Above The Basement - Boston Music and Conversation

Red Shaydez!OK let’s talk some sh**t!Sorry for the potty mouth.  Just trying to introduce my next guest appropriately.Red Shaydez is a Do it your-selfer whose name I have heard countless times over the past few years. She is a busy woman and talent. A hip-hop artist, producer, videographer, public speaker, educator, and youth mentor, Red has been nominated and/or won several Boston Music Awards including Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, 617 Session artist of the year and I am sure there are many more coming.I had the opportunity to sit with her on a rainy day at The Record Co in their brand-new facility, which is gorgeous.I was also fortunate to have a former guest - the awesome Brandie Blaze - join me as a cohost, which is why this episode is a two part-er.I had a great time talking to Red and Brandie – The first episode is just Red and yours truly – part two is when Brandie Blaze enters the room and then we really start talking some sh**t.Argh.  Sorry.  Potty mouth.

Right when I first started ATB in 2016, emails asking to be a guest were few and far between.  One of the first requests I ever got that year was from my next guest, who I never actually met until this past summer.Musician Justine Covault had herself just started her band Justine and The Unclean.  She’s someone who gets stuff done.  From co-founding female-fronted rock festivalWhistleStop Rock to starting a monthly residency at The Plough And Stars with 'The Mess Around', Justine has ventured into new territory with her new label Red On Red Records.Her support and enthusiasm for the Boston music community and for her roster of (mostly) Boston bands are infectious, so much so that the great Sir David Minehan of The Neighborhoods and Woolly Mammoth Sound is collaborating with her to offer Red Mammoth Concerts.I’ll let her tell the story. I just wish she had an extra swizzle stick to give me. 

Linnea Herzog is someone you don’t miss when you walk by her. Or see on stage.  And I would surmise at her day job as a neuroscientist at The Broad Institute, you can’t miss her there either.Musicians are smart.  But some are smarter than others, especially when you get a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Brandeis University where Linnea studied how taste and spatial information are processed in the rodent hippocampus.  Linnea is actually our second musician/scientist we’ve spoken to at The Broad Institute.  A few years ago, we talked with Infectious Disease Expert, Professor at Harvard University, and musician Pardis Sabetti.Anyways, Linnea is all punk and glam and a fearless rock star. Having got to the Rock and Roll Rumble finals in 2019 with her former band Powerslut, when the pandemic hit, she decided to go in a new direction with her new band Linnea’s Garden. Linnea is a do-it-yourselfer, and she certainly does it all.Her debut EP, “Nowhere Friday Nights,” is out now on Red on Red Records and she is preparing to release a full length shortly.I hoped to publish this episode before they played at The Sinclair in Cambridge, MA, but life got in the way a bit.  So while I missed the opportunity to plug her Sinclair show, she already has several more lined up this fall.  I was able to get a recording from the Sinclair show that you can hear at the end of this conversation, so make sure you stay for that!Linnea was a great chat and I had a fantastic time talking to her.

I saw my first show at Once Ballroom in Somerville a few years ago, entering the building, wondering if I just walked into a bar mitzvah, or as JJ Gonson first thought when she saw the room for the first time, a high school prom.But on the raised stage I saw the band, Dada. That was only the first time among many. Mostly I was there for the infamous Boston Emissions Rock and Roll Rumble, where the place transformed into a community of music fans and bands who supported each other and the music for which Boston is famous.JJ Gonson saw the room not as a ballroom, but as an opportunity to share her love of music with the world. That may sound a bit cheesy, but JJ is all about the music.Starting off as a rock photographer, (she is responsible for the Elliott Smith self-titled album cover as well as his Roman Candle album), she eventually began to manage Elliott’s band Heatmiser and then Elliott himself before he left us all too soon.ONCE was to become a catering company but soon morphed into one of the great, unique independent venues in Boston. COVID hit hard, unfortunately, and ONCE had to close. But the community JJ worked so hard to pull together through music, well, pulled together to raise money to try and keep ONCE alive. And while the venue did eventually have to close, she was able to go virtual with the ONCE Virtual Venue to give musicians the ability to continue playing for people.It also gave JJ the opportunity to search for another location, which she found at Boynton Yards. I’ll let her talk about that. But JJ continues to fight for venues, Boston music, and the musicians that make up this amazing city, through her incredible work with Save Our Stages and the National Independent Venue Association.Suffice it to say that we are all fortunate to have our friend JJ Gonson on our side.

Matt Lorenz,  AKA The Suitcase Junket.   Many sounds come from this one-man band.  Sounds from actual suitcases, from guitars found in the trash to any number of odds and ends Matt procures, invents, and salvages. He is an inventive and talented guy.I took a trip out to western MA to chat with Matt in his recently almost finished studio to talk about, well, a whole bunch of things - his latest album The End is New, his upcoming show at the Sinclair in Cambridge MA on August 6th, his life before, during, and after COVID, and the difference between Doom Folk and Swamp Yankee Music, if there is one.I even had my friend Eric Lineback ask a few questions that were more intelligent than mine.Anyways, The End is New, produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, is Matt’s sixth full-length album as The Suitcase Junket and his first for Renew Records/BMG.

Matt Lorenz,  AKA The Suitcase Junket.   Many sounds come from this one-man band.  Sounds from actual suitcases, from guitars found in the trash to any number of odds and ends Matt procures, invents, and salvages. He is an inventive and talented guy.I took a trip out to western MA to chat with Matt in his recently almost finished studio to talk about, well, a whole bunch of things - his latest album The End is New, his upcoming show at the Sinclair in Cambridge MA on August 6th, his life before, during, and after COVID, and the difference between Doom Folk and Swamp Yankee Music, if there is one.I even had my friend Eric Lineback ask a few questions that were more intelligent than mine.Anyways, The End is New, produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, is Matt’s sixth full-length album as The Suitcase Junket and his first for Renew Records/BMG.

When COVID first hit Boston and we were sequestered in our hobbit holes, we decided to offer a window for everyone to see and hear live music for a musical respite from the pandemic.One of our guests on this program that we called #TogetherAtHome was the awesome Wolff Sisters.  These three sisters and musicians, who are also fellow 2020 Boston Music Award winners for Americana Artist of the Year, invited me into their home to chat about their last album Queendom of Nothing.But their most recent release is a single called Boston Town and I immediately put it on my daily playlist.  These talented sisters, with Rebecca on acoustic guitar, Rachael on electric, and Kat on keys, along with their fantastic vocals and harmonies create a sound that The Boston Globe called one of the 15 Best Fall Albums of 2019.They sound great, the harmonies are as wonderful as three sisters singing together can be, and they are looking forward to making more music and hitting the road to reach others in Boston Town and beyond.

I was very happy to sit with Knar Bedian, Founder and Editor in Chief of Sound of Boston music blog.  I discovered Sound of Boston before I started Above The Basement and I am a huge fan.  I asked Knar on in the early days of ATB and she politely refused.  But I kept at it and finally got her on the show.Knar loves Boston, and like many of us, she wants to make sure people know how amazing and vibrant the Boston music scene is.  But even beyond that, as a proud Armenian-American, Knar is a tireless activist, working to draw attention to the terrible violence and oppression happening in her ancestral Armenia.  Sound of Boston has also been vocal about oppression here in Boston, as she recently wrote a great piece called A Musician’s Guide to Black Music History and Anti-Racism Resources, an anti-racism and music-focused educational resource to help create a more inclusive, safe, and just community (and music scene) for everyone.We had a great conversation and I love the line they use on their site -“While the world waits for a ‘Boston Sound,’ Sound of Boston is here to show you that it already exists—you just have to know where to look. 

Like so many of the Boston musicians we have talked to, Avi Salloway from the band Billy Wylder is a very thoughtful guy who has learned that as an activist, you need to understand how to be an ally.   Avi just released a new EP called Whatcha Looking For and we were fortunate enough to hear a few tunes from it. He has played music around the globe, from working with Israeli and Palestinian youth to develop creative nonviolent tools for social change with the Non Profit organization Heartbeat, to his travels to Standing Rock to unite with the native-led nonviolent movement to resist the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.  Avi shows up.  Not only does he show up, but he does so with some pretty incredible musicians, notably Tuareg guitar master, Bombino, and other renowned artists like Jack Johnson, Pete Seeger, Celia Woodsmith of Della Mae, and a slew of other Boston musicians who make this city a great place for the arts.  His belief in the power of music to unite and face challenges is incredible and if we could all have his kind of optimism, the world would be a better place.

Juliana Hatfield!    If you did not know, Juliana is a Boston native and still resides in the city. You may see her finishing up her 10…ok maybe 5k run if you can pick her out from the crowd of masked runners.  She likes the anonymity and this isolation in the time of COVID fit her very well – or at least it didn’t change much for her - as she is a restless artist and will always find something to do with her creativity.  With 26 or so albums under her belt, 19 of those solo studio albums, as well as her latest album 'Blood', she is a terrifically prolific songwriter and artist. If you haven’t heard her Police and Olivia Newton-John cover albums, you are in for a treat.  From her previous bands Blake Babies, Some Girls, The Lemonheads, and her own band The Juliana Hatfield Three, Juliana is a constant force. Her latest album 'Blood' is, and I quote, "...a brutal and critical look at modern human psychology and behavior; at personal and societal sickness." While that sounds pretty deep and dark, Juliana says, “But it is fun, musically”.  So there you have it.  You should check out her live performances streaming from Q-Division Studios she has been doing once a month.  My co-host this week Ike Walker and I had a nice chat with her and she is really fantastic.  

Boston Radio and WBCN legend, Oedipus, is someone who seems to have said yes to everything.  Oedipus got his start as an intern in college radio in the 70’s and worked his way into the WBCN family, creating the Boston Radio powerhouse that BCN became.    With his cutting-edge pink hair and his love of punk and new wave music, the musicians that made up the Boston bands like DMZ and The Real Kids, many of whom slept on his floor in his small Beacon Hill apartment, paved the way for other bands to break out.   WBCN introduced Boston and the world to The Police, The Clash, The Ramones, and U2 to name just a few.  We don’t get to ask too many questions in this episode, which is fine with us.  Oedipus has enough stories to fill several episodes.  But we’ll keep it to just this one. 

What is a Jamoke? Is a chump a jamoke?  We really have no idea.  But we love the question and will begin using the word Jamoke on a regular basis.These are the deep questions we dove into when talking with Jennifer D’Angora and Ed Valauskas. Plymouth native Jennifer D’Angora, also known as Jenny Dee, has been on the Boston music scene long enough to be in more bands than we can count. The Dents, Jenny Dee and the Deelinquents, The Downbeat 5, and the fantastic group of musicians that make up the equally fantastic Band of Their Own which performs mainly to support Hot Stove Cool Music, the annual benefit show supporting the Foundation to be Named Later.Ed Valauskas is the studio manager of the infamous Q Division studios. Ed’s also an accomplished producer and bassist. He plays bass in The Gravel Pit, The Gentlemen, Jenny Dee & The Deelinquents, Abbie Barrett & The Last Date, The Prenups, and far too many other bands to count.  Chances are if you are a regular on the live music scene in Boston, one of these two musicians and great people were on the stage.These are also only our second married couple to have on ATB.  We’ll let you listen to find out the first.

We first heard of Destiny Claymore in an article on Vanyaland and then in another piece by the great Jed Gottlieb in The Boston Herald.  A Boston triple threat with an incredible, unique voice and dancing chops, Destiny had a pretty great 2020 - despite COVID.She appears in the upcoming film Free Guy with Ryan Reynolds and not too long ago was also in The Expecting with AnnaSophia Robb.  In addition, she was able to release her album Pretty to rave reviews.  Not bad for a COVID-filled 2020.Her unique upbringing – being the first female born into her family in the past 25 years – reflects her name, which seems to indicate more great things ahead.2021 looks to be a good year. 

We think what makes our conversations interesting is the face-to-face we always have and actually required at one point.  We used to say no to virtual conversations.  But we aren’t idiots, as far as you know, and we are still chatting with our guests virtually because of the evil COVID, and while we are not fans, we still at least get to talk with great musicians who turn out to be great people as well. Two fellas who fall into those two descriptions are Paul Wright and Tim Harrington from the band Tall Heights.Like many, Paul and Tim, or Tim and Paul, depending on who you ask, began their musical journey by busking on the streets of Boston. They soon left the harsh Quincy Market streets for the road, which they now ride in luxury on The Spirit of Beverly, which you will hear about shortly.These guys from Sturbridge – not to be confused with Stockbridge - are road warriors and luckily, they were able to almost finish a tour before COVID hit.  I talked with them about what they’ve been doing lately including their Tall Heights Backyard Tour, their fan sing-along, and a lot of other things.  We don’t want to ruin the surprise.

Part Two!Fans of Phish, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, these fans are all great. But nothing compares to the fans of the homegrown Boston band Neighbor.Whether that is hyperbole or not (Ron will need to find the definition of that word in a dictionary), the fellas in Neighbor would argue that they do have the greatest fans in the world.Neighbor is Richard James, Dan Kelly, Dean Johnston (aka The Dux), and Lyle Brewer. Four guys who serendipitously came together either as childhood friends or were dragged to their first early Neighbor show at the now (sadly closed) Thunder Road.Their musicianship is off the charts, with epic solos and songs that seem to morph into other songs until you realize that they brought us on a different path, only to finish up with the popping of a confetti cannon, a familiar riff we heard 20 minutes ago and ending with a hug or a high five (once COVID is over of course) from your newly formed friend for life in the audience.Does this make sense?You gotta go see a Neighbor show to really get it. They are so great.And ATB was there last summer to film one of these shows and it is coming soon on our BOSTON: LIVE concert films. But we digress.We had a fantastic chat and talked about their great fans, how grassroots marketing and musical generosity, and the love of their fans have built the phenomenon the world will soon know – the band called Neighbor.This is part two of two! So be sure to listen to both episodes.

Fans of Phish, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, these fans are all great. But nothing compares to the fans of the homegrown Boston band Neighbor.  Whether that is hyperbole or not (Ron you can find the definition of that word in a dictionary), The fellas in Neighbor would argue that they do have the greatest fans in the world.Neighbor is Richard James, Dan Kelly, Dean Johnston (aka The Dux), and Lyle Brewer.  Four guys who serendipitously came together either as childhood friends or were dragged to their first early Neighbor show at the now sadly closed Thunder Road.Their musicianship is off the charts, with epic solos and songs that seem to morph into other songs until you realize that they brought us on a different path, only to finish up with the popping of a confetti cannon, a familiar riff we heard 20 minutes ago and ending with a hug or a high five (once COVID is over of course) from your newly formed friend for life in the audience.  Does this make sense?You gotta go see a Neighbor show to really get it.  They are so great.And ATB was there last summer to film one of these shows and it is coming soon on our BOSTON: LIVE concert films.  But we digress.We had a fantastic chat and talked about their great fans, how grassroots marketing and musical generosity, and the love of their fans have built the phenomenon the world will soon know – the band called Neighbor.This is part one of two!  So be sure to listen to both episodes.

We had a remote conversation with the Boston band The Devil’s Twins, who we’ve wanted to have on for a while.  We do not like remote conversations, but we did find it was better than having them in person with masks on.  First of all, it is obviously safer to do it remotely, and also it is much more difficult to have a face to face when you can’t even see their faces.  So, we will continue to be remote until it is safe to see people in the flesh.  That said we were lucky enough to have on Nicole Coogan and Jeremiah John Louf, as well as band members Ryan Manning, Eric Ortiz and Aitan Ben-Joseph.  These great people also have a great clan of fans called the 2Crew, of which I am proud to be a member – some of them even getting a 2 crew tattoo to support the band, which is what I hope Ronnie will do one of these days to support me by having my name tattooed on his chest.   You should know, the first rule of the 2Crew is: You do not talk about 2Crew, Except you should talk about them all the time.    I will let you decide what that means, but I like it.  They recorded their last album Bad Karma and have been releasing it a piece at a time, including some great videos that you can see on their website thedevilstwins.com.  Last year they had a fantastic show at GBH’s Fraser room that you can see at wgbh.org.  They are such a great live band and I have been encouraging them to get a graphic novel started with each of them a superhero character. 

We sat with DJ, entrepreneur, and the first black woman to own a digital radio station, Ms. Hot Sauce – AKA Danielle O Johnson.This is probably the most raunchy episode we have ever done, which isn’t really saying much because, well, Ron and I are kinda like saints without the two required miracles.  But we do have some inappropriate language in this episode, so block your child's ears as you listen and make this episode go. crazy viral!Danielle started Spark FM just this past year and she has been working hard to build a company that promotes the music and voices that should be heard.  Her own podcast called Henny and Hot Wings is not for the faint of heart as their very popular show is described as an “Exciting, exuberant, and sometimes x-rated personal lifestyle Podcast”.We tried to keep up with the x-rated conversation to try and fit in.  We did our best. Either way, we had some great laughs with Danielle and we are glad you could join us.

Boston born U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo got her start at Wally’s Jazz Café when she was tricked into performing her poetry in front of an audience by her friends.  But her journey reaches much farther than the great Wally’s. U-Meleni spent her youth in Zimbabwe and she credits her late mother as well as her grandmother for her gift of empathy and expression.  Since Wally’s, she has gone on to perform internationally as a poet, singer, speaker, and educator. In addition to her artistic endeavors, she is also Adjunct Professor at Endicott College – Boston and was a Keynote at the Naturalization Ceremony at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 2018 among many other accolades.   She is a fearless powerhouse on stage.  Her critically praised book of poetry is called Soul Psalms. Her work has helped raise awareness for immigrant and women’s voices and her passion for the human spirit is exemplified in her dedication to the youth of this city as well as in her running marathons, most impressively the Boston marathon several times.  She also just won a Creative Entrepreneur Fellowship from the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston. 

Anyone who grew up in the Boston area in the '70s will remember the GBH theme music that played on our TV sets while we sat 10 inches away from the TV and watched Sesame Street or the always hip kids show Zoom. No, not the Zoom we all use today, but the 1972 Zoom.  That iconic music (which you will hear on the episode) is embedded in our brains, and we are happy to say it is still being used to this day by GBH (formerly WGBH).  We had the great opportunity to speak with GBH President and CEO Jonathan Abbott. We caught up with Jon during a snow day and chatted about our memories of the early days, their current goals and projects, including their early transformation to digital platforms, their excellent Front Row Boston program, and all that they do to promote the arts and culture in Boston.

Chuck had a solo conversation with the great New England band Twisted Pine.   He sat with fiddle player Kathleen Parks, mandolin player Dan Bui and bassist Chris Sartori not too long ago. We missed Twisted Pine's newest addition, Anh Phung, who plays flute in the band, but she is safe at home in beautiful Canada. But we did get to talk about her behind her back - all nice things of course.  Twisted Pine is one of the most acclaimed young string bands in the Northeast. These fine musicians bring their love of improvisation, rhythmic playing and even humor into their music that, while still rooted in bluegrass, bring in notes of pop, funk and jazz that, in addition to fantastic harmonies, make them unique.  Their most recent album Right Now is a must listen, and although they had to put off touring due to COVID, they have plenty of material for you to watch on their website at twistedpineband.com and I highly recommend you do because their videos are fantastic.

In early November we ran across an article in the Boston Globe about a collaboration between the Boston Hip Hop group STL GLD and The Boston Symphony Orchestra. The headline alone caught our interest – the BSO is collaborating with a hip hop artist? We were so interested.We watched a music video that they put together and it blew our minds.  The song itself, "With Me," from STL GLD's 2019 album "The New Normal” is an amazing piece, made even more incredible by adding talent from some BSO musicians.This project, called “Us: A Celebration of Community”, was a great idea imagined by Hip Hop artist and former guest on ATB Moe Pope, who felt that a collaboration with the Boston Symphony Orchestra would be a great way to reach out to the hip hop community. The BSO was all in, and they both decided to bring together these two entities, as well as other artists, and I quote, “to explore the synergy between artists of different genres, in pursuit of a new and inclusive artistic vocabulary.”  In light of the COVID shutdown, they had to rethink the project. Instead of the live performances they envisioned, they introduced a series of zoom conversations, hosted by STL GLD member Timothy Hall, that would bring together musicians from STL GLD and the BSO to talk music, influences and other topics. These are available for free at https://stlgld.bso.org.We were able to pull in saxophone player and Berklee College of Music Professor Timothy Hall as well as french horn player and the first female member of the BSO brass section in its history, as well as New England Conservatory faculty member, Rachel Childers to talk about the project and what they hope will continue to be a great Boston Collaboration.

It has been an insane few weeks, which is an understatement to say the least since that could apply to the entirety of 2020 if not the last four years. We don’t mean to lay our politics out there, but whatever your beliefs, 2020 can’t end soon enough.   Luckily, we were able to talk to the multi-talented Kemp Harris to bring a little light into this terrible year.  Kemp is a quintuple threat – actor, songwriter, composer, singer, storyteller – and we are probably missing a few other talents in there.  Kemp was a teacher in Boston for 40 years and has gone on to be a powerful presence on the stage, from your local coffeeshop to the Boch Center stage, his open armed and vulnerable approach to his work make for must watch and must listen performances.  Kemp and Chuck sat in an empty restaurant to talk about current events, storytelling, teaching, living and performing your beliefs rather than poking the bear.    That will make more sense when you listen.  As we were told by our friend Ralph Jaccodine, Kemp is the real deal. 

Mission of Burma has been called, and we quote, "...one of the most important American rock bands of the last 20 years." That quote may be a bit dated, as now it may be 40 years, but either way, Clint Conley may find that to be hyperbole. But the fact remains that bands like The Pixies, Pearl Jam, Moby, REM, Nirvana and Throwing Muses (to name just a few) list Burma as a major influence, it is hard to argue with that moniker.In 1979, bass player Clint Conley, along with guitarist Roger Miller, drummer Peter Prescott and the “visually unobtrusive” Martin Swope got together to create this seminal Boston band that was part of a post-punk rock scene that inspired so many. Famous for their live performance and ear piercing volume, the amazing part of the story is that they released only an EP called Signals, Calls, and Marches in 1981 which had the fantastic track Academy Fight Song that was covered by REM and then one full LP in 1982 called VS., then took a 22-year hiatus before releasing their later works. Clint did not rest on his laurels, although he may argue that he had no laurels to rest on. He went on to get a Masters degree in broadcast journalism and ended up at Boston’s newsmagazine program Chronicle as a producer.  He later formed his own band called Consonant and produced Yo La Tengo’s debut album, but lately has been focused on family, letting go of his vinyl collection, and enjoying life in the burbs.Clint is a fantastic guy, funny, self-deprecating but very thoughtful and certainly seems very content.  We had a great conversation.

We had an opportunity to sit with Abby (Abs) Kahler and Zoe Young - two of the members of the feminist folk foursome from Western, MA in the Pioneer Valley, Ruby Mack. We were sad to miss their bandmates Emma Ayres and Abbie Duquette, but during the time of COVID, we are always happy to sit face to face albeit 10 feet away and masked to chat with talented musicians. We got heavy into their songwriting and their debut album Devil Told Me, which they just released in late October. Like so many musicians, they were unable to tour the album as planned but hope to hit the road as soon as it is safe to do so.Previously called the Emma June Band, their playing and complementary harmonies are just beautiful. I’ll plagiarize here from their Youtube page just because it is so poetic -  “Ruby Mack sings about the ways in which we build ourselves into empty factories of potential productivity & transform ourselves into lonely machines, like a dog howling at something you can't see but makes you bristle regardless.”The Underground Music Collective website called Devil Told Me a Modern Folk Masterpiece and we absolutely agree.OK enough of my plagiarism.  Enjoy the episode!

Boston native Mark Kates is the founder of Fenway Recordings and manages several bands, including MGMT, The Cribs, Mission of Burma, Doves, Swim Mountain and KUNZITE.He had been in the biz since he was a kid, signing a who’s who of bands over the years including Beck, Jawbreaker, Elastica, Alabama 3.When working for Geffen, he brought them Sonic Youth and also worked with Nirvana, Hole, Teenage Fanclub, XTC, Siouxsie and the Banshees, White Zombie. The list is CRAZY. Oh yeah, and he also ran the Beastie Boys record label Grand Royal Records. We could go on and on, but suffice it to say he has topped himself by sitting with Ronnie and I for a conversation that runs the gamut.

We took a lovely drive to western ma to sit alongside a flowing river with our new best friend Erin McKeown.  OK, she might not be our best friend, but we certainly wish she was.  Erin is a force of nature.  A persistent welcoming smile immediately put me at ease. So much so that we talked for almost two hours.  Which is why this episode is in two parts. We talk music, musical theater, writing, name dropping, COVID, hope, and other things too numerous to mention.Over the last few decades Erin McKeown’s unique voice and guitar playing has garnered her a loyal fanbase, has grabbed the attention of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights, has been awarded several Drama Desk Award nominations for her musical Miss You Like Hell, numerous awards and residencies, a writing fellowship, and is now a Professor of the Practice at Brown University.Her most recent event was a live stream celebrating the 20th anniversary of her first album Distillation, where she ceremoniously burned the dress she wore for the album cover and many promotional photos. The end of an era, but the beginning of another.As we finished the conversation, a huge Blue Heron flew right by us. Erin said it was an omen. We looked it up. The heron symbolizes stillness and tranquility, and how these two things are needed to recognize opportunities. It also signifies determination, because there will be plenty of marshes and ponds that you will wade through in life as well.A great way to end our conversation.

We took a lovely drive to Western MA to sit alongside a flowing river with our new best friend Erin McKeown. OK, she might not be our best friend, but we certainly wish she was.  Erin is a force of nature.  A persistent welcoming smile immediately put me at ease. So much so that we talked for almost two hours.  Which is why this episode is in two parts.  We talk music, Musical theater, writing, name dropping, COVID, hope, and other things too numerous to mention.  Over the last few decades Erin McKeown’s unique voice and guitar playing has garnered her a loyal fanbase, has grabbed the attention of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights, has been awarded several Drama Desk Award nominations for her musical Miss You Like Hell, numerous awards and residencies, a writing fellowship, and is now a Professor of the Practice at Brown University.  Her most recent event was a live stream celebrating the 20th anniversary of her first album Distillation, where she ceremoniously burned the dress she wore for the album cover and many promotional photos.   The end of an era, but the beginning of another.  As we finished the conversation, a huge Blue Heron flew right by us.  Erin said it was an omen.  We looked it up. The heron symbolizes stillness and tranquility, and how these two things are needed to recognize opportunities. It also signifies determination, because there will be plenty of marshes and ponds that you will wade through in life as well.  A great way to end our conversation. 

Every time we ask someone in the music business what is the most exciting thing happening in music in the City of Boston, we always get the same answer.  Hip-Hop. Not only has Hip Hop become the most popular music genre in the rest of the world, but Boston has become a hotbed of fantastic hip-hop artists like our next guest, Brandie Blaze.Brandie is nominated for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards and is blazing (sorry) her own path with her powerful and energetic performances. Her on stage persona is fierce, with socially conscious but also unapologetically explicit lyrics.She gives credit for her success to her mother, who she says raised her to be aware of the world she lives in, as well as other Boston Hip-Hop artists like Dutch Rebelle, Moe Pope, Oompa, and her collaborator in music Red Shaydez.  But she doesn’t seem like someone who needs a leg up. Brandie describes herself as a Trap Feminist, which she’ll explain in the conversation. She is devoted to her off stage work with The Dorchester Arts Project as well as being a program manager at Mission Safe.  Her last album Late Bloomer got everyone’s attention. We can’t wait until she grabs our attention again with her next album coming out next spring.

Every once in a while we get to chat with a Boston legend.Chris Smither is one of the most distinguished and authentic singer-songwriter/bluesmen over the past 50+ years. His soulful voice and excellent finger-style guitar playing is set to a heartbeat kept in time by his signature tapping feet.Chris moved to Boston from New Orleans back in the mid 1960’s and within hours of arriving he was on stage with Eric von Schmidt in Harvard Square at Club ‘47 (now Club Passim).Hanging out with his future producing partner Dick Waterman and blues musicians Son House and Fred McDowell, he began to hone his songwriting chops.Also in that group of bluesmen was the incomparable Bonnie Raitt, who fell in love with his song Love You Like A Man and made it her own. His songs have since been recorded by EmmyLou Harris, Diana Krall, Josh Ritter, Loudon Wainwright III, Dave Alvin, Patty Larkin, Peter Case and Tim O'Brien.He continued to write, perform and also overcome his personal struggles to be a musical road warrior. He has put out 18+ albums, his most recent More From The Levee - a compilation of songs that didn’t make it onto his 2014 album Still On The Levee retrospective that were so good they had to be released as well.Chris is still on the road and has proven to be one of the greatest American Folk/Blues artists to grace the stage.

Ron and I sat in the back room of 40 South Street in Jamaica Plain, buried in denim, and various other piles of vintage clothing with our masks over our faces on a beautiful day not too long ago.  The proprietor Hilken Mancini had to leave every so often to take care of the front of the store, but we got in a great conversation.  40 South Street is a vintage clothing store owned by musician, punk rocker, entrepreneur, aerobic instructor and all-around amazing person Hilken Mancini. We first saw Hilken on stage with her band of incredible women in Band Of Their Own at the Foundation To Be Named Later event at The Paradise a few years ago.  But that is only one of her many musical endeavors. She was also in the great band Fuzzy, The Count Me Outs and currently plays in The Monsieurs and Shepherdess.  But she is also the founder of Girls Rock Campaign Boston, which empowers girls, women, and youth and adults with marginalized gender identities to believe in themselves by providing a supportive community that fosters self-expression, confidence, and collaboration through musical education and performance.  Finally, in 2000 she also founded Punk Rock Aerobics, the original DIY workout that rocks out - combining original punk dance moves with aerobic exercise.  Hilken is awesome and we love her. 

Chuck drove out to Western Massachusetts to sit on Lisa’s front porch surrounded by chickens, a vocal rooster, two small children having an amazing time doing whatever small children feel like doing, bees and the occasional mouse to talk music, songwriting and Life in the Time of COVID.Lisa’s latest album How We Want To Live is a beautiful record that reflects her many life changes over the past few years.  Her songs are a musical ‘thank you’ to her grandmother who introduced her to the guitar and to songwriting, as well as a message to those in her life. The album reached #1 in Contemporary Folk on Roots Music Report, she was nominated in 2019 for Folk Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards and was the 2019 Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Winner.Her honest and well crafted songwriting reflect her own personality. Lisa is a calming presence, thoughtful and very in the moment.It was appropriate to be surrounded by the wonderful chaos of life - the joyful sounds of her kids, a crowing rooster and the arrival of the Amazon delivery truck, which she hopes, one day, will deliver ice cream.

Paul Hansen is The Grownup Noise – a Boston band formed in 2005 with bassist Adam Sankowski – that has had an impressive list of members too long to mention.The Grownup Noise website says their name represents something to rebel against, like fear, complacency, the closing of your heart, the stress of bills etc.We can imagine the current state of affairs with COVID, the election and the financial and social hardships we are all experiencing, we would all like to rebel.Paul is doing his own rebelling by incorporating some different instruments in his music, but it really all comes down to songwriting.We sat with Paul last week to talk about his new instruments, his songwriting and how he can’t seem to get the smell of fried foods out of his clothes. That will make more sense if you listen to the entire conversation.

With a name like Mistress Carrie, we might be forgiven if we were a bit cautious asking her on ATB for a chat.  But we knew what we were getting into.  Boston native Mistress Carrie is a badass.  She was until recently a DJ for 22 years and the Assistant Program Director of Boston rock station WAAF.  

Boston Hip Hop artist Cliff Notez is another guest we had been trying to get on ATB for a long time.    He’s a busy busy guy – writing, composing, teaching at Berklee College of Music and Emerson College, filming, sculpting, painting and according to WBUR in Boston, generally being one of the Boston arts community’s busiest multihyphenates.    Which is an awesome word and we're not sure what it means, but we think we want to also be multihyphenates.  Cliff also founded the media production company Hipstory, released a fantastic album last fall called Why The Wild Things Are, and was not too long ago was named 2019 Boston Magazine Best Musician as well as starting Boston Answering to highlight Boston artists in response to the Boston Calling music festival.  So as we said, Cliff is a busy guy, and we had a great time chatting on the phone while a thunderstorm raged in the  distance.  

For our first in-person but appropriately distanced conversation since COVID hit, we were fortunate to sit with fellow Bostonian, author, documentary filmmaker and National Arts reporter for the Washington Post, Geoff Edgers.We first came to know Geoff at a book signing of his recent book Walk This Way - Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song that Changed American Music Forever. Since then we kept seeing Geoff around town – at David Byrne's American Utopia show in Boston, in Quincy - the Quincy Jones documentary and once when he tried to steal my original pressing of The Kinks - Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) LP.That last one was a joke, but he is a huge Kinks fan and we are still hoping to watch his documentary about trying to reunite the Kinks called Do It Again. We sat in his backyard to talk current events, his continued hope for a Kinks reunion and his crazy awesome collection of tape decks, record players, 8 tracks and his personal favorite, his Welltron 2001.

We first met Corey SantOne DePina at a Mighty Mighty Bosstones concert not too long ago with some of his students at Zumix, and we could tell right then that he was the real rock star of the evening.  Zumix is an award-winning music and creative technology program designed to equip youth with the tools necessary to reach their full potential, while creating a safe space for youth to explore who they are and who they want to be.  In addition to working at Zumix, Corey also started the Fogo Project where he is working to raise money and gather musical equipment to create a permanent music education program on the island.  Madeleine Steczynski, Zumix founder and also a former guest on ATB, is our co-host and she has known Corey since he walked in the doors of Zumix as a 12 year old.

This is our second conversation with a former guest that we thought was important to have due to recent events.We spoke with Ashleigh Gordon - violist, activist and Artistic Director of Castle of Our Skins, a Boston-based concert and educational series devoted to celebrating Black Artistry through music. We talked to Ashleigh about how she’s doing with life in the time of COVID as well as her thoughts on the recent protests stemming from the murder of George Floyd.

The COVID pandemic hit all of us quickly and our plans for the spring, summer and perhaps beyond, were scuttled.  We know of many musicians who were planning to tour a new album and unfortunately they had to postpone, or in the case of Ry Cavanaugh of the amazing band Session Americana, cancel altogether.Hopefully we can change his mind about the tour, but at the very least we get to hear this beautiful album of songs that Ry gathered written by his late father George – also known as Bobby Pedd.We were about to sit with Ry before the Pandemic hit, and while safety and health kept us from being in the same room, we were still able to chat virtually about his father, the new album called Time For This, and how Session Americana, featuring many of the great musicians in Boston, came to fruition.Kristina Latino, our good friend from CornerScape, joins me this go round, so we’d like to thank her for joining us.

We wanted to catch up with a few of our previous guests to see how they are doing in this quarantine from which, thankfully, we are slowly emerging. I’ll have a few different guests on to talk about the current state of affairs in our city, including the protests and state of our country. So here is a conversation with Boston Emissions’ Anngelle Wood, where we catch up on the radio industry, what the new normal will look like for live music and how she hit the ground running once everything went down in February.

On one fine day back in early March, The ATB team drove out to Greenfield, MA to Great Spirits Tattoo to not only talk with musician and artist Ben Reigal, but also to get Chuck another tattoo!Chuck got a tattoo of a compass on the inside of my left arm. I think we can all agree that a compass is something that we as a country, as a society and as human beings need in our lives. We have all been struggling with life in the time of COVID, with many of us losing a friend or family member to this awful pandemic. Businesses have been greatly affected and certainly we all miss our social interaction – going to concerts and other gatherings.And of course we recognize the terrible murder of George Floyd and the protests that have followed to call out, once again, racial injustice that needs to be addressed.We know we all need to be better and need to work hard to make sure we are part of the solution in our words and actions.So we think it is time to get back to what we do – promoting musicians and artists in the City of Boston.Ben Reigal is a tattoo artist and musician who suffered a devastating stroke not too long ago and the road to health has taken him to a different place that you will soon learn through our conversation while he plunges a needle into my skin.  We hope you enjoy.

Our first visit to the Boston Music Awards a few years ago was an eye opener and introduced us to many new and established Boston Artists we had not yet seen or heard. That was in the earlier days of this podcast.  At one point, a lone musician with a guitar took the stage and began playing. Gianna Botticelli (aka Ghost GRL) stopped us in our tracks. With her haunting, ambient guitar and ethereal voice, the entire room paid attention.  It took us a few years to finally get her on ATB, but we did it at the right time as she just released her third album Rewired and we’ve been listening to it ever since we first heard it.  Assuming this Corona Virus pandemic burns out and we survive the zombie apocalypse, Gianna is about to tour on the album.So go to ghostgrlmusic.com to see where she will be over the next few months. (girl is spelled GRL with no 'i'). 

If you did not know, the City of Boston has a Poet Laureate.  The job maintains that the appointed poet must be a significant fixture in Boston's cultural and artistic arena. The Poet Laureate may learn, teach, and embody the great literary traditions of Boston.If embodying the great literary traditions of Boston means you are a rock star 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and 2015 National Poetry Slam Champion who is a writer, performer, educator and curator who uses afro-futurism and surrealism to examine historical and current issues in the Black, woman, and queer diasporas, then PorshaPorsha Olayiwola  fits the bill.We’ve been hearing Porsha’s name over the past year or so and as far as poet laureates go she must be the most visible and active poet laureate we have ever had on ATB.Porsha just released her first book I Shimmer Sometimes Too which has received rave reviews. We were fortunate to have former guest and hip-hop artist Moe Pope as our very special co-host this time around.

You’ve hopefully heard us talk about a new project we have in partnership with the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame – a podcast called Hallways.  If you haven’t been to the FARHOF, you should check it out. You can visit FolkAmericanaRootsHallofFame.org for information, but basically The Hall is housed in the Wang Theatre in Boston and it celebrates the history of Folk, Americana and Roots music through displays, memorabilia, artifacts, multi-media, lectures and concerts.  As much as any city in the country, Boston has been the musical birthplace for the styles and artists we celebrate, making it a fitting home.  While performing recently at the Wang Theatre, Neil Young said, “Boston is the Folk Music capital of North America.”  And who are we to argue with a recently sworn in American Citizen.  We were fortunate to talk with the wonderful Patty Griffin before her performance at Club Passim's 60th birthday event. We’d like to share this Hallways episode with you to introduce you to the new podcast and hope you will not only visit The Hall but also subscribe to Hallways on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and to follow us on our socials.  For that matter – do the same with ATB – visit abovethebasement.com to subscribe and follow us to.   We can all follow each other.  Thanks!  Here we go… 

If you have ever been to the Verb Hotel, or perhaps seen the recent documentary WBCN – An American Revolution, or hopefully visited the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame at the Wang Theater in Boston, you have seen artifacts gathered by Mr. David Bieber.David hails from Cleveland but has lived in Boston since he moved here to attend BU as a journalism major in 1968 – right at the beginning if the reign of WBCN.  From there he went on to work for WBCN, as well as WFNX, and The Boston Phoenix among others and through those many years gathered all the posters, magazines, photos, reel to reel tapes, LP’s and other ephemeral to fill enough tractor trailers to necessitate moving into an enormous warehouse in Norwood, Mass at the Norwood Space Center.We were lucky enough to chat with David at The David Bieber Archives recently surrounded by piles of memorabilia and boxes upon boxes of awesomeness.

We met with Bestor to talk about JFK - The Last Speech – the very last public speech John F. Kennedy gave before he was assassinated three weeks later. We were fortunate to have a special guest Roger Hirschberg join us who was actually present at Amherst College when JFK gave the speech. It made for a great discussion. For more episodes, please visit www.abovethebasement.com

About a year ago we had the great opportunity to speak with Baseball Writer’s hall of famer and longtime musician Mr. Peter Gammons at his annual event celebrating the Peter Gammons College Scholarship.  This scholarship, which allows Boston and Chicago area high school students a cash scholarship to the college of their choice has sent 150 Boston and Chicago area students to college by awarding them over $600,000 in scholarships.But this wonderful foundation is only one piece of the puzzle – just one beneficiary of many in Boston and Chicago under the umbrella of the Foundation To Be Named Later.After Theo Epstein became the general manager of the Red Sox in 2002, being a guitar player himself, Peter Gammons asked Theo to join him onstage for the next Hot Stove event. And so the Foundation to be named later was born. The foundation – now celebrating its 20thyear, is dedicated to improving lives through education and leadership and works to raise funds and awareness for nonprofit agencies serving urban youth and families.  Funds would be raised through unique events focused on baseball and music, two of the twins’ passions.This years events begin February 7th.  Get more info and purchase tickets at www.foundationtobenamedlater.org.Business of Baseball Lunch – DEVELOPING PITCHING IN AN OFFENSIVE ERA presented by GIVING Grousbeck FazzalariFebruary 7th — Seaport Hotel, 1 Seaport Lane Boston – 11:30 am – 1:30 pm Includes reception, lunch, panel with Q&AModerators: Peter Gammons, Alex SpeierPanelists:Tom Verducci, Analyst, MLB Network; Craig Breslow, Director of Pitching, Chicago Cubs; Rich Hill, Pitcher, Minnesota Twins; Aaron Civale, pitcher, Cleveland Indians; David Bush, Pitching Coach, Boston Red Sox; Matt Blake, Pitching Coach, New York Yankees; Ryan Dempster, Former Major League Pitcher and MLB Network AnalystVIP TICKET: Hot Stove Cool Music 20th Presented by GIVING Grousbeck Fazzalari – celebrating music, baseball and giving–Buy Tickets $500February 8th — Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Ave. Boston – 5:30 pmFEATURING: Letters To Cleo and Belly’s Tanya Donelly & Gail Greenwood and are joined by Peter Gammons, Theo Epstein and the Hot Stove Cool Music All Stars, BOTO. With Bill Janovitz, Bernie Williams, Kay Hanley, Tanya Donnelly, Jake Peavy, Lenny DiNardo and Will Dailey.EMCEES:The Mike O’Malley and Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox LegendApril 3 – Off The Mound at Big Night Live Theatre at the Boston Gardenwith Ryan Dempster, Pedro Martinez and Mike O’Malley 

Boston documentary filmmaker Bestor Cram founded and also serves as creative director for the Boston-based documentary film and museum production company called Northern Light Productions. He has had films screened at Sundance Film Festival, The Boston Film Festival, The Austin Film Festival, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, The Woods Hole Film festival and many others.Titles include the film How Far Home about the dedication of th Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C., Birth of A Movement, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, Circus Without Borders and coming soon a documentary about American Blues harmonica player James Cotton.We met with Bestor at The Better Sorts Social Club to talk about the great James Cotton, but also about another documentary - JFK: The Last Speech – the very last public speech John F. Kennedy gave before he was assassinated three weeks later. We were fortunate to have Roger Hirschberg, Amherst College Class of '64 join us who was actually present when JFK gave the speech.  It made for a great discussion.

We sat with Sybil Gallagher and her husband Chadwick Stokes from the band DISPATCH – aka The Biggest Band No One Has Ever Heard Of. This despite the huge following and many, many loyal fans they continued to have even after a long hiatus that began in 2004.  Just before that hiatus - that is now over, Chadwick Stokes started another band out of Boston called State Radio which allowed him to continue his personal musical journey as wel  l as satisfy his itch to be more vocal on social issues.To that end in 2008, Chad and Sybil founded Calling All Crows, the social activist organization that brings their commitment to hands-on service and activism on the road. They work with musicians, fans, and nonprofits to better the lives of women locally and globally. Their current focus is preventing sexual violence at shows and festivals through their #HereForTheMusic campaign, which has trained over 1700 musicians, venue/festival staff, industry professionals, and fans to-date.Chad and Sybil are about to celebrate their 12th annual benefit concert in support of Calling All Crows at the House of Blues on Saturday, December 21st, 2019.  Performing with his band the Pintos, money raised at the concert will help channel the power of live music toward community change for women and girls. Tickets for the concert are $36 and up and are available at LiveNation.com.We got to sit down with both Sybil and Chadwick along with my guest co-host Kristina Latino at Woods Hill At Pier 4 in Boston where we had another amazing dinner. So we talked about their mission, how live-music venues should be a safe place for women and how we all share a responsibility in making changes to improve the lives of women and girls around the world. Oh and we also talked a little music and got a few live songs from Chadwick.

WBCN legend Charles Laquidara and also the infamous Dwayne Ingalls Glasscock joined us for a conversation at the recently opened Woods Hill Pier 4 in Boston. This just a week before Charles as well as Red Sox Hall of Fame pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee take the stage at The Wilbur Theater in Boston on Tuesday, December 10.  So many of us listened to WBCN on our morning commute joining Charles on his program The Big Mattress. Charles was part of a family of DJ’s and personalities at BCN that created the radio renaissance in Boston with their groundbreaking irreverence and general hilarity that accompanied so many of us on our radios.It was so great to sit with Charles and our only regret is that we only got an hour. But we discovered that Charles is as raw and honest as ever. We had so many questions and topics we wanted to cover. But fortunately, we really didn’t get to any of them.Charles didn’t skip a beat. It was like listening to The Big Mattress all over again. We just let him riff, tell us some non PC ‘not for live radio’ stories, recall a regret or two, give a few anecdotes and even offer a haiku.