It Sure Don't Feel Like Christmas Time...To Me
Dec 17 '03
The Bottom Line Mighty Mighty...*silence*
Please note that this column is taking the place of my Impertinent Thoughts column this month. This column also features some personally re-written lyrics to the tune of The Dogmatics (It Sure Doesn't Feel Like) Xmas Time, a song the band I'm discussing would occasionally cover in concert. Some of this info is from a Boston Globe article, some of it is from the Bosstones website, and most of it is my own thoughts and musings on a band I love.
I live in Boston. It's December. There's a chill in the air and snow on the ground. It's not quite "officially" winter yet, but we've already had a blizzard and another snowstorm of good impact. And let's face it, Christmas shopping can bring out the worst in all of us.
It's the fifteenth of December
cold rains falling down
Kenmore Square's deserted
all the Bosstones have left town
it sure don't feel like Xmas time
it sure doesn't feel like Xmas time...to me
And yet, mid December was always a time I looked forward to, perhaps more than any other time of year. For the past eight years, local ska-core heroes The Mighty Mighty Bosstones have played a series of five shows at a local club, a gift back to the city that they came from, and to the city that bled the plaid the band wore on stage (there have actually been nine Throwdowns, the first took place in the summer of 1994...the awful heat made the band switch to winter).
Down at Filene's Basement
may as well shop for the girlfriend
this time of year means nothing,
when there's no Throwdown around the bend
I remember that first Throwdown...it was hot as hell in the club, but no one there cared. Back in 94, the band had actually built up a reputation nationally, but there was still no place for them like Boston (well, Cambridge, the club known as The Middle East to be exact). I would attend the next two years as well, although ironically, when the band was at their peak commercially, in 1997/1998, those would be the only two years I did not attend.
It's the holiday season
and it's freezing cold
no club'll have me
I've nowhere to be
No Santa or Blanta
or other Throwdown cheer
cause it sure doesn't feel like...
Over the past four years, I have witnessed the band put on progressively better shows, culminating in the two shows I saw at last year's Throwdown. Despite the lineup changes, the loss of founding axeman Nate Albert, the declining record sales, last year's Hometown Throwdown recalled the spirit of the original couple of years worth of shows. The people who were there wanted to be there, they weren't just there to hear the "Knock on Wood" song. The bounce that started when What's At Stake began on Saturday night, the crush at the front for Sugar Free on Sunday afternoon, the jovial good feeling of everyone up front, they were far and away the two best show experiences I had had at a Bosstones show in at least 5 years. Add in the fact that my friend Alex won a signed guitar in the charity raffle, and it was win win WIN.
Now I'm standing behind Fenway Park
And I've got nowhere to go
I can't go to Axis
it's in the dark and cold
But this summer, certain rumors began to circulate the internet, namely that the Bosstones were planning on breaking up, and that the tenth annual Throwdown would act as their "farewell" shows, if you will. It didn't help matters that the band didn't update their website for months. That only served to exasperate the rumors to even greater lengths.
The band finally updated their website recently, and just this week the Boston Globe finally put some questions to frontman Dicky Barrett, who can now be seen as the announcer on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC (yeah, that's a step up, *roll eyes*). Barrett, as well as the band's website, is terming it a "hiatus," a term that can mean temporary or permanent, or somewhere in between.
"We were Bosstones before it was even a musical idea. It could have been the Bosstones sub shop" Barrett told the Globe.
Meanwhile, the other members of the Bosstones are spread all over the country. Bassist Joe Gittleman, thought to be one of the main reasons for the band's hiatus by internet fans, is recording the second album with his punk rock side project, Avoid One Thing. Drummer Joe Sirois just toured the country with Frank Black. Vegas, aka saxophonist Tim Burton, moved out to LA and is going to appear on the new Cypress Hill record. The other sax-man, Roman Fleysher, is working on getting his pilot's license. Guitarist Lawrence Katz is doing session work and working on an album with Barrett, but that will be far from what you might expect. "Like Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits" says Barrett. Ben Carr, the "dancing Bosstone" just had a baby with his wife over the summer. And Chris Rhodes has filled in on trombone for both Less Than Jake and Reel Big Fish.
The band is leaving open the possibility of doing a tenth Throwdown next summer, which would be the true ten year anniversary of the first Throwdown.
Either way, this December has felt very empty for me. Every year for the last 4 years, I've said I wouldn't be surprised if I was watching the last Hometown Throwdown unfold before my eyes. That doesn't mean I wanted it to come true. I miss the feeling that I would get every year at the show. I miss the look of pride on Dicky Barrett's face. I miss Ben Carr being the goofy bastard that he is. And I miss more than anything the pure joy and happiness that would overtake me with every setlist surprise and rousing singalong. The Hometown Throwdown was music at it's purest, a celebration of life, friends, family, and your roots. Boston was the Bosstones. The Bosstones were Boston. It's as simple as that. No words can even begin to describe how depressed I get thinking about the lack of a Throwdown this year.
For the record, I respect the band's decision, and whatever they decide I will support. But I must say that it will be a while before This Time of Year really feels right to me again.
It sure doesn't feel like Christmas time...to me
Hometown Throwdown Reviews:
1999
2000
2001
2002
Related Review:
Live From the Middle East
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Member: Matt Aucoin
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Gonna be a daddy, April 2010!
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