J.A.S.O.N. - Tripping without drugs

     While the Blues Magoos of 2014 are having a "Psychedelic resurrection" and with mythology  proving to be successful on the big screen, writer Peter Riesenberg's J.A.S.O.N. - Myth, Murder and Mayhem in a punk rock world, has invaded the eerie confines of downstairs at the Cantab.   It's a dark play in a dark room with multiple themes that appear designed to keep your brain hopping.

     If you want to experience Peter Fonda's hallucinations from his 1967 cult epic, The Trip, without indulging in illicit magic mushrooms, J.A.S.O.N. could be the answer to your dilemma.  A majority of the actors start flipping out midway through the play on "Lotus" -which could be anything from ultra-spiked pot to those powerful, ultra mood-changing ingredients in Lysergic acid diethylamide      While The Trip was written by actor Jack Nicholson with direction from Roger Corman, the stage play takes Riesenberg's idea and has director Hatem Adell giving it shape.

      As dysfunctional a band as Spinal Tap, with sounds that mirror the abilities of the famed Portsmouth Sinfonia though the band, called Jason and the Argonauts, I'm told, is a bit more coherent both onstage and in the recording studio.  You can hear the group's "one hit wonder," (in the play, not in real life) here:

HYLAS
https://soundcloud.com/jas-on-7/hylas 

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    The press release notes that". Myth, mayhem and murder spill out onto the stage as a punk rock band leaves destruction in its wake during a five-month tour"

 and the ensemble, with no appearance of Jason himself ever, does everything in its power to implode amid the over-indulgence of women, wine and song, as well as bitterness between an exiled group member and the remaining souls that comprise the "hit" artist, with the eye of the storm being a malicious conniver with daddy issues busy stalking Jason and claiming to be pregnant with his twins. 
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     It is commendable that Club Bohemia has brought another play to the public inside a rock and roll nightclub  - Bouncers back in April of 2013 was the first - and it is our hope that the club brings more of this unique entertainment in the future.

Encore.

Charlene Goodman is a sometimes radio producer for a famous Boston area d.j.of the female persuasion. She also interviews people and writes random reviews. You'd better be good when playing onstage because you never know when her pen and pad are in the back of the club writing about your stage performance

ARTS BOSTON

http://www.artsboston.org/event/detail/441674418

J.A.S.O.N.

Myth, Murder & Mayhem in a Punk Rock World

A comic re-imagining of The Argonautica & Euripides' Medea retold as Punk Rock band on their one-and-only tour.

Written by Pete Riesenberg

Directed by Hatem Adell

Featuring: Liz Adams, Daniel Boudreau, Kim H. Carrell*, Rick Chason, Tim Hoover, Robert Benton Orzalli, Emma Walker.

Showdates:

Saturdays
October 4, 11, 18, 25 at 3:00 PM

Sundays
October 5, 12, 19, 26 at 7:00 PM

At Club Bohemia downstairs at the Cantab Lounge
Tickets are $20
This is a 21+ show

*Appears through special arrangement with Actors Equity Association

Jason and the Argonauts band with Director Hatem Adell (forward right in blue jeans and glasses) 

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IN OTHER NOTES

L.A. singer-songwriter Sutter Zachman finds audience by way of Irish radio

Review forthcoming on Sutter Zachman's Repeat Offender

http://innocentwords.com/32953/

When The Money's Gone - Audioscam

WHEN THE MONEY'S GONE

Pure pop for now people. I don't know about you but the highlight of the Grammy Awards (Feb. 12, 2012) for me was when the Beach Boys - or what's left of them - finally reunited and brought smiles to faces around the world. Audioscam's intentional demolition of the Abba catalog a couple or few years back was wonderful pop deconstruction that slashed away at preconceived Abba notions. Here with 4 originals the band lightens up on the speakers but delivers concise and deliberate messages that show an intentional - and skillful - reticence to overplay.

Drummer Brian Pitcher might have to pull a Phil Collins and come out from behind the skins as the group is a trio here and the big song seems like it would need two guitars and a keyboard to recreate it onstage. It's probably Ross Wilson's multiple guitars sounding like keys and if they can pull this off without additional musicians more power to them. It's a memorable tune with strong production work coming in under three minutes at 2:48. Some site DiamondRecordings.com has the track listing http://www.diamondrecordings.com/artists.shtml

3 minutes and 5 seconds of "That Other Guy" reminds me of early British Invasion, maybe if Billy J. Kramer was a bit more hip and less nerdy. Peter Badenoch "guest stars" on bass while drummer/singer Brian plays acoustic guitar as well.

Track 3 sounds like an inversion of Lou Reed's "Ecstasy", compact Elvis Costello by way of Joe Jackson. It's Brad Wallace on the bass, song composition and vocals with Brian Pitcher on drums and Ross Wilson on guitar.

The final song on this easy to digest 4 track E.P. is chock full of guitar dazzle, "Different Eyes" with its hook of "So who do you think you are/to treat somebody like that"...3 minutes and 49 seconds of a snap/crackle drum with the guitar spinning like it's got vertigo or something...nice, tight, taut playing and short bursts of pop tunes the way I like 'em...buzzing in and out like a comet...too many artists are cramming 20 songs on a disc because they can. Audioscam delivers the goods here and states very loudly that less is more.

UPCOMING REVIEWS


Stratopheerius HEAD SPACE

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Tiers...this guy Richard X Heyman played with Peter Noone and probably other pop heroes. Way behind on my reviews...will get to this a.s.a.p.

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Halley Devestern is a great New York area singer...I think she was in Big Brother & The Holding Company at one point....unbelievable voice. Of course to sing Joplin one would have to have the pipes.

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Billy Shake's CRASHING DOWN rocks... slam, bam, BOOM. Track 5 "Take Cover" and song 8 "Holy Eyes" worth checking out. Entire CD has merit.

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RIP WHITNEY HOUSTON




"Saving All My Love For You" is a phenomenal song...this was like a hundred years ago and Madame Whitney, one of the last of the one-name stars...biggest since Axl became a one-name-wonder...should never have died. Absurd that there were no handlers breathing down her neck.

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Jack Phillips TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

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VANILLA FUDGE HERE AND THERE

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Margaret MacDonald RAIN ON THE ROOF

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KENNY SELCER
DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME

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Suzy Bogguss

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GOLD DUST
LIFESTYLES OF THE POOR AND UNKNOWN


Scott Couper (guitar, bass) and drummer Jay Couper are fraternal twins from the Needham, Massachusetts area. They headline the Cantab in Cambridge every Friday and Saturday night with Candy from Little Joe Cook's band. Scott also backed up Jon Butcher once upon a time and other notable singers. The duo backed up Denny Laine from Paul McCartney's WINGS back in 1989 or around that time. 18 selections including their classic WHATEVER HAPPENED TO MARY.

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BALL N CHAIN
SANDS OF TIME



Kimberley Jaeger is raving about the title track to me; I'll give it a spin. There's also a secret Charlie Farren track on here because one or some of these guys were in Balloon with Charlie. A review when I figure it all out. Charlene has spoken. Happy Valentine's Day!

January 2, 2011

It's a new year, people, and lots of CDs arriving in the mail box.



First review of 2011 goes to April Martin's delightful excursion into multiple genres with the guiding hand of producer Peter Calo giving the styles at play a little of his own ...style. When I went looking for pictures to post here in Google Images there were links to Peter Calo.com , aprilmartin.com , the U.K. version of amazon.com and an interesting review here http://view.vcab.com/?vcabID=cgaSncecSccrelh&page=131

There were also the obligatory pennies in actual jars, this one with quarters



but enough of that and on to my review. The flutes in "Out Of My Hands", the opening track which tells of "all my schemes ...written in sand" are a perfect complement to Martin's voice. For those who appreciae Marianne Faithful's lovely Andrew Loog Oldham-produced pop episodes the great Mr. Calo crafts just such a new masterpiece with this song. Acoustic guitars that take you back in time to the Immediate Records label and all the fun it brought to the universe. "It's A Shame" travels forward in time to the Nico-esque Marianne Faithful days when Mark Miller Mundy gave Marianne a bit of a darker tinge, that Broken English period on Island records. Not to dwarf Martin's debut in someone else's cloak but this collection of fourteen songs seems to be a bit more about communicating ideas than breaking original ground. "Cold Light Of Day" takes things to an even more intense line of thought, Buffy St. Marie and Judy Collins battling it out as if 60's guitarist Vinny Bell trekked into the future to give this folk music a new sort of sound. OK, it is quite innovative, so I take back the comment about unoriginality. "Got a Way To Go" would fit nicely onto the soundtrack of that Country & Western setting for the film Back To The Future III...didn't Calo also produce and play on a country album of old, old standards? If so, he's the perfect fit for this song. I like "Love's Been A Long Time Coming" and "Bye Bye", especially "Bye Bye"... more comparisons come to mind, the angst of Janis Ian and some heart-pounding lyrics that would come in handy if you are ready to tell a former love "adios". Write 'em down just in case you need 'em. The title "Pennies In A Jar" comes up inside a song, the finale, "Warrior Of The Heart", which I think should've been a five or six minute epic to close out the album. All the songs come in between three minute mark, the opening song at 3:45 and the second to last at two seconds under at 2:58 Didn't "The Letter" by the Box Tops come in at 1:58? There are no cover songs, but the album is strong in both production and song quality. Nice CD for me to start the new year of reviews off with. Charlene Goodman speaks!

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I just adore this three song Abba E.P. with the German version of Waterloo at 2:47, the original "Waterloo" at 2:47 (well, who knows if the English version was the "original" ) and a superb Megamedley at 8:52 with Super Trouper, Dancing Queen, Take A Chance On Me, I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Money Money Money (how repetitive!), S.O.S., Mamma Mia, Waterloo, Knowing Me Knowing You, One Of Us, Chiquita and Fernando. The mega medley mix is awesome...as is the English/German A/B ---would love to have an album of different songs by Abba in different languages

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Frigging Varmints second record is great!




1.Boston Creme
2)Baby's Off Her Rocker
3)No Promise
4)Countdown
5)Talk Talk
6)Little Leanne
7)One Square One
8)Rosalita

Boston Cream opens up with hard-hitting underground angst rock..."A bullets what you need/against the wall in line" in a song that's probably called "Talk Talk: Shut it Off" ...ok, the CD is in the player across the room, just found the disc on Reverb Nation with the titles. This one is "Talk Talk", not the song by the band of the same name nor the 60's punk rockers Music Machine...

Little Leanne has a great riff...straight out of the Keith Richards' songbook of Brown Sugar
guitar lines...Little Leanne must've been prowling around her Aunty Gloria's attic and reading her naughty diary because she "makes me feel alright", as Gloria did to Jim and Van Morrison (the Morrison twins) back in the decadent sixties. Strange fade out on the tune, maybe Rayboy Fernandes wanted to infuse some Atlantics-era recording into it?
One Square One sizzles but I have no idea what the heck singer Billy Borgioli is talking about...a mall in Melrose on Route 1 or something? Who knows, kind of like Jon Felice's Common At Noon. How many non-Bostonians know he was talking about the Boston Common (or was it the Harvard Common). "Rosalita" could be the sister of "Loretta", his seniorita Rosalita rocks just like The Nervous Eaters classic...heck, the opening track is risque' but Billy skirts the issue when this tune could get very off color...she runs around but he loves her enough to simply "hate the way" she comes and goes. CD could've went into Abba's " Chiquitita" (see above) but it ends as quickly as it started. A nice blast of new Varmints Boston Rock & Roll to pick up where their first CD released years ago left off.

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Jonathan Richman "Not So Much To Be Loved As To Love

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100%

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ABIGAIL ZSIGA

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Jann Klose

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Lisa Burns Unadorned