Photos and review by PAUL MCALPINE
BOSTON – Once upon a time there was a basement nightclub in Kenmore Square in Boston nicknamed “The Rat.” One night a dancer friend of mine invited me to go there to watch her boyfriend David Robinson play drums in a new band.
The atmosphere at The Rat was similar to CBGBs in New York, complete with a really funky toilet where anything goes, as it should be. David had left The Modern Lovers and become the drummer for the new band we were seeing that night: The Cars.
I remember someone shouting in my ear about each member of the band and that Greg Hawkes, the keyboard player, worked with Martin Mull, which made me smile and hum “Suburban Blues.”
If I remember correctly, my dancer friend later became “My Best Friend’s Girl,” at a time when Boston was the music center of America with Aerosmith, Boston, and The Cars.
We are lucky in life to witness the birth of a great band, but the city was rocking with great bands playing every night in all sorts of venues and you were faced with the decision of who to see and what time to go to bed.
For me, the recent news that Aerosmith have packed their final road case meant that a huge part of my youth has just died. Yes, we age and get older every day, but great music has always been an important part of my life and, I assume, yours too if you’re reading this.
Some of us were there then, others watch old MTV videos on YouTube. But one thing is for sure: you can never go back, but you can carry on with old friends.
A perfect example of this was the other night when Greg Hawkes played a setlist full of classics from The Cars with Boston’s Eddie Japan at the Spire Center for Performing Arts in Plymouth.
Greg recalled the historic Live Aid performance, working with Flo & Eddie, Todd Rundgren, Martin Mull, The Motels and other artists over the years and performing one of their hits.
Eddie Japan is a fantastic band from Boston and recently Pop fiction at Rum Bar Records. I said to someone just before the show started: “Eddie Japan with Greg Hawkes is the perfect storm for a really fun evening!”
Listen to Eddie Japan’s music:
