Tag Archives: Boston Music Scene

Local Music, Music

The Legend of Lou Miami

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Lou Miami was a local legend in the Boston rock and roll community in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Lou and his band The Kozmetix never released an LP – just four singles and two EPs in their brief 4 year career. I remember digging up the Lou Miami and the Cosmetics EP about two years ago and being blown away. His Boston accent is the most recognizable component of the Lou Miami sound, but his songwriting and the band’s performance on these songs are top notch. In “Vehicle For Love” the drums take reign over the bopping bass and guitar drive while Lou “eye-eye-eye-eye”s to pop perfection. “Dancing With Death” mocks the bland commercialism of the day in an eclectic danceable, repetitive groove. Read through the YouTube comments on that video and it is clear how highly music fans thought of the man back in his day.

In an interview on local TV program 30 GO, Lou described his outlook on live performance:
“A lot of bands just stand there and play, which gets kind of boring. I think the audience wants to be entertained. They want to forget that they work in a factory…that that’s all they do forty hours a week. They want to go somewhere to scream and yell and go crazy. You have to be up there screaming, yelling, and going crazy to get them to do it too.”

The legend of Lou Miami lives on, check out his music if you have not!

business, Local Music, Music, News

Harpers Ferry Re-Opening As Brighton Music Hall

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Harpers Ferry, which was the KLYAM go-to spot to see Jay Reatard, closed on Halloween. It will be re-opening sometime in January as Brighton Music Hall (the nomenclature is a reference to the street in Allston Rock City that it is located on). The capacity will stay the same (340 people), but there will be some internal overhauls such as a new sound system, painting, and bathroom renovations. Dum Dum Girls have already been booked to play there on March 2. The venue will serve as a “development” stage for lesser known bands to play on before moving up to the newly renovated Paradise Rock Club — a much larger and renowned venue located just down the street. That said, it is no coincidence that the owners of the Paradise are the executive partners for the Brighton Music Hall. Moreover, the Paradise, Orpheum Theatre, and the House of Blues are all operated by Boston Opera House Ventures LLC. The effect that the opening of Brighton Music Hall will have on local “competitors” remains to be seen. Great Scott, a favorite little venue of ours as well, is an independent club that is a little smaller than Brighton Music Hall, but has put on plenty of now quite popular bands such as Editors and MGMT. Great Scott does have some ties to the booking agent of the ‘Dise and House of Blues, so they aren’t too worried. The Middle East might see some increasing business from Leeds Entertainment, a hip-hop booking group which puts on some shows there, but that had a very close relationship with Harpers Ferry. Other than that, though, the new Brighton Music Hall might sucker some bands that would potentially play Middle East away from there and into the Boston Opera House progression. I’m not really sure how this side of the music business operates, but it only seems to make sense that a local conglomerate of sorts like Boston Opera House LLC would have some more purchasing power (or bringing in power) than independent clubs like the Middle East and TT The Bears, etc. It certainly is a little weird to think about this when, after all, we are talking about a predominately independent music scene.

Link to BMH website: http://www.brightonmusichall.com/