#TTtheBear's

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Photos of New Zealand-based band The Bats, as taken by me at T.T. the Bear’s Place in Cambridge, MA on November 13, 1992.

I posted photos of openers Honeybunch yesterday; here are some of headliners The Bats today.

These photos that I took sat in an envelope for almost 25 years before I finally digitized them for publication in the (very) long-delayed second issue of my fanzine in 2017. They accompany my interview with Robert Scott that I conducted right before the show.

And to complete the multimedia extravaganza, you can even listen to the gig here. Between the interview and the show, my tape recorder was working overtime. A memorable—and well-documented—night.

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Photos of Providence, RI-based band Honeybunch, as taken by me at T.T. the Bear’s Place in Cambridge, MA on November 13, 1992.

Not only was I excited to see The Bats on this November night, but local(-ish) faves Honeybunch were the opening act. And of course I had my camera with me, as I’d just finished interviewing Robert Scott himself a mere hour or two before Honeybunch took the stage.

Jeffrey had recently dyed his hair blonde and was sporting his familiar white jeans. While Peter rocked his buttoned-up look and Chris was none other than an indiepop drummer in her stripey shirt.

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Flyer for calendar listings at Cambridge, MA rock club T.T. the Bear’s Place, July 1991.

Summer 1991 was one of my show-going peaks. Not only had I just graduated high school, I finally had reliable transportation for the first time: a boyfriend with a car.

Looking at this calendar, I see at least three gigs that month that I definitely attended, with one or two more maybes. In fact, I went three nights in a row: God’s Eye/Sleepyhead on the 17th, Straitjacket Fits/American Music Club/Poster Children on the 18th, and Codeine/Smashing Orange/High Risk Group on the 19th. I think those shows were part of the referenced “Lollipops and Booze” festival, an indie response to Lollapalooza, which was making its debut that year. So it’s pretty funny to see one band on this flyer that would be the only one to graduate to actual Lollapalooza headliner status: Smashing Pumpkins. (No, I did not attend that show.)

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Flyer for calendar listings at Cambridge, MA rock club T.T. the Bear’s Place, January 1990.

With the exception of 23 Skidoo on 17th (!), this was a relatively uneventful month at T.T’s. That it was a January in reliably cold and snowy Boston was certainly a factor. But I also think the club was still mostly booking local acts, the biggest of which listed here would be Treat Her Right, on the 19th. Though it was another local band that originally brought me to T.T. the Bear’s just a couple of months earlier...

I’d been a big fan of The Cavedogs ever since hearing their demo tape on WFNX’s Boston Rocks local music program on Sunday nights. And so I decided to look up each of the band members in the phone book to cold call them, asking if I could interview them for my high school newspaper. I think guitarist Todd Spahr was the first one I reached, and yes, they graciously accepted what much have seemed a pretty weird request. The post-interview pics of the band in the back room at T.T.’s was one of the first posts on this blog.

Having experienced hanging out at this particularly cool rock club, I began following its listings. And of course all the local bands I heard on the radio would play there, plus occasional international artists of note such as Steve Kilbey and Robyn Hitchcock.

And the only reason why I was able to attend those two particular shows is that, one day after school, I marched up to the club box office and asked to speak to the manager. That person turned out to be Bonnie Bouley, the owner of T.T.’s. I’d come prepared with a copy of my high school newspaper and the two zines I’d started writing for, ready to make my case as to why she should allow me, a 16-year-old, into her club.

Bonnie listed to my pitch about being a young music journalist who only wanted to be able to see the bands, not for any very illegal underage drinking. True and true. I would even end up touching alcohol until sometime in my twenties. So maybe she saw how sincere and passionate I was and decided to cut me a break. Maybe she felt just like me when she was in her teens. At any rate, after listening to my spiel, Bonnie simply stated: “All right, I’ll let you in. But you’ll get two black X’es on both hands. And if I ever see you drinking, you’re banned for life.”

I kept my part of the bargain, and she hers. And that was the key that unlocked my access to so many great shows at such an early age.

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Flyer for calendar listings at Cambridge, MA rock club T.T. the Bear’s Place, May 1991.

Time for another rock club flyer week! We’ll start off with this one from T.T. the Bear’s, my most-frequented rock club in my high school years. It was the only one that let me into 21+ shows, thanks to a kind and understanding owner. I’ll have to tell that story tomorrow, when I’ll be posting another T.T’s flyer.

As for this month’s flyer, the most notable gig listed here is The Lemonheads/Bailter Space/God’s Eye on the 10th. I liked and had records by all bands—heck, I was even at what I believe was Bailter Space’s previous show here on what I believe was their first U.S. tour. But I'm pretty sure I missed the gig. I probably couldn’t convince one of my friends to go with me and didn’t relish having to make my way back to the Porter Square train station by midnight to catch the last train back to my suburb. I’d have likely missed most, if not all, of The Lemonheads’ set.

The other gig of note here is Two Backyards on the 25th. Why? Well, cuz that was my high school academic advisor Larry’s band! That’s right, her was cool, if a little obsessed with Marshall Crenshaw. I think I still have his band’s demo tape somewhere...

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Flyer for calendar listings at Cambridge, MA rock club T.T. the Bear’s Place, October 1990.

I likely picked up this flyer either when buying tickets at T.T.’s box office for the Steve Kilbey show on the 15th (already documented here and here). If only I’d been a little hipper in my musical tastes at that point, because there are at least three other shows I absolutely would have gone to.

That Pylon gig on the 6th is the I most regret missing. (Pylon!) And I don’t even have ignorance as an excuse, as I’d been introduced to their music via a dB’s Orgy on WHRB that Record Hospital had broadcast the prior spring.

It is possible I actually did attend that Blake Babies show on the 19th, as it was on a Friday. But as I was still dependent on the commuter rail to whisk me back to the suburbs on the midnight train, I may not have risked the journey only to have to miss most of their set.

And that Christmas gig on the 20th with Roger Miller of Mission of Burma opening? Another winner of a show, missed. But I did get a tiny bit of redemption almost thirty years later.

In 2019 I was in New York for five of the eight nights of Yo La Tengo’s Hanukkah shows, which happened to coincide with Christmas week that year. Showing up at the Bowery Ballroom for the Christmas Day show I check out the lineup posted by the door, only to find that the opening band is... Christmas! That’s right, Yo La Tengo got Christmas to reform for that one-off gig, complete with former member and current YLT bassist James McNew. A most excellent Christmas surprise.

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Ticket for Steve Kilbey concert on October 15, 1990 at T.T. the Bear’s Place in Cambridge, MA.

The Church were one of my favorite bands when I was in high school, so going to see bassist and songwriter Steve Kilbey on a solo date was a no-brainer for me. And he was playing T.T. the Bear’s, a club where I’d worked out a deal with the owner Bonnie to gain entry despite my underage status.

I was also very excited to try out my relatively-new professional Sony Walkman recorder, which I used to surreptitiously record this show. I still have the tape, which is on my list of recordings to digitize.

The only problem with this gig was that it was on a weeknight, when the last train back to the Boston suburb where I lived departed at midnight. I’ll have to check the tape to see if I managed to make it to the end of the show, as I’d often have to cut out early to take the T to Porter Square to catch that last commuter rail train. Or this could have been one of those nights where I rode the T to its westernmost stop, Alewife, and shamefacedly called my parents to drive the 30 minutes to come pick me up.