks (face value: $16), and happily entered the venue. When I got inside, it was dark & cozy, and was set up as a round floor with the stage at the far end (flanked by huge speaker stacks), and a bar on either side. I had $35 with me to spend on whatever. T-shirts were an insane thirty dollars each, so I opted for seven five-dollar beers over the course of the show. The minute the band took the stage, I was entranced. The amazing light show, the dark interior of the club, the beer, and most of all, the incredible music had me happily mesmerized for two hours of uninterrupted bliss. Nothing against any of my concert-going friends, but sometimes being alone in a crowd of strangers is the best way to enable your favorite music to carry you away. And this time, when the lights finally came up, I was only slightly disappointed (but only because it was over). I'd been fully-immersed in the music (and bedazzled by the performance) of my favorite band, and left feeling that rare euphoria that only a true love's kiss, or the satisfying ending to an amazing story can surpass...

Subsequent albums have only deepened my appreciation for this amazing band, but if I were ever to be stranded on an island somewhere, "Blue Bell Knoll" is definitely one of my ten 'Desert Island Discs'.** The Cocteau Twins' sound has shaped my musical taste for twenty years now. Female singers will win out over their male counterparts nine times out of ten. Melody is more important than beat. And 'chill' trumps 'aggressive' 99% of the time in my world (though even I need to kick ass once in awhile!). Because of this creative and influential group of musicians, I have a lifelong love for The Sundays, The Cranberries, Lush, Saint Etienne, Pale Saints, and My Bloody Valentine. They caused me to search out similar-sounding latter-day bands like Rose Chronicles, An April March (and the entire Bedazzled Records label - 1999 was a good year!), Moose, Autumn's Grey Solace, and Silver Screen. And to branch out into trance, ambient, and other genres of music, both with voice and instrumental. I humbly suggest you check them out, though I will agree they may be an acquired taste!

* Remember, this was 1989, when cd players cost upwards of $500 for a decent basic model.
** Desert Island Discs: the ten albums you'd want with you if you were ever to be stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for the rest of your life with (magically) a music player of some sort.

"Album Month" on NLM

August is Album Month on Not Lame Minus!

At some point in the next few weeks, each of us (one hopes) will post a 'reminisce' about an influential album, cassette or cd that has affected our life and/or musical taste. We will each pick one of our all-time favorite albums, and then write about when we discovered it; what it reminds us of; anecdotes and/or recaps of any of the band's live dates we've attended; and how the music changed us (if at all). It'll give each of us a chance to expose the others (and you readers) to a band that no one had an inkling was of importance to us. And if needed, I'll go back and embed a LaLa music player of the album into each blog (like Chris does with his weekly cd review), to ensure maximum exposure.

So keep checking back this month for some great music!

Image created by Plard Yoann