A guy was sound-checking at Hamilton’s Thursday. He launched into one atrocious classic rock cover after another. He was laughing, but we in the audience (there early but not for him) were cringing. We could see straight through to his soul, see.

He slurred and leered and spat and otherwise mocked the lyrics of these egregious tunes, but he knew them too well. He wanted to come off as a jester for the hip kids. But we suspected that he had a happy hour gig Friday nights in a seafood restaurant at a strip mall, where they (and he) didn’t get the joke.

Tonight: Sloven Cina and The Norsk at the Bullfinch (holiday reunion show)… Suomi at Hamilton’s (holiday party show)… Permanent Link at D’ollaire’s (holiday hell show)…