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wormtown.org
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Saturday, July 05 2008 @ 04:10 PM EDT


WORMTOWN CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF UNDERGROUND ROCK 'N ROLL MAY 2 AND 3 AT RALPH'S

Join the Celebration! Wormtown, an Alternative Music Community, founded in 1978, deriving its name from the fanzine, Wormtown Punk Punk Press, is marking its 30th Anniversary with a pair of shows that will highlight the diversity of the Worcester Music scene both past and present on May 2 and 3, 2008 at Ralph’s Chadwick Square Diner, Grove Street, Worcester, Massachusetts.

On Friday May 2, 2008, the bands scheduled to appear are:

The Commandos, formed in 1979 who have released many recordings showcasing the punk rock spirit, began their career with the opening of The NME, an all-ages club hosted in the band’s basement so friends and fans could hear live punk and not worry about the regular club rules. Visit their website at http://www.myspace.com/thecommandos1

The Pathetics, formed in 1996 featuring a repertoire of “catchy and twisted punk songs” have released two self produced CD’s and are about to offer a third soon, and were featured on local and national distributed compilations throughout their career. Visit their website at http://www.myspace.com/thepathetics3

Black Rose Garden, formed in 1990 quickly became a favorite on the scene with their brand of sometimes dark and edgy songs, released cassettes, a single and a CD that brought them acclaim across the country. They’re on the web at http://www.myspace.com/blackrosegardenwormtown

The Numbskulls, formed in 2001, have recorded and released numerous CDs, toured the northeast, and have regularly won the Best Punk Act in local publications for the past few years. Neo-traditionalist punk rock on the web at http://www.myspace.com/thenumbskulls

On Saturday May 3, 2008, scheduled to appear are:

The Performers, formed in 1980, released singles on Beast Records, became known for their politically-charged songs and earned the distinction of being referred to as “Worcester’s answer to The Clash” and also released a greatest hits CD in 2003. They just joined the 21st Century by creating their own MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/performerswormtown

The Odds formed in 1981 became one of the city’s most popular bands, won the Spring Rock Showcase in 1982 and were included on two compilation albums that brought their 60’s garage influenced sounds to fans around the world.

The Prefab Messiahs with Bobb Trimble The Prefabs formed in 1981 and soon gained fans with their “low tech mix of art-punk and ‘60s influenced garage pop” released a greatest hits CD also in 2003. They will be joined by Bobb Trimble whose recorded works have seen quite a resurgence of late with re-release of his works and original issue LPs going for hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of dollars on eBay. Check out both their websites at http://www.myspace.com/theprefabmessiahs and http://www.myspace.com/bobbtrimble

We are also pleased to note that Narragansett Beer is graciously sponsoring the weekend of events, and will be at Ralph’s both nights with free Gansett Giveaways! Check ‘em out at http://www.myspace.com/narragansettbeer1

You can follow L.B. Worm’s commemorative series of reprints of the original Wormtown Punk Punk Press fanzine at http://wormtownpunk.blogspot.com/

and listen to the latest sounds from Wormtown at http://www.wurn.org

For additional information and interviews contact lbworm@verizon.net

WORMTOWN.ORG INTRODUCES A NEW DAILY WEEKDAY FEATURE

With dozens of new bands turning up on a monthly basis - some making their club debuts, others just messing around in their garages with their friends, Wormtown.org announces the start of "Introduce Yourself" a simple question and answer feature where local bands, singer/songwriters and other music related hooligans will be encouraged to tell our readers who they are, what they sound like and hopefully in turn, you'll check out their web page and discover some new favorite local music.

If you're a band or a solo act, why not make one of your songs downloadable so people can get familiar with you on their I-Pods and however else they bring along their favorite sounds? Familiarily can only help build an audience for your music.

If you want to be featured in an upcoming "Introduce Yourself" send an email to bgoslow@yahoo.com and I'll send a questionaire out to you within 24 hours - make sure to note if you've got an immediate gig coming up as they'll be given priority.

Here are some of the first groups and solo acts to be featured in "Introduce Yourself":

JENNIFER LEE BAND

KEN MACY

SOUTH COUNTY BAND

WRECKONING

THE OUTSIDE INN

EYE WITNESS

THE GLASS ONION PROJECT

HEY NOW, MORRIS FADER

THE HATE PROPOSAL

AFTER THE F!RE

THE DEMISERS

HOOF

ENTOMBED FOR ETERNITY

THE SERENADE SURRENDER

BEAUTIFUL GORGEOUS

LEPTUS

GALE COUNTRY

CUREWITZ

TWELFTH OF NEVER

HAT ON, DRINKING WINE

CHUCK MELCHIN OF BEAN PICKERS UNION

Remember, you can hear the best in Wormtown rock 'n' roll at http://www.wurn.org.

PSYCHOBABBLE FROM THE MIND OF THE WORMTOWN MINISTER OF CULTURE ON THE SIXTH ANNIVERSARY OF WORMTOWN.ORG'S EXISTENCE ON EARTH

Why does this thing called Wormtown.org continue to exist?

Perhaps because the Wormtown Minister of Culture steadfastly refuses to participate in anything having to do with Rotisserie Baseball even though he lives for the baseball season. Like most males, he’s got to obsess over something, and since the fine art of trying to hear as many stations from around the world as possible on shortwave radio is no longer a major sport (much like hockey, unfortunately), he simply replaced that obsession with compiling listings. Once upon a time he did it for the Worcester Phoenix and having started, has never been able to stop. Hopefully you’ve used the Wormtown.org listings to find out if your favorite band was playing, see what was going on in the clubs and, if you’re a musician, took advantage of all the footwork to get yourself some gigs.

Is this so-called Wormtown Minster of Culture an actual real person?

Perhaps you should think of him as a modern-day John Forsythe – AKA Charlie of Charlie’s Angels who didn’t get a moment of face time on the popular ‘70s TV show but that didn’t stop it from being one of the highest rated programs. True, at this point, the ratings for Wormtown.org are slightly south of Katie Couric’s on CBS without the $60 million dollar contract (heck, at this point, a $60 one would be nice!) but a desire to helping people find music they’d enjoy is still a mission of those of us at Wormtown.org.

Who elected him?

No one. It was taken as a name for use as host of a radio program on WCUW around the time the Clash released their Combat Rock album; do a Google or Yahoo! Search for MC5 Minister of Culture and you’ll see the origin of the name. Of course, they took it from the Black Panthers. But he didn’t know it at the time. Joe Strummer might have used it too. Someone demanded an election a few years back; thankfully Mr. Putin took care of them by sending General Krutov to the US to set them straight.

Why does it seem that sometimes the content on Wormtown.org doesn’t change for weeks on end?

Maybe because it doesn’t. That’s not entirely true. The listings always change on a weekly basis, usually early Sunday morning before any of you wake up. That’s because the WMOC usually falls asleep between 8:45 and 9:30 p.m. if he hasn’t spent the whole day procrastinating and instead worked at one or all of his five writing gigs, put in his normal three miles of walking or biking or overturned the soil in his back yard with hope of finding some of the toys he buried there as a child. Hopefully you’ve found things to read in the Wormtown.org news section or bulletin board on a weekly basis. Beginning this week, you’re guaranteed to find something new almost every day of the work week in our news section with the introduction of our new “Introduce Yourself” feature which will try to bring new acts to your attention – maybe even encourage you to give them an opening slot at one of your gigs if you’ve got that option – as well as catch up with old favorites who are brand new to the dozens of new bands who seem to be springing up on a weekly basis.

(For all you newcomers) Why is it called Wormtown?

You better hope there’s worms in this town because it doesn’t seem the wrecking ball’s showing up to take down the old Worcester Common Outlet Mall and Galleria anytime soon; worms are cheaper, do a better job of breaking down material and allow it to be reused more easily and are a sign that everything you need for a fresh start is firmly in place. Of course, that’s coming from someone who depends on his garden for most of his warm weather season food. Wormtown Mayor L.B. Worm’s got his own reasons for having called it Wormtown and we suspect you’ll be reading all about it as the town that refuses to die nears its 30th anniversary next May.

SEND US YOUR NEWS!!!

Central Massachusetts bands and performers looking to be included in our "Music Makers" section should send us a one-sentence description of yourselves along with your web page address. Please send all show dates for our listings section, band news for "Around the Worm" to bgoslow@yahoo.com. Information for our "Music Makers" section can be submitted here. Photographers looking to have their work displayed on our front page should contact bgoslow@yahoo.com.

WRITE FOR WORMTOWN.ORG!!

If you're one of those people hiding long-nurtured writing skills and need a place to share your opinions, we welcome your contributions to Wormtown.org. While we're primarily a music site (and, when we can get the material, an arts and culture enterprise as well), our main goal is to serve as an outlet for people's creativity, be it through concert reviews, photographs, interviews with your favorite bands or writers, or art work. We can't pay you - what we can offer you is an outlet for your work, which will remain in our archives for you to bookmark and send to prospective paying gigs. If interested, contact Brian Goslow at bgoslow@yahoo.com or submit a story.