Is it time to invite light shows to the “best of” music awards party, along with stuff such as Best Album, Top Artist and Music Venue of the Year?
If you go to enough concerts, maybe you’ve noticed the increasing percentage of them that include a light show, or some related projected visual artistry, as a foregrounded feature of the event.
To be clear, I’m not talking about the work done by lighting technicians, who coordinate the in-house stage lighting displays at venues. No doubt these people do great work, which elevates the experience of seeing and hearing music live. They have a category all to themselves at the Boston Music Awards. Ryan Baker (MGM Music Hall) won in 2024.
Instead, what I’m talking about is the itinerant, self-sufficient light show specialists who travel from gig to gig, set up shop, ply their trade at the drop of a hat. If lighting technicians are the “house band,” light show specialists are like the exciting out-of-town act performing “One Night Only”!
Some local favorites include Digital Awareness, the Sons Lunaris Light Show and the Dregs Liquid Light Show. Keep your eyes open and you’ll see them on bills around town. Each of these kaleidoscopic outfits can transform a room in weird and wonderful ways that “house lights” never dream of.
I’ve banged this drum before. The first month of the new year is a good time to bang it again, when the bulk of 2025 is still in front of us, full of possibility. Let’s celebrate the unique artistry of light show specialists formally. Don’t give me any guff about there being too many awards already and not enough room “under the tent.” There’s plenty of room. So let’s find someone in charge of handing out awards and, in the words of Jean Luc Picard, “Make it so.”
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Friday: Fiddlehead: Something In The Way Fest Preshow (The Sinclair, Cambridge)
Something In The Way is a once-in-a-blue-moon rock ’n’ roll fest that’s dusting itself off to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Run For Cover Records and The Bowery Presents. The fest website assures us that a two-day barnstormer at the Roadrunner is “a perfect way to celebrate the impact of these two pillars of the modern music landscape.” That sentence would read stronger with a definite article instead of an indefinite article, e.g. “the perfect way” instead of “a perfect way.” Save yourself a commute and hit the preshow in Harvard Square with Fiddlehead, Linda Claire, Pet Fox and more.
Saturday and Sunday: We Black Folk Fest (Club Passim, Cambridge)
The two-day fest returns to Club Passim curated by the Folk Collective. Two consecutive days this time, kicking off the first and second day of Black History Month, instead of stringing together two Sunday shows like last year. Denser scheduling can produce more energy and sustain momentum. That’s good news for folk fans, who can camp out all weekend at Club Passim. The lineup features some familiar names, including last year’s emcee Cliff Notez, singer-songwriter Grace Givertz, multi-everything Kemp Harris and more. Keep an eye out for fresh faces such as the jazzy Lydia Harrell and indie folker Kayla Blackburn. Pay what you can, $20 suggested.
Wednesday: Songwriters in the Round (The Armory, Somerville)
Talia Rose writes and performs enchanting folk numbers that fold everything you treasure about the tradition into pop constructions with a more contemporary bent. Shades of some of your favorite folkie greats, sure, but take her name checks of Imogen Heap and Adrianne Lenker seriously. Hear her live as Songwriters in the Round, a regular singer-songwriter series, returns to everyone’s favorite army barracks in Somerville. She’ll be joined by Jack Byrne, Bailey Harris and, honestly, a first-rate selection of drinks, snacks, gag gifts and memorabilia.
Live: Tami Fest 4 at Lizard Lounge
All our present joys feel bittersweet as a fascist goon and his quack administration install themselves into the White House. Or is joy, even the bittersweet kind, asking too much? Some would have us hang our heads in mourning for the next four years.
If there’s a path out of our state of perpetual sadness, I think I might have witnessed its faint outline Tuesday at Tami Fest 4, a medical benefit for Tami Lee, a Camberville-area bartender and beloved member of the music community. The fourth iteration of the benefit was held in the comfy subterranean confines of Lizard Lounge. All proceeds – tickets, food, drinks, tips, raffle proceeds – were donated to the cause.
What moves people to help others in need, rather than stomp on them in their weakest moment? Is it a sense of community?
There certainly were a lot of familiar faces in attendance, musicians and music lovers who’ve traded between different local stages in search of sweet sounds. And behind the bar, more often than not, was the warm and welcoming smile of Tami Lee, at Lizard Lounge, Cambridge Common, Toad, Christopher’s or West Side Lounge. But there were also faces in attendance that I did not recognize, and faces that did not recognize me. Suddenly the inside and outside of “community” didn’t seem so clear to me.
Maybe we all just stopped in to enjoy the neo soul of Jesse Dee, the bluesy strut of Danielle Miraglia and the Glory Junkies, the brassy abandon of Dub Apocalypse and more, without giving the purpose of the benefit much thought.
I’m much more impressed, though, by the idea that a chunk of attendees didn’t know Tami at all. What does it matter if I’ve ever been served a drink by Tami? Or gone to the same church, rooted for the same team, or grew up in the same ZIP code? The spirit of goodwill that compels human beings to help each other shines brighter than parochial favoritism.
What a beautiful idea that is. I’m going to end my period of postelection mourning. Better to take a page from the Tami Fest playbook. Step up in trying times. Do some good. Grow connections with people who care about people, regardless of whether they’re “inside” or “outside” their community.
If you missed the show, and still want to contribute, you can donate at the GoFundMe. If you’re not online now, just Google “Tami Fest” and “GoFundMe” when you get a chance.
Michael Gutierrez is an author, educator, activist and editor-in-chief at Hump Day News.
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