That Was The Show That Was: Clicky Clicky Community Servings Benefit Show Thank Yous And Wrap-Up

Well that was quite a night, wasn't it? I mean, the Pats scored like 55 points! Oh wait, right, the rock show. THE ROCK SHOW. The rock show was tremendous! Not only were punters treated to four Clicky Clicky faves delivering impassioned performances, but we raised a tidy sum for a great cause, Community Servings, whose various services we have detailed here often, and include providing nutritious meals to the critically ill and their caregivers.

The show kicked off with an entrancing solo set from the magical K. Heasley, a/k/a Kurt Heasley, the visionary behind the long-running, shape-shifting indie rock enigma Lilys. Kurt, accompanied only by an acoustic guitar and seated on a wide stool he carried into the club with him, played mesmerizing versions of "Ginger" and "YCJCYAQFTJ" from the towering A Brief History Of Amazing Letdowns EP; "Cambridge, CA" from the LP Better Can't Make Your Life Better; "Will My Lord Be Gardening?" from Precollections; and "Claire Hates Me," the transcendent closing number from Lilys' full-length debut In The Presence Of Nothing. While Mr. Heasley complained of some sniffles whatever effect they might have had on his transcendent performance were imperceptible. A more tender version of "Will My Lord Be Gardening?" you will, in almost all likelihood, never hear again. Here's a similar version from 2009.

Local shoegaze titans Soccer Mom grabbed the proverbial baton from Kurt and launched into an intense set heavy on the foursome's desperate and dense noize-gaze sounds. Bassist Danielle Deveau was playing fairly fresh from having pieces of metal extracted from her ankle, but she executed with nary a wince from between Will Scales and Dan Parlin. The lads traded off good cop/bad cop style on their very loud, dynamic and textured tunes, and highlights of their set included the single "Canoe" and several new tracks from the foursome's pending 2014 collection, which we could not be more amped to hear.

The Hush Now burst from the proverbial carbonite of a two-year hiatus with a leaner formation (gone are the keyboards that colored the band's last LP, 2011's Memos) and more tricks. The band played about eight songs, all of them brand new and likely to appear on their own planned 2014 set. The opening salvo was an Adam Quane-sung number titled "Pandas," and a clear highlight was a subdued and sad new one sung by guitarist Noel Kelly called "Manchester UK." Earthquake Party! delivered on its youthful, shambolic promise, exploding like a bomb each time it blasted through a selction from its repertoire of compact, fizzing power-pop. Highlights of the set included convulsing versions of "Little Pet" and "One More Night Could Ruin Us," each from last year's Let's Rock, OK? cassette. Surprisingly, the trio pared down to a duo for an uncharacteristically moderately paced cover of "Stephanie Says," a sweet nod to the late October death of punk pioneer Lou Reed. And with that appropriate close, the night was done.

There are many, many people who helped make this event the success it was, not the least of which are Sadie Dupuis, who took a break from an insanely busy life to DJ between sets, and Joe Turner, who washed the stage with dazzling visuals throughout the night. And while we are certain we will forget a name or two, our feeling has always been it's better to try to acknowledge everyone and fail rather than to not acknowledge anyone at all. So here we go. A huge Clicky Clicky thank you goes out to not only Sadie and Joe, but also Tim Leahy, Nick Lorenzen, Richard Bouchard, Barry the totally relaxed and affable sound guy, Carl Lavin, Wayne S. Feldman, Christian Housh, Kurt Heasley, Will Scales and Soccer Mom, Justin Lally and Earthquake Party!, Noel Kelly, Barry Marino and the rest of The Hush Now, Jeff Breeze, Jed Gottlieb, Michael Marotta, Anngelle Wood, Adam XII, Jonathan Donaldson, Bryan Hamill, Perry Eaton, Jay Kumar, Lisa Deily, Kristin Bishop And Rook, Ilya Sitnikov and all of the folks who came out to support the cause. We are excited to do it again next year, bigger and better. Stay awesome, Boston.

OH! If you would like another opportunity to support the great work that Community Servings does, you can buy a pie, right now, from my good friend Nick. All of the details are right here, but the long and the short is you give them $25, they use that $25 to feed a critically ill client for a week, and in return you get a pie in time for Thanksgiving. I believe that is called a win-win. Do it now.

Clicky Clicky's Community Servings Benefit Show with Earthquake Party!, The Hush Now, Soccer Mom & K. Heasley of LILYS | 3 Nov. | TT The Bear's Place

We're just a few days away. Which is hard to believe, after the months of planning, all the emails, texts, yadda. It all goes down Sunday night, "it" being the second annual Clicky Clicky Music Blog Community Servings benefit show, this year featuring an absolutely massive bill: Earthquake Party!, The Hush Now, Soccer Mom and K. Heasley of Lilys. We couldn't be more excited, and we hope you will come out to TT The Bear's Place in droves to make the scene, bask in the rock and roll, and help support the cause. Doors at 8:30, tickets are $10, and all proceeds go to help Jamaica Plain-based Community Servings provide free nutritious meals to its chronically ill clients, their children and their caregivers. In addition to the bands performing, we are totally psyched to have Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz DJing between sets, and Joe Turner will bathe the stage in mind-bending visuals. And of course there will be raffles, things like gift certificates and the like. Maybe we'll raffle a ticket to next week's My Bloody Valentine show? Is that a thing people would want to buy raffle tickets for? It could happen. On top of it all, we're pretty sure you'll be able to buy a pie, because pie is awesome, and is also another way Community Servings helps raise money to feed those in need.

So here's what you need to do:

1) buy a ticket or, hell, buy a dozen tickets.

2) click over to the Facebook event page and let us know you are coming.

3) let you friends know that this show is the place to be by sharing the Facebook event in your Facebook Timeline or blasting it out your Twitter feed.

Then just show up. We will do our part: you will be rocked. In fact, let's rock you a bit now. Below we've embedded some tunes from the bands to get you pumped. Listen in, and we'll look for you Sunday night at TT's. Turn on the bright lights.

That Was The Show That Was: Clicky Clicky Community Servings Benefit Show Thank Yous And Wrap-Up

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

A lot of people, places and things made this show happen, and they are, in no particular order: Carl Lavin; Kerri Lavin; Joe McMahon; Rafi Singer; Michael Marotta; Jeff Breeze; WMBR; Jed Gottlieb; The Dig; The Phoenix; The Boston Herald; Adam XII; RadioBostonDotCom; Anngelle Wood; WZLX; Nick Lorenzen; Tracy Gibbs; Tim Leahy; Sarafina Scapicchio; Gareth Dobson; Reuben Bettsak and the unearthly Guillermo Sexo; Sadie Dupuis and Speedy Ortiz; all the guys in Infinity Girl, who are the nicest dudes you'll ever meet; superheroes Benjamin Deily, Lisa Marie Deily and Joshua Pickering who together comprise the mighty Varsity Drag and who each deserve special recognition for their help; Alexei Berrow, Junior Elvis Washington Laidley, Kelly Southern and Lewes Herriot all of the fucking top serious Johnny Foreigner cohort, who we are proud to call our friends, including visual fifth man Benjamin Rausch and driver Evan Bernard; Johnny Foreigner's label heads J. Matthew Nix at Swerp and Jack Clothier at Alcopop; Brad Searles; William Scales, whose counsel we rely on regularly; Cameron Keiber; Richard Bouchard; Michael Piantigini; Berklee's The BIRN; Brendan Mattox at WERS. We are sure we forgot some people, for which we apologize, but the risk of forgetting someone is no excuse for not recognizing the rest of you. Cheers. Yr loved, drummed.

Despite the freak snow storm that blew in Wednesday night, the above-referenced show was a smashing success, albeit one scaled back somewhat by three inches of fairly unexpected slushy snow and 60 mile per hour wind gusts. The 100 or so folks who made it to Great Scott in Allston gave not one glaring expletive about what was going on outside once they made it through the doors, as all four bands on the bill turned in thrilling sets. Openers Infinity Girl, the hottest new band in Boston, brought their wall of sound in from the cold and made the dwindling ranks of the unfamiliar realize quickly why the band is becoming an ever-present fixture on bills around town. They normally lead off with "Please Forget," but this night they held it back, like a pitcher making a hitter wait for the fastball. It was a delicious set, and definitely the best we've seen the foursome play to date. Varsity Drag -- a very late addition to the bill after the snow forced Speedy Ortiz to cancel -- took the stage next, no sound check, hardly time for more than a "how's yer mum" as they strode through the doors and pretty much went right on stage, plugged into borrowed gear, and just slayed. Just turned in a murderously good set, filled with Clicky Clicky faves like "Summer Time," "Skinny Ties" and "Billy Ruane." It gets us every time, when they finish that latter song, and drummer Josh Pickering shouts "it's not the same!" Theirs was a commanding performance, and it included "Drowsy Owls" and "Mind Like A Sieve," new songs fronter Ben Deily is contributing to the planned Lemonheads reunion record we wrote about in September here.

After driving across Connecticut in the snow storm, a trek that took the band 10 hours door to door from New York to Boston, Birmingham, England-based noise-pop savants Johnny Foreigner finally made it onstage -- after some real-time soundcheck -- around 11:20. Just as quickly they dispersed from view, and then drummer Junior began the slow piano melody of the band's soul-crushing ballad "Johnny Foreigner vs. You," with fronter Alexei Berrow and bassist Kelly Southern singing the vocal off mic from different spots within the assembled throng, with many of the suddenly-very-young crowd singing along. The band slowly filtered back on stage, and the final note of "Johnny Foreigner vs. You" became the deafening squall of the first notes of the hyperfizzed anthem "Feels Like Summer." From there, the band turned in a shuddering, exhilarating, floor-shaking set for its Boston debut. Other tunes performed include at least two cuts from the brand new Names EP [review forthcoming], as well as classics "Eyes Wide Terrified," "With Who, Who And What I've Got," and "The Wind And The Weathervanes." A colossal rendition of "Salt, Peppa and Spinderella" inspired spirited moshing and generally threatened the structural integrity of 1222 Commonwealth Avenue. Johnny Foreigner closed with the classic early single "Sofacore," and with the final note the band ditched its gear and Ms. Southern led a giddy coalition of the willing back through the crowd and out the front door of the club to make snow angels on the sidewalk. Insane.

Boston psych-rock phenoms Guillermo Sexo, who are finishing up an extremely promising fifth collection recorded with Justin Pizzoferrato, turned in a focused, otherworldly set of hypnotic guitar workouts and steady grooves. It was the perfect way to ground and round out the evening, with singer/keyboardist Noelle Dorsey's incantations and swirling stage presence leading everyone on a journey inward. The quartet delivered thrilling iterations of "Colour The Noise" and "Skyline" from its most recent collection Secret Wild [review here], closed with the bright and elliptical new cut "Bring Down Your Arms," and then closed down the bar with the gang from Johnny Foreigner late, late in the evening. To say we are overjoyed by how the show went is an understatement, as not only was the music incredible, but we raised a nice chunk of money for Community Servings, which, as readers know, provides free nutritious meals to the chronically ill and their families. While Wednesday is just a fading memory at this point, the need for the services Community Servings provides never goes away. There are two ways anyone reading these words can help RIGHT NOW. First, if you are reading this sometime before Nov. 17, go buy a pie from our good friend Nick, who co-hosted the event with us. All of the money from your purchase goes to help feed those in need. If pie isn't your thing, you can click this link and make a donation of any amount to the organization. Finally, clear your schedules for 2013, 'cause were gonna do this again, for sure. How about some music to take us out?

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