This first set from the Nervous Eaters show at the Club in 1979 was a blistering display of raw energy. Something was in the air that night. The Eaters were tight and brought their best. It was the first time I saw them with new guitar addition Matthew MacKenzie and he didn’t disappoint. The Eaters were a guitar army that night and blew through their first set like a tornado. The set included:

Necessities
Don’t Write to Me
Someone Else in Your Arms
Go Get Stuffed
Girl Next Door
After the Good Times Gone
Where’s Johnny Now

After a dynamic first set the Eaters took the stage for the second time and they had a few surprises. They brought up Sidewinder Eric Rose whose lead guitar ripped through the Yardbirds “Psycho Daises.” That was followed later in the show with guest appearances by Thrills and Boston’s genetic misfits the Mental Liberation Army. All hell broke loose as the stage was stacked with rock and roll malcontents. It was like watching rebellious musical theatre. You had to be there to understand just how crazy it was, but a least now you can see it for yourself. This insane set has:

Psycho Daises featuring Eric Rose
Born to Die
Hot Steel and Acid
Hey (I’m Not Another Face in the Crowd)  with Thrills with Nikki Jarrett of the Lazers
Degenerate and Loretta featuring the demented Mental Liberation Army and Thrills

Here is the first half of the renowned show at Boston’ Streets club recorded in 1982. Human Sexual Response was like no other band before or since. Its four singers — Larry Bangor, Casey Cameron, Windle Davis, and Dini Lamot — guitarist Rich Gilbert, bassist Chris Maclachlan, and drummer Malcolm Travis wove a sonic web that twisted, stretched, knotted, and snapped with a unique sound and sensibility, at once perversely pop, eerily experimental, and hypnotically heartfelt. The acclaimed studio albums Fig.14/Fig.15 and In a Roman Mood provide a legacy of sorts, but only a hint at the group’s legendary in- person impact. HSR made sleazy rock clubs feel like major concert halls, and vice versa.

This video is available to stream only and can’t be downloaded. The show is split into two “sets” Set 2 can be accessed from the front page of KINODV. Set 1 here includes the following:

BLOW UP

POUND

WHAT DOES SEX MEAN TO ME?

ANDY FELL

MARONE OFFERING

UNBA UNBA

PUBLIC ALLEY 909

KEEP A SOUTHERN EXPOSURE

***ENJOY AND PLEASE STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY***

This is a continuation of the HSR Streets llive video show and contains the remaining clips:

LAND OF THE GLASS PINECONES

HOUSE OF ATREUS

12345678910

A QUESTION OF TEMPERATURE

DOLLS

BODYGUARD

This La Peste 20 minute set was recorded by Jan Crocker and Ben Bergery at the Paradise Club in Boston with the MIT Film Video Section and edited by Crocker to the 1979 killer audio from WBCN’s “Rock and Roll Rumble” at the Rat. It defines the band as Boston’s premiere punk rock powerhouse trio. They took Boston by storm in the late 70’s and early 80’s where they packed in the clubs for all their shows. La Peste had a buzz saw driving appeal that caught the judge’s attention in the 1978 Battle of the Bands at the Inman Square Men’s Bar in Cambridge; they won that contest and developed an immediate and loyal following. La Peste released “Better off Dead” that garnished a ton of airplay in Boston and beyond. That 7”single even ended up in England’s BBC disc jockey John Peal’s sacred 45 singles box.

Here you go…we’ve got a new Lyres video from the BFVF show in 1979. This is a first time viewing, as it has been sitting in the can for 40 years. Why leave it lonely and blue in the can? I didn’t want to but the 3/4″ video tape cartridge was damaged and and it couldn’t be played back on any machines. I decided to try and transfer the tape to a working cartridge, which in most cases is a bad idea when I’m the guy trying to do it. I found a good one that did play back and had useless information on it. I removed the tape while carefully examining the layout inside….took a couple of pictures for reference…and loaded the BFVF tape onto the good cartridge. Dropped it into the playback deck, crossed my fingers, and BOOM it played back! I digitized all the analog footage and was able to put this clip of “Mighty Idy” together….ENJOY!

***NOTE*** if you want to play it full screen click the kinodv logo in the bottom right…its covering the full screen icon.

As a young radio guy in the early ’70’s I was intrigued with the potential of television, especially this new thing called cable television, to play “music films”. This was before Don Kirshner and a decade before MTV. An incredibly brilliant friend of mine from college, Dick Shapiro, became an audio engineer at Electric Ladyland Studios in New York at the age of 19. He got me a meeting with Michael Jeffries, the manager of Jimi Hendrix. Jeffries’ take on “music films” was to marry a music performance with a place. “Poco in Paris” is what I remember him saying. The idea stuck.

In the mid 70’s I was working at WCAS radio in Cambridge still thinking about music films when I went back to school part time, to the MIT film section. I had access to 16mm film gear and new friends who were excellent cameramen. The radio promo guy for Warner/Elektra was managing a new band and he asked if I could film them. I said I’d need to get the film stock paid for and because of this unreasonable demand the ‘deal’ fell through. Too bad because the band turned out to be “The Cars”.

Jeff and Jane Hudson were pillars of the music and art scene in Boston during the late 70’s and 80’s. The duo created imaginative outside the box music with their band the Rentals. They opened for the Clash at Harvard Square Theater in 1979, taught at the Boston’s Museum School, and worked with a slew of talented Boston musicians like Peter Dayton of La Peste who recently spoke here of Jeff and Jane as “a powerful due …they were certainly a very big influence on La Peste and many other musicians as well…we all loved them”

Well strap yourself in cause Jeff and Jane are back with THE MIDDLE, a smashing NEW track. The video is directed by Luis Aira who worked with several Boston bands in the 80’s including the Neighborhoods, Till Tuesday, New Models, and The Cars. Luis’s talent has lead him down several artistic paths and he’s hooked up here with Jeff and Jane to create a stunning rhythmic Sci fi visual tour de force. The video was shot in LA and stars Violet Paley, who creates a lasting impression with a terrific avant garde intergalactic performance as the alien visitor. It’s great to see Jeff and Jane’s musical evolution and Luis’s creative vision with THE MIDDLE. It’s certainly something worth watching and listening to time and again. Enjoy… I sure as hell did!!!

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Alan Vega the electronic suicide punk has left the scene at age 78. Best known for his work with Martin Rev in the band Suicide, Vega’s brash and uncompromising musical style put him in position where you either loved his work or hated it. In 1979 while opening up for the Cars in Boston he dropped by the Boston Architectural Center for a chat with Oedipus who was doing a live remote of his “Demi Mode” show for WTBS. The interview was filmed at the punkt data show organized by Mark Flynn and his cadre of artistic hooligans.  Alan shares his stories of touring with the Clash in Europe, being punched out by skinheads, and tear gassed in Belgium. All in a days work of artist who put it all on the line whether you liked it or not. RIP Alan Vega.

Have something you want to share? A related memory or story? Record a video, become a Flashpoint Contributor. [vidrack align=”right”]