The Chapter Books got on the college charts! And to them, the reward is just that so many DJs bothered to write their name down.
“We’re glad they’re playing the record, obviously,” says drummer Mandy B. “But we think it’s amazing just to think of radio jocks scrawling our name down on playlists.” Three of the bands members have had their own college radio shows (Mandy is the middle school correspondent on her older sister Millie’s well known Total Local program). “We know what a pain it can be to keep lists.”

Some of us, of course, are used to the mundane task of jotting down musicians’ names and song titles. We’ve even been known to bring reading and writing materials along to clubs.

Some nights, we’re not alone. Virtually everyone who showed up a few hours early for The Ballantines on Thursday night at the Bullfinch had paperbacks in their coat pockets or handbags. The lit vibe was as pungent as whatever was simmering in the heating vents. Carroll and “Graf” from Soft Skull were sharing Wizards of the Coast comic books, while Simon of Simon Spotlight was immersed in an issue of Ecco. The guys from Overmountain were sorting a dozen packs of Razorbill trading cards. We were packing the only novel in the joint, our battered copy of Tor—in honor of The Ballantines, of course. “Moose” Hill of Zondervan looked on warily, nursing a beer and saying he wished he’d brought a crossword or somethin’. A distinct conversational void was in effect.
That all changed when The Ballantines lit up the stage. They are among the chattiest bands of this otherwise distant and insular generation—not just the twin frontmen Faber brothers, but everyone. They all have mics, they all crack jokes, they all introduce (and introduce and introduce) songs. We were completely unprepared for such verbosity, since this is a band known for three-word choruses that never vary. An eye-opener. No, a mouth-opener.

In other text-lovin’ spellcheck news, The Blats have changed their name to The Blits. The band’s new “manager,” “Spawn” Smith, thinks this will help highlight singer Sonny Blitt and his new batch of original “soul rock” songs. What, no more thrash-styled railroad blues standards?! So how many “t”s in Blits? Just the one, unlike the two in Sonny’s surname. Oh, that’ll help.