JJ BANKS’ Blog

     “Medium Rare” is The Mighty Mighty Bosstones most recent release. It’s a mixture of old B-Sides and some new songs, two of which I got to hear on Sunday July 13th at the Starland Summer Campout in Sayreville, NJ. It wasn’t exactly a real “camp out” but then again I didn’t see any stars so its all good. What it was…was the first time I had seen The Mighty Mighty Bosstones in about 6 years after the band went on a hiatus. Now before I get to the Bosstones let me tell you about the venue.

     This so called “Summer Campout” was one of the most unusual concert events I’ve been to. Now it sucked to pay $35 to see just The Bosstones because all the other bands on the list I had no interest in, but in comparision to how some people pay like $100 to see most shitty bands, I actually got a deal. What was crazy about this and maybe it was because it was staged outdoors in the Starland Ballroom’s parking lot, but you had to park in a vacant lot at the Garden State Technology Building about 2 miles away and then take a shuttle bus just to get there. It was pretty weird, but then again this is New Jersey, so I’ve grown to live with the weird.

     The Mighty Mighty Bosstones took the stage at 6:30pm and the whole band was dressed in plaid. They were bad in plaid once again and it was amazing to see them! They played a great mixture of old school songs and more recent ones but my highlights of the show were when they played a cover of The Clash’s “Rudy Can’t Fail” and for the first time ever I heard them play “Toxic Toast” (they used a pretty cool guitar rift to fill in for the piano part of the song). The crowd was pretty young and older fans like I who had listen to The Bosstones in high school were definitely in the minority, but they can still rock, even if they are moving a little bit slower which was evident in Ben Carr’s dance antics which have slowed down a little bit over the years. Another thing to mention is that there should be some kind of unwritten law about “crowd surfing” in that if you weigh more than 150 lbs you shouldn’t be allow to do it. Numerous times during the show I saw kids getting crushed by these dudes who must have been over 200 lbs crowd surfing. But I also saw these crowd surfing douches eat dirt when then were passed along the crowd to an open space; with no one there to hold them up they usually went head first crashing to the concrete and that was good for a laugh.

     The Bosstones played for an hour and I took the shuttle bus back to the parking lot because I really had no interest in hanging around for The Dropkick Murphys. It was cool because the show ended at 7:30pm and I was home by 9:00pm, unlike most shows you go to when the earliest you get home is usually around 1:00am. Overall, all I have to say is that The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are back!!! And I can only hope that this wasn’t just a one time thing. Because I’d love to see them again where they are the headlining band and playing to a non-festival crowd and all Bosstones fans at a place like The Troc or The Electric Factory in Philly. Someday I Suppose.     

     Below is probably one of the best written songs of all-time. No doubt, I don’t think it matters what your taste in music is…now here’s the tricky part, can you name the song and the artist? I’m going to leave out a chorus that would give the song away.

The screen door slams

Mary’s dress waves

Like a vision she dances across the porch

As the radio plays

Roy Orbison singing for the lonely

Hey that’s me and I want you only

Don’t turn me home again

I just can’t face myself alone again

Don’t you run back inside

Darling you know just what I’m here for

So you’re scared and you’re thinking

That maybe we ain’t that young anymore

Well show a little faith, there’s magic in the night

You ain’t a beauty but hey you’re all right

Oh and that’s all right with me

You can hide ‘neath your covers

And study your pain

Make crosses from your lovers

Throw roses in the rain

Waste your summers praying in vain

For a savior to rise from these streets

Well now I’m no hero

That’s understood

All the redemption I can offer, girl

Is beneath this dirty hood

With a chance to make it good somehow

Hey what else can we do now

Except roll down the window

And let the wind blow back your hair

Well the night’s busting open

These two lanes will take us anywhere

We got one last chance to make it real

To trade in these wings on some wheels

Climb in back, heaven’s waiting

down on the tracks

Oh come take my hand

We’re riding out tonight to case

the promise land

(Chorus) 

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Well I got this guitar

And I learned how to make it talk

And my car’s out back

If you’re ready to take that long walk

From your front porch to my front seat

The door’s open but the ride ain’t free

And I know you’re lonely

For words that I ain’t spoken

But tonight we’ll be free

When all the promises will be broken

There were ghosts in the eyes

Of all the boys you sent away

They haunt this dusty beach road

In the skeleton frames of burned-out Chevrolets

They scream your name at night in the street

Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet

And in the lonely cool before dawn

From your room you hear their engines roar on

But when you get to the porch they’re gone

on the wind

So Mary climb in

It’s a town full of losers

And I’m pulling out of here to win

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

The Fillmore at the TLA

March 29, 2008

     “A fillet mignon, that’s the kind of steak Philadelphia is” said Stephen Malkmus. And just like a dinner at a fancy restaurant the former Pavement frontman delivered another amazing performance Saturday night on South Street. Playing mostly songs off thier new album “Real Emotional Trash”, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks showcased why they are among the elite in the indie-rock world. Opening with “Elmo Delmo” was an interesting choice but followed up by “Hopscotch Willy” and “Cold Son” I realized it was a great way to set the tone of their new album for the audience. The only songs off “R.E.T.” that SM & The Jicks didn’t play were “Wicked Wanda” and “Out of Reaches”(which I was kind of bummed about because “Out of Reaches” is one of my faves of their new songs). I really dug “Gardenia”, but the stongest songs of the night had to be the renditions of “Real Emotiona Trash”, all 10 minutes of it, and Malkmus’ incredible guitar ripping on “Baltimore”.

     Joining me for the show were Charftong, Garlic and Graber. We met up on South Street around 7pm, grabbed something to eat at an Irish Pub called O’Neal’s, got beers at Mackos where a homeless man drunk on Bud Ice was rambling to himself while Death Metal played in the background, and then proceeded to the TLA about 10 minutes before Malkmus came on. The crowd was pretty cool and laid back as is with most indie-rock shows. The only real annoyance were the dudes who kept taking pictures during the show like they were freelance Rolling Stone photographers. Hey, I took pictures too, but I took 10 pictures in total, while these guys had to be in the 50 - 100 range. Dude, we get it. You really like the band. But putting your camera up every 2 minutes so we can see your LCD screen gets really distracting after the first 25 times. This really is just a minor complaint for an otherwise incredible show. BTW - Graber, thanks for the lift to McFadden’s after the show.

                                                                                                              JJ Banks & Charftong