November’s arrival marks the one-year anniversary of DIY venue The 4th Wall, which, to navel gaze a bit, also marks the one-year anniversary of this column. In fact, the very first column I wrote in these hallowed pages highlighted the birth of the underground music series, born out of the curatorial zeal and scheduling prowess of organizers Biff and Ethan.
(I write this piece without knowing the outcome of the election, without knowing if anyone, including myself, feels like celebrating a one-year anniversary as we head into four years of … who knows what? Then again, I got married one week before Trump was elected in 2016, so I am, like most mature adults, in touch with the reality of a world that commingles the most exquisite joys and horrors into a single picture frame.)
What has The 4th Wall, ensconced within the bowels of Arlington’s Capitol Theatre, been up to this year? A lot!
The venue has become a regular landing spot for great local bands such as Awnthay, JVK, This Body Is All I Have in This World, Circus Trees, Main Era, Husbands, Lurid Purple Flowers, Makeout Palace and more. Living legends Pile even piled into the super-sized main stage on a Monday night.
Out-of-town bands are regular fixtures at The 4th Wall too. A veritable pipeline of underground talent has installed itself between upstate New York and Arlington, hosting The Snorts, Safety Meeting, Man Must Explore and Lemon of Choice this year. Dafnez and So Perfect visited from Canada. Plague Dad and Vices Inc. rolled through from Maine. And (comedian? musician?) Jim E. Brown delivered his brain-bending schtick all the way from merry ol’ England.
Icing on the cake, the venue remains one of the most reliable small venues for cutting-edge light shows, with resident visual artists Digital Awareness making magic with the projector and analog technology at nearly every show.
What’s in store for The 4th Wall in its second year? The outfit recently organized a show at Regent Theatre, outside of its usual stomping grounds at the Capitol, so maybe more “offsite” shows are in the making … Go find Biff and Ethan at upcoming 4th Wall shows (Wednesday and Nov. 15) and wish them a happy one-year anniversary. Hearing live music is the best and only way to celebrate that kind of milestone.
As for celebrating one year of this column … How about a raise?
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Friday: Hilken Mancini Band, The Cujo, Mary Lou Lord (Middle East, Cambridge)
The Hilken Mancini Band is celebrating a record release in Central Square, with support from legend Mary Lou Lord and inveterate lawn cutters The Cujo. I was scrambling to figure out the title of the new release before realizing it’s a self-titled debut. The Hilken Mancini Band record is just called “Hilken Mancini Band,” available via Girlsville. That’s all well and good, but how is it possible that ex-Fuzzy, longtime local alt-rocker and frequent frequenter of stages around town Hilken Mancini hasn’t yet released an album with her band? The debut LP includes cameos from Thalia Zedek, Chris Brokaw, J Mascis and more. Maybe this cameo pushes upstart rocker Mr. Mascis over the top for his 2024 “Rock Artist of the Year” nomination from the Boston Music Awards?
Sunday: Odie Leigh (The Sinclair, Cambridge)
Odie Leigh can wheel out the full band when she wants to, like she does on the singles “No Doubt” and “Either Way” released this year. But the bluesy heart and folky soul of her latest full-length “Carrier Pigeon” is solo acoustic. A song such as the tragic and iridescent “Idiom” cuts to the quick with barely a whisper. Leigh’s melodic vocals and pointed lyrics draw you into a world starring a protagonist who wears her heart on her sleeve, and then wipes her nose with it.
Nov. 14: Jaguar Sun, JW Francis, Layzi (Warehouse XI, Somerville)
Sick and tired of Warehouses I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX? Can’t show your face in Warehouse X after that … incident? Give Warehouse XI a try. The roman numerals mean its classy. Get To The Gig Boston and Mass Concerts have been teaming up to field an embarrassment of indie rock riches across the local music landscape, and Thursday’s show is another gem. Reverb-heavy pop rockers Jaguar Sun and JW Francis steer their tour bus into the alley at Sanborn Court, while Layzi waves them into a parking spot to complete the Born Losers Records trifecta.
In memory of Steve Morse
Some nights you walk into a club to hear music and there are about a half-dozen other things happening inside to pull your focus from the stage. So it was at Brighton Music Hall in Allston on Oct. 28.
The garage rock headliner Hinds had no idea that the emotional axis of their show was going to be tilted, at least for a moment, on the news of the Oct. 26 death of Steve Morse, longtime local music critic. If you want to bring the easy, breezy vibe of a live performance to a screeching halt, get on the PA to announce someone has died.
That’s okay. Life happens, and death happens too. Mark Kates (or DJ Carbo, as you like) of Fenway Recordings hit the pause button on celebrating 20 years of the concert series (there was free cake!) to toast the memory of the prolific critic, who reviewed music at The Boston Globe for many years, penned a heroic number of bylines, met and mingled with stars.
Morse will be remembered as a kind, grounded, approachable guy who pursued his calling with insight and integrity.
I met him a few times in clubs around Cambridge. Morse remained a gig junkie into retirement. He was especially fond of the Lizard Lounge. My most vivid memory of the critic is him there. A tall man, hunched beneath a low ceiling, bathed in red light, whose increasingly crepuscular range of motion could not mask the boyish glee that possessed him each and every time a new act took the stage.
The memorial toast at Brighton Music Hall came during a break between acts. Half the room listened, the other half tuned it out. Not a bad percentage for a noisy club.
Popular music, to which Morse dedicated his professional life, is a mad carousel with all kinds of unserious people seriously trying to grab the golden ring. Musicians, writers, producers, photographers, agents, engineers, stans, bookers, club owners and crummy executive types of all shades. If you last more than a few spins of the wheel, there’s a good chance you grow a little glum.
Steve Morse lasted five decades with a pen in his hand, and he never lost his love of the art. I’ll drink to that.
Michael Gutierrez is an author, educator, activist and editor-in-chief at Hump Day News.
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