`The popcorn machine at Silhouette Lounge`

Year of the Clam won’t let you down at the Silhouette Lounge on Monday, 12 June 2023.

This Day In History, Class President, and Jermaine Kelly love you like she does.

This Day In History was a fitting closer for Monday night at the Sil because it may be remembered alongside such epoch-making moments in the annals of our benighted species as the mastery of fire, the discovery of vaccines, and the invention of the microchip.

What was the occasion, you ask?

It was the first Hump Night at the Silhouette Lounge.

OK, but for real, what the fuck are you talking about?

Hump Nights are (is?) the events wing of Hump Day News. If there’s a show, a happening, a thing we’re excited about at a place we love, we’re going to shout about it a little more loudly and a little more insistently. And we might give away some tickets too.

Any night is a good night to go see live music and grab a beer from Bill the Bartender. But a Hump Night smells just a little bit sweeter to us at Hump Day News.

Quick hits

Bill the Bartender tried to win over a female patron from Florida by impressing her with his knowledge of their local sinkhole crisis. But the lady wasn’t having it. She’s wary, likely of being the Area Woman From Florida.
Red Sox on the television. Time to get on that train after the Celtics playoffs exit. Keep expectations low.
Some dude tells his date that if he ever got a tattoo, it would be two crossed assault rifles, hanging over a M18A1 Claymore, underscored with the phrase “If you want peace, prepare for war.” The lady wasn’t going to let it ruin her evening, but the prospects for a second date plummeted precipitously.

Jermaine Kelly

Jermaine Kelly came complete with a DJ.

The pair probably could have put on the whole show. Start with a warm-up DJ set. Then bring out Kelly for a solo acoustic opener. Have Kelly switch to electric guitar with the DJ laying down the backing tracks as the headliner. Close out with a chill-out DJ set, or maybe Bill the Bartender doing a quickie standup comedy routine.

The combo of guitar and beats made for a clubby kind of vibe. Definitely danceable, but danceable in that Prince way where you’re always saving some sonic real estate for a sizzling six string solo. There was a throwback quality in Kelly’s set, a nostalgia for a more innocent time in the polyamorous marriage of rock, pop, club, RnB, and more. The lyrical reference to the King of Pop was not in vain.

Year of the Clam

Every year is the Year of the Clam in New England. But Monday night at the Silhouette Lounge was the Night of the Clam.

The people came out en masse in Mass to hear some live cuts from the three-piece’s latest LP We Shell Sea.

Did we hear the smash single “Breeze on the Beach”? You’ll really dig it.

The hits keep coming. Including a well-received Beatles cover of “Don’t Let Me Down.” It’s not quite the danceable groove of Jermaine Kelly, but swayable nonetheless.

Extra points for the intricate vocal duets. Shades of Captain & Tennille meets the more soulful tracks of Dub Narcotic Sound System.

Class President

Pride of Lowell Class President brings the pop punk energy, but it’s not all Mountain Dew and self-inflicted blows to the crotch. It’s a thinking man’s pop punk with a dynamite songwriting instinct, colored with a tinge of melancholy.

The second song of the set “Wander” (the lead single off their stellar EP Ellipsis) is a perfect plum, which sounded as good with the full three-piece as it did in the solo version. They pull off the loud-quiet-loud attack like they’ve been doing it all their lives. Maybe they have?

This Day In History

This Day In History is a guitar-led four-piece that knows its Allston Ferret City music history. Early on in the set they pulled out a Krill cover of “Oppressor.” Deep cut! Local too! A good chunk of Krill transmogrified into Knot – have a listen.