A Partially Open Mic

Live Review

Jan 6

Written By Michael Gutierrez

Rappers pass the mic, and the signup sheet, for the Winter Showcase at The Jungle on Monday, 16 December 2024.

Presented by SFC, Hustle Killer, and Super Party Bros.

Say goodbye to Mondays at The Jungle…for now.

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

The Hinterlands Ball: Sinnet, The Gravel Project, Nick Prato

Jan 11

The Hinterlands Ball w/ Sinnet, The Gravel Project, Nick Prato. Wear your best gown!

Blame Shifters / Stress Balls / Westside Rats / Disqualifier

Jan 15

New year, new Wednesdays at the Sil!

Jan 18

A four-stack of indie rock served the right way at Midway Cafe.

Jan 29

Born Innocent makes the case for Redd Kross as the seminal West Coast band of the last half century.

Jan 30

Ani DiFranco on a wild road trip from her punk-folk past to her life today.

Feb 1

ONCE plants its flag at The 4th Wall in the Capitol Theater.

Feb 6

A tale of sex, LSD, and rock n roll with psych punk pioneers.

Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol / Lip Critic

Feb 7

The Austin, Texas band lays down the big dumb heavy riffs for all the party people.

Feb 21

Sensory overload at the Capitol! Bands, arcade, 360 degree visual projection & screening of Scott Pilgrim vs the World.

Hump Nights

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Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix

〰️

Hump Nights 〰️ Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️

The word is that The Jungle will put a temporary pause on Monday nights at 6 Sanborn Court. January, “dry” or not, can be a bit of a bust in terms of overall numbers for music venues. So it’s not unusual to see establishments scale back hours, retreating into their den like a wintering bear, until the warmer days (or college kids on winter break) return.

What event served as the Big Temporary Monday Sendoff? A Winter Showcase with a mile-long bill, multiple co-presenters, a DJ, an emcee in a holiday sweater, and vintage arcade games (courtesy of Super Party Bros.) littering the all-in-one-room fun of The Jungle.

Kind of an open mic, kind of not? The laundry list of performers was secured in advance. Who would show up to perform, and in which order, was an open question. If you showed up, you signed your name at the bottom of the list sitting on the lip of the stage, and waited your turn.

Shout out to Maxedout for opening the festivities. The long arc of A Winter Showcase bent towards hip hop, with the house DJ accompanying various solo performances.

Shout out Dying Star, serving up a kind of Esham-inspired terror rap.

Shout out to King Loopz for his ode to joltin’ Joe Biden.

Shout out to Zach Vincent, who didn’t realize this was a hip hop show and only showed up prepared to deliver a few American Idol-style pop ballads. The crowd dug it.

And shout out to the young woman at the bar who was trying to talk the bartender into regressive sexual politics under the banner of some misguided, “through the looking glass,” umpteenth generation version of tradwife feminism. Are you ready for the Trump Years: Part Two? It’s going to be weird.

(Wrote up this event for my Cambridge Day gig as well.)