Saturday Night Special
Sand Machine does what sand machines do at Midway Cafe on Saturday, 18 January 2025.
Glad Valley, The Koiis, and The Tear Downs sandwich the fourstack bill.
What do sand machines do anyway?
Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix
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Hump Nights
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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️ Hump Nights 〰️
Hump Nights
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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix
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Hump Nights 〰️ Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️
The Tear Downs
Woe unto all of us.
Midway Cafe has started to charge for ear plugs? Only $1, still... I always regarded complimentary ear plugs as a gracious and civilized gesture in a world gone mad.
The next four years, which starts now, at least are going to be a madhouse. Measure your expectations.
The Tear Downs love vintage rock n roll, but do they love you? One unforgettable original number was “Kenmore, No More” about the music scene in Boston at a time when you could still put yourself through college with summer jobs. Everyone in the band wore sensible footwear.
Sand Machine
What does a sand machine do? Honest question. I’m not talking about a sander.
Shades of Tom Petty. Sand Machine has that rock n roll twang. “Twang” is a notion that gets most often associated with country music. But if you know Tom Petty, you know exactly what kind of twang I’m talking about.
The Koiis
The Koiis were absolutely fearless in their selection of covers. The five-piece rockers opened with The Doors’ “Peace Frogs.” You know, the one that goes: “There’s blood on the streets, it’s up to my ankles.”
It’s a cool song, and everyone likes the Doors, but their songs don’t get covered nearly as much as you might expect because so much of the oomph and the ooh la la of the band was tied up with the mystique of Jim Morrison, a “one of one” type of dude. It’s too bad because there are some good pop melodies being neglected in that discography.
Other covers included the Beatles’ “Come Together” and Violent Femmes “Blister In The Sun.”
Glad Valley
Glad Valley is working on a new album. Currently untitled, so you can call it “Work In Progress,” like James Joyce’s great untitled work Finnegan’s Wake, which, ironically, had a title, which was Finnegan’s Wake, which was a fitting title, given that the text was called Finnegan’s Wake.
The indie rock four-piece sent out the pop vibrations in every direction. The set included a performance of a previously unreleased track, as far as I can tell with my increasingly befogged mind, “Better Or Worse.”
Can you imagine a leprechaun, dressed all in red, racing up a hillside with a flag, rippling in the breeze, emblazoned with the words “Better or Worse, Here I Come!”?
You can now.
Photo Gallery
Sand Machine does what sand machines do at Midway Cafe.