Andrew Stern’s AS3 played Midway Cafe on the night of Wednesday, 7 December 2022. Sea Yarns, The Cowboy Boys, and As Seen From Space bookended the hump day line-up.

The Xmas season is upon us at Midway Cafe. We’ve vibed on the holiday at the Jamaica Plain joint once already this year when Yo Kinky rolled through town. But this time it’s for real because the Xmas decorations are up.

“Twas a couple of weeks before Xmas

when all through Midway

Every barfly was yearning

For a fresh IPA;

The stockings were hung

over the bar with care,

In hopes that Tricky Nick soon would be there....”

The Midway Cafe advertises itself as “Open 'til 2am, 7 days a week!” Does that hold for 52 weeks every year? No days off? Not even Xmas? 

It’s a hard schedule to keep, though there are all sorts of bars, restaurants, convenience stores, grocery marts, and more that never take a day off. There are even some venues, like Wally’s Cafe Jazz Club, that offer live music 365 days a year. Midway Cafe comes close to the mark, but can you really count Queeraoke on Thursdays as live music? Can’t do it.

Shout out to the Hanukkah decorations squirreled around the joint, here and there. And if Kwanzaa is more your thing, you’re in luck. The neighborhood is putting on a performance of Tafuta! on 12/17:

“An original production staged by the OrigiNation Cultural Arts Center in Jamaica Plain, Tafuta! tells the story of a boy bullied by his classmates because his family celebrates Kwanzaa, but who comes to embrace his African American heritage and his family’s traditions.”

Double down on the Kwanzaa narrative with an anti-bullying screed chaser!

Sea Yarns

Sea Yarns is a gazy solo drone act that weaves together live electric guitar and pre-recorded backing tracks. A kind of Glenn Branca-meets-Pat Metheny jam. Shades of Tangerine Dream.

Some might see the guitar and assume they were in for a more rock n roll set, but the choice of instrument is (almost) incidental to drone artists.

The important point is that whatever instrument you’re playing, you want to be able to keep that noise coming. Guitar is a nice choice because, in the words of Chuck Berry, “You don’t have to blow into it.”

AS3

AS3 tackled their Midway Cafe set after a long drive back from New Haven, or Hartford, or some such Connecticut location where they played a gig earlier in the day.

Two gigs in one day, plus a long drive in between, probably hits different for the fusion trio, consisting of Andrew Stern (guitar), Brad Barrett (bass), and Dave Fox (drums), than it did when they were kids. But they soldiered through the set of the night and made it look effortless.

Andrew Stern is the man of a thousand bands in and around Boston. One of our intrepid reporters at Hump Day News wandered into the first show of his latest outfit Crystal Lizard back in June, and was suitably impressed.

On Wednesday night at Midway Cafe, AS3 danced along the border of hard rock and jazz. It’s progressive! Shout out to their cover of Nirvana’s “In Bloom.” The trio played with the song like play-doh, stretching, pulling, smashing, squashing the grunge elements into novel concepts all the while retaining the flinty core of the original.

The Cowboy Boys

The Cowboy Boys were a fun-lovin’ five-piece out of Braintree. They played roadhouse rock n roll with the esprit of a party band on a party boat in the Gulf of Mexico. Shades of Reverie.

Vocal duties were shared, but the bassist sang for a good number of songs. Does he write them too? The Cowboy Boys occupied a nice medium tempo territory most of the night. One often notices a slower tempo in songs written by bassists compared to songs written by rhythm or lead guitarists. Bassists play less notes per measure in your average song, and they seem fated to write songs that groove at a lower beats per minute.

Shout out to the “Oye Como Va” cover, and the guy playing on keys behind the “Howdy” tarp like a Masshole Viv Savage.

As Seen From Space

As Seen From Space closed out the hump day’s night. The three-piece is led by the guitar of Frank Vickers. “Frank Vickers” sounds like a detective in film noir who gets bumped off before the credits roll. The band has an EP on the way, release date TBA. Maybe you’ll find it beneath the tree on December 25th?

Happy Xmas to all, and to all a good night!