Bolstered by tales of bands who wore fake mustaches and used phony names to get back into clubs from which they’d been banned, the sleazy ensemble Whorse snuck into Hamilton’s (from whence they’d been banished for starting a riot or an orgy, depending on who you ask) disguised as… a refrigerator. A new cooler had just been delivered to the club, and the huge cardboard box it came in was still near the bar next to the stage. Whorse—all four of them—piled in when nobody was looking, sat in there drinking and smoking for hours, then seized the moment. When TroJam took a break from their hours-long set, Whorse leapt out, grabbed the other band’s instruments, and performed a scatalogical new composition “Broken Through.” It actually should’ve been called “Broken Tooth,” because that’s what Whorse leader Paul O. ended up with when a melee broke out among the returning TroJam, the poised-to-strike Whorse and the Hamilton’s management. Bad week for TroJam, still reeling from the nervy Minnie incident last week.
Tonight: White rappers Crumpin DFox and
Kingle Candle at the Bullfinch. Say it ain’t so… Italian Bomb and Muzzarelli at Hamilton’s for (you guessed-a right) Italian Nite… An Evening With Farm Table at D’Ollaire’s…

Minnie, the fetching tambourinist for the TroJams, was a little out of her head Sunday at Hamilton’s and seemed to vainly announce from the stage that a beauty contest would forthwith be held, and the contestants would be herself, Junie Jumper of He-Ven and the Venus half of the duo Venus Penis.
Minnie insists she was misunderstood. She’d been at a wedding that afternoon, heard a stirring rendition of “For the Fairest,” and was in fact inviting the other two women (whom she insists she “worships”) onstage to sing along. But her improvisatory intro created dischord instead of harmony. Someone threw an apple. Rambunctious members of the crowd started catcalling their votes for fairest. Whatever the next song was going to be was ruined. And none of the women—who’d all been at that same wedding, that very afternoon—are speaking to each other. Some scenesters are prophesying a power struggle that could alter the territorial club universe as we know it. Some think that it will blow over like the guitar solo from “Sea Nymph.”
We’re inclined to believe Minnie. In the TroJams, she’s known as “the smart one,” the one who’s had the most to do with the band’s increasing regional fame. In any case, this battle is not over.

Tonight: George Streetsign at the Bullfinch, solo acoustic… The String Sillies at Hamilton’s. It’s a private bash for the classical music department at the college on the hill, but it shouldn’t be hard to crash… The Crimes of England and Utopia of Usurers arrive at D’ollaire’s on their “How to Help Annexation” tour. Best booking that club has had ever. Almost worth the high ticket price…

It started with the Two Sheets—Tom and Chuck, pals since high school—hanging bedsheets on the wall behind the stage at gigs. Then one night a drunken lout called out (more than once; thought he was clever) “Why do you call yourselves two sheets when you only have one?”
“Because we don’t give two sheets!” was the bright reply. Yet at the very next show, the duo not only hung a bedsheet behind them but in front of them as well. To further the joke, the band played only covers. Get it? A lot of the audience didn’t. Two Sheets emerged from between the sheets to find that over half the crowd had vamoosed.
Now Two Sheets—playing Thursday at Hamilton’s, where covers are de rigeur—works in more controllable sheet puns: they bring in sheets of paper, or sheets of ice (from the recent snowstorm). They say “Touché!” so it sounds like “Two sheets!” Where will it end? “Well, we’re never going to wear sheets. I can promise you that,” Tom sez.
Tonight: The Ecstatic Thief and Grave of Arthur at the Bullfinch, with lyrics so florid the music is superfluous… neo-sacred acts All is Grist and Ubi Ecclesia at St. Constant’s Church on Main… The Turkey and the Turk, Irish drinking songs, at Hamilton’s… An Evening With Come to Think of It at D’ollaire’s…

Who Wears Stripey Scarfs [sic] does their cosmic jam “Revolution Number 4,” while the band Number Six performs “Big White Ball in the Sea” twice in their half-hour set.
The occasion? Geek Day at the college on the hill. Townie musicians became willing pick-up bands for some quasi-academic exercises in overexcitable fanboyishness—and, to a lesser degree, fangirlhood and transformativeness.
It’s a neat arrangement that began by chance when the Geekfest was first granted School Activity Fee funding a couple of years ago. One of the event’s founders found himself at a gaming table inside Stinky’s Comics on Academy Avenue, beating the pants (or, rather, the superhero tights) off of Booly Boo of the BoolyBoolys. (In Stinky’s, Booly is known by his given name, William Bowley.) The geek organizer, a bespectacled gent known as The Lordseer, found common ground with his multiversified opponent, discussing the outre genre of sci-fi hi-fi—songs based on TV science fiction programs—between rolls of the multi-sided mottled dice.
The buddies formed a bond the next week, learning half a dozen sfhf hits for a one-off set at the fest. The performance went over like a sky-skimming vessel of blissful peace-bursts. The crowd was initially stunned, but then could not stop smiling.
The Lordseer graduated after two fests, but Booley Boo has kept the flame burning, connecting with Geek organizers months in advance of the annual gig, and enlisitng scenesters beyond the BooleyBoos to pitch in with pitch-perfect extraterrestrial musical musings.
This year’s event was the first time there was more than one band on board this particular spaceship. It made Booley believe for the first time that he might be able to move this show off-campus. He arranged a sponsorship form (where else?) Stinky’s and booked a night at (again, where else?) The Bullfinch, one week prior to GeekFest VIII.
And lo, all the outsiders in the area were inside. A whole new crowd, of true crowd proportions, with true crowd wisdom.
Riffs were sung, hummed and whistled by the audience as soon as the melodies had wafted from the stage. The Voice-over narrations from the shows’ intro were dutifully intoned by just about everyone in the room. Lyrics were deciphered and debated. Alien cantina dances were attempted.
We won’t see the likes of the Bullfinch Beamdown again, at least until it slips another timestream a year from now. You may see some of those awestruck faces in the crowd at the club again for the goofier indie shows, but it’s more likely that they’ll just head back to the tables at Stinky’s, their “club” of choice. More’s the pity. The music needs an infusion of the sf scenes, and vice-multiverse-versa. These gaggles share passions.
Tonight: Simplicity & Tolstoy at the Bullfinch… The Flying Inn and Fancies Versus Fads at Hamilton’s; Europe Nite… An Evening With Handful of Authors (only one original member, of course) remaindered at D’ollaire’s…

What’s up with Mountain Horizon? They change their name, change their style, change into new stage outfits, even grow beards… then drop all the changes and fade back into Mountain Horizon again.
“We had a pal who fancied herself a style consultant, like a personal dresser or something,” chuckle Charles Rimboflé, the band’s heavy-handed organist. “We’re still friends and everything, but she lost interest, and so did we.”
The brief transformation was not without its benefits, however. The band was able to sneak into a club that had previously banned them, and were so popular they’ve been asked back. Also, the outfits and grooming convinced the aunt of rhythm guitarist Pat Hülli that this was a professional combo worth investing in. The generous relative is sponsoring the first Mountain Horizon recording session. “We did tell her we’re not dressing up anymore, and she’s still cool with us. She liked the clothes, she didn’t like the beards. Said we could wear T-shirts as long as we shaved more often.” Rock the dress code!
Tonight: Look! Park had to cancel at the Bullfinch. Last-minute substitute unknown… Wax Fun, What, Lee? and Feed & Seed at Hamilton’s, all doing pretty much the same covers… An Evening With Coolly Dickenson (The “Don’t Call Me a Scumbucket!” comeback tour) at D’ollaire’s…

Bit Lie wrote “consciousness” when she felt she’d lost hers.
“It was originially an instrumental about the depression I went through when my dad died and my relationship broke up. No boards, you know? Then they came to me, but not all of them were, like, words.”
She won’t write down or otherwise spell out the lyrics, describing some of them as “words destroyed by weeping” and “the sounds of the middle of the night. I kind of make a door slamming noise with my mouth.”
“consciousness” (lower-case “c”—she’ll give us that much) is a slow, slow ballad—drone and pitch plus those mournful sometimes-words.
“It’s a weird song to be known for. I feel better now; otherwise I don’t think I could do it. But there’s always someone at every show who’s living it, right then, and has to share. I’m up for that, but sometimes it’d be nice to be known for, you know, a funny sing-along thing or something.
Tonight: The Ballad of the White Horse at The Bullfinch. One set is “Queen of Seven Swords” in its synth-orch entirety. … A Miscellany of Men at Hamilton’s. Covers, but good ones like “Brave New Family.”… An Evening With Manalive at D’ollaire’s. No original members and they have the nerve to call themselves Manalive…

Somebody leash the Doo Doggies! They were unrestrained at the Bullfinch Thursday to the point of nausea. Literally. Dan Doggie (bass) puked on Jim Doggie (guitar) duyring a long, revelatory jam on “Stepped in a Poodle.”
We make them sound like it, but the Doo Doogies is not some catastrophic apoco-punk act. They’re a lighthearted but well-oiled fusion combo. Their name and song titles verge on the ridiculous—unless, we guess, you’re canine.
Tonight: Chelsea Rooney at the Bullfinch, a three-night engagement… AnnieTommy in the doghouse at Hamilton’s… An Evening With V.A. Kay at D’ollaire’s…

Couch Cushions are the cuddliest band in town. Someone shouted during the set at the Bullfinch Thursday and they politely told him to shush. It was an amusing, and significant moment for both band and crowd. Here was an act that wanted us to have fun in a goofy yet respectful way, not stupid drunken whooping. It;’s not often you see someone who can change the mood of a room for the better, but Couch Cushions party their way: comfortably. Their songs are silly, their style professional, their colorful outfits well-pressed. It is their realm. It is also like a weird pipe dream, a mist of merriment in a dark room.
Tonight: The Club of Queer Trades at the Bullfinch… Tremendous Trifles and Alarms and Discursions at Hamilton’s for an American Studies academic bash… What’s Wrong With the World comeback tour at D’ollaire’s…

Little Purple Flowers and Clear Rock raged at Vases Ristorante Wednesday, a rare live music night at the tony eatery. But once upon a time Vases was a rock club called Consequence. With that name and its shabby decor, Consequence didn’t last long, but the spirits of rock apparently linger. Vases is a classy joint with carpeting, white tablecloths, and wineglasses with the restaurant’s name etched on them.
So why were the band even there? Because Vases has one of the same co-owners, some of the same kitchen staff, and two of the same bartenders as Consequences had, they’re all in bands, and the live music vibe of the old place is still in their blood.
The band show took place over an hour after the restaurant had closed for the night. The tables were cleared and some of them were moved to create a basic stage area. It had a real after-hours feel. Plus a chandelier. A haunted rock ballroom.

Tonight: Stahr at the Bullfinch… College of One at Hamilton’s (Big Game Nite)… Friends of Enemies has a pro-government, distrust-of-authority slant that they feel is not only not contradictory but also rocks. They argue in favor of artist funding, saying it not only improves civilization as a whole but reduces the commercial compromises that artists without patrons must often make. They are at D’ollaire’s tonight. Go figure.

Someone fleeced the Bullfinch, and Q got the fleece back. The hero is being all “no big deal” and “no comment” about it, but it’s all out there in the police reports, and the praise has raised Q’s stature from barback (and occasional show promoter) to Assistant Manager. Might’ve been an even better offer, but Q’s made no secret of wanting to spend more time on his Think-Q record label and his own (mostly unheard) music projects.
So remember Josh the bartender? He was stealing from the bar, pocketing other bartenders’ tips. In the boldest stroke of all, he was taking the large amounts of cash he’d been given to pay deliverymen for shipments. He’d say “I’m new, they didn’t tell me you were coming, I don’t have the money,” and they’d believe him.
It was the kind of scheme that could only work once, and Josh had to know in advance that his employment would be short-term. In fact, he’d done this elsewhere (which is one reason why we haven’t had to use the word “allegedly” in this account) and after bolting from the Bullfinch (and this town altogether) last Tuesday, had already lined up his next target, a bar about 75 miles away.
Which is where Q came in. He’d been calling other clubs in the state to start a mini-touring circuit for a few of his favorite bands. He called this place upstate and who answered but Josh? His distinctive accent is part of the “charm” which has gotten him far in his criminal business.
Here’s where Q was cool. He got so curious so fast that he was able to avoid Josh knowing it was him and keep him on the line a little while so he could formulate his own plan. Under the guise of the No Man Distillery, Q arranged a delivery. He then hipped the bar to the scheme, and (despite some misgivings from the owner, who understandably wanted to fire Josh on the spot), it was decided that Josh should be caught in action with cops standing by around the corner. Real sting stuff. And very successful. So that Josh might avoid jail time, much of the money has already got returned.
But not all of it. Q’s first Bullfinch booking as Assistant Manager is a “Josh Scam Marathon” multi-band benefit to recoup a couple of grand and pay off the distributors.
Tonight: Thank You for the Eels and Musk Turtles (same band, different sets) at The Bullfinch… The Story Needs and Dame Rumor, college jazz rock, at Hamilton’s… Stop & Sop and Mid-K at D’ollaire’s, high-priced jams…