Mar mastered the art of making macaroni. Says I inspired her.

[Christopher Arnott can’t stop rummaging through his old 45s.]

The Pills, Scooter Gurls (She’s So Faithful) b/w The Back of Your Head and Soft & Brown. Self-conscious ‘60s-styled mod/pop green-vinyl single by a Boston band that I saw a couple of times and which truly didn’t need to disguise themselves with all those skinny-tie trappings.

Reddy Teddy, Novelty Shoes b/w Goo Goo Eyes. A band from Winchester, Massachusetts, the suburb where I grew up, two towns over from Cambridge and about 12 miles from Kenmore Square, where Reddy Teddy became one of the early legends of the Rathskeller (aka Rat) proto-punk club. They did some recording and performing with my hero Willie Loco Alexander, but in the annals of rock history they are known as the band that was vying against Aerosmith for a record contract with Columbia. The band broke up in 1978 and lead guitarist Matthew Mackenzie died in 1988 at age 36. Reddy Teddy was too guitar-glorifying to be considered pre-punk, but their generally scruffiness, and self-deprecating songs such as “Moron Rock” definitely helped loosen up the Boston scene for the impending switch  from guitar picks to safety pins. This classic single has a B-side that would not appear on the sole Reddy Teddy album.

Jennifer Trynin, Happier b/w iKWIFLTB Down, B-side is better known as “I Know What It Feels Like to Be Down.” On yellow vinyl with ironic happy-face iconography on the cover art, “Happier,” which became a cool closed-circuit TV video which aired on MTV, was an unorthodox swift-and-shouty Trynin, who was always loud but usually more emotionally reserved and leisurely with her riffs. My high school friend Mike County played on this.

The Velvet Underground.  A  100-page square book that mostly consists of Velvet Underground lyrics printed in Italian and English (“I’m searching for my mainline” = “Sto cercandoi la mia strada maestro”), plus a discography… and a disc! The 7-inch 33rpm EP has a bootleg 1967 version of Ride Into the Sun on one side and covers of the VU songs Femme Fatale (by The Carnival of Fools) and European Son (interpreted by Subterranean Dining Rooms) on the flip.

Grand Passion, Negative Jesus b/w Ass Cat. Ocean-hugging angular rock trio that ruled the Mystic/New London axis in the early 1990s. “Negative Jesus” comes as close as fans could hope to capturing Grand Passion’s live exuberance and knack for suspenseful tempo shifts.

By Artie Capshaw

Dead Lewis doesn’t know how he feels about us describing his latest style assault, Teaspoon of Zest, as “a prank.” His show last week at D’ollaire’s went well, he says. The club’s asked him back.  The material was appreciated for what it was. He’s got a whole second set he’s ready to rock. Someone’s asked to record his version of “Zip Zap Zopp” as a single. He doesn’t want anyone to think he’s having them on.

So we officially rescind our characterization of the show as a sham. We get it now—Dead Lewis has sold out. Granted, he’s extremely good at these charades, and ToZ’s blend of pop and party rock is ideally suited to his campy swagger. Whether you hold your nose at his capitulation to club commerce or raise your mood-ringed fist in the air, you’ll want to see him again at Hamilton’s on two Saturdays from now. At least he admits he got the band name Teaspoonful of Zest from a recent column we wrote about Coat the Spoon singer Cody Fried’s grandmother’s lemon curd recipe.

Credible acts in readiness: The Art Youngs, Sunlight and Shadow, The Nimble Nickels and Four Dissenters Silenced by the Rope at the Bullfinch, following the rally on the commons (something about taxes)… The Silk Hats, Shots at Truth, The Joke is on You Baby and Over They Go engage the masses at Hamilton’s… The bold new ideas (maybe a decade ago) of Crime Against Art and Sketching Devils at D’ollaire’s, with opening set from well-connected locals Matrimony Hits a Reef.

Tried to make my own macaroni. Failed.

1. “Here’s That Rainy Day,’ Stan Kenton (or Sinatra if you’d rather)

2. “Girl, You Don’t Have to Walk in the Rain Anymore,” The Turtles

3, 4. “I Wish It Would Rain” (both wreckless Eric and The Temptations)

5. “Don’t Go Out Into the Rain You’re Gonna Melt,” Herman’s Hermits

6. “Rain,” The Beatles (now the name of a Broadway-based Beatles tribute act)

7. “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” Bob Dylan

8. “Here Comes that Rainy Day Feeling Again,” The Fortunes

9. “Pennies from Heaven,” Bing Crosby

10. “It’s Raining in My Heart,” Buddy Holly

11. “Waters of March,” Antonio Carlos Jobim

12. “Drip Drop,” Hoagy Carmichael

13. “Bus Stop,” The Hollies

14. Here Comes the Rain Again,” Eurythmics.

15. “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” (from the musical Funny Girl)

16. “Rainy Days and Mondays,” The Carpenters

17. The Rainbow Connection, Muppets.

18. Laughter in the Rain, Neil Sedaka.

19. “Purple Rain,” Prince

20. “MacArthur Park,” Richard Harris. Sommmwun leffft thuh cake out in the rain…

By Artie Capshaw

Despair ye who missed Record Store Day. Despair ye more, bands who wished to make a commercial comeback by appealing to the greed of collectors with exclusive vinyl releases. The path to obscurity (or bargain-bin notoriety, a whole different circle of Hell) is littered with those who miscalculated their own value—whether as keepsake, unusual offer, as nostalgia.

We didn’t make it to the Suddenly Teeming with Asshole Record-Collectors shop until mid-day. All the good stuff was long gone, though some of those treasures hadn’t even made it out of the parking lot, where wheeler-dealers were beckoning disappointed latecomers over to their cars for the opportunity to still purchase some of the high-profile items at a mere 500 percent markup.

Well, we’d come for the live music, not for the old-fashioned audio placemats. Bradford X. and Franklin M. (of The Etsys and The Diecasts, respectively) were doing a Record Day duet. We wish we could have collected their sweat in a bag.

Collect these upcoming shows: The Freehills, Jim Shore and the Harriet Rosebuds at The Bullfinch for a folk benefit in honor of “Twenty Days of Peace” (who’s counting?)… Our Name is Mud and Northwood Bear rocking the mainstream at Hamilton’s… Cloudworks and My Little Kitchen Fairies for an unaccustomed night of pensive, precious pop at D’ollaire’s. Didn’t notice these bands getting nationally popular, didya?…

I learned to make macaroni and cheese tonight. The real thing, not out of a box. Except the macaroni part.

On Palm Sunday, made a sourdough loaf and rolls which rose together to form a flower shape.

Created my sourdough starter several years ago now, using organic spelt flour which I happened to have a lot of at the time. Turns out that spelt is the primo flour for sourdough. Whereas adding other flours to a flimsy starter could destroy it, spelt sourdough eats everything thrown at it. Rises great, too. I take it out of the refrigerator once a week to feed it and bake from it. I don’t add sugar, salt, oil or anything besides a cup or so of water and a couple of cups of flour to the starter; nothing else is needed. One short rise and one long one and it bakes all round and bronzey.

There’s a songwriter in town.

Now, in most small scenes, songwriters perform, whether they like to or not. The idea of walking up to somebody else’s band and handing them some lyrics and a melody seems ludicrous. I’d you’re too shy to play out, approaching someone else to play your stuff seems even more daunting.

This songwriter—we won’t reveal the name—had a quiet strategy. Left notebooks and slips of paper, with poetry and chords scribbled on them, all around the Bullfinch every few nights for weeks on end. It didn’t take long to have some of the regulars buzzing. Then it was just a matter of finding out who this butterfingers was, who couldn’t hold onto a pack of such precious papers.

The final step was a little less obvious, but someone finally asked if these songs were ever going to be played out—this was The Bullfinch after all, where some musician’s every idle thought can get an airing, if only on a Wednesday. When it turned out that the songs were veritable orphans, they were adopted at once by a beer-fueled table of fans.

The generous communal impulse grew and grew until it was decreed that members of half a dozen or so different bands would play two entire sets of the mystery composer’s songs this coming Tuesday. Moreover, the bands themselves would be a mystery—new conglomerations of musicians who used to play together, or share a studio place, or have time to rehearse. Somebody had the bright idea to name the bands after the songs they were playing.

Hence a set list that is identical to the band line-up:

Those Endearing Young Chains

Thunder Below,

Time Without Pity

Try and Get Me

The Trout

Who is Hope Schuyler?

Where the Hot Wind Blows

Valley of Hunted Men

World for Ransom

Oh men! Oh women!

The Notorious Lone Wolf

Edge of Darkness

The Family Next Door

Odds Against Tomorrow,

Sins of the Children

Singin’ in the Corn

Sinners in Paradise

They Won’t Forget

It was further decided that this would be a benefit for something or over, yet to be decided. But a benefit for sure. In any case, the main beneficiary is the one who wrote those songs and titles.

Coming up two days sooner: Ex-Champ, The Limping Men and Kids & a Queen all exchanging spit at the Bullfinch… Three Strangers, Two Headed Spy, Unseen enemy and ska oirchestra The Ten Flags at Hamilton’s… We Go Fast, Young Ideas at D’ollaire’s for an afternoon show. Then they chase everyone outside, bring them back in again, and present Zis Boom Bah, Wise Maids and the worth-the-wait (we’ve waited four years for them to come to town) Youthful Cheaters.

I no longer have to play banjo.