 In December of 2017, a big blown was dealt to rock fans everywhere with the passing of Smithereens founder and lead singer Pat DiNizio. While Smithereens fans were, and are, deeply saddened by Pat's passing they also overwhelmingly wanted the band to continue. Fast-forward to today, with the remaining original members of The Smithereens: Jim Babjak, Dennis Diken, and Mike Mesaros currently out on tour with singer-songwriter Marshall Crenshaw, who is sitting in as the band’s guest vocalist. I caught up with the singer prior to the band's stop in Rhode Island Tony Jones: What can folks who attend the upcoming gig expect, as far as material, is it strictly Smithereens tunes? Marshall Crenshaw: Yes, Smithereens Only. I do my stuff at my shows; this is their show. It’s fun for me to play in their band.. Tony Jones: Your association with The Smithereens goes way back, tell us about that? Marshall Crenshaw: I have known the guys since forever, played a little bit on their first album. At Pat’s memorial back in January it felt like a giant family-reunion. I sat in with the band for 3 songs that night; a little while after that they reached out to me about doing what we’re doing now. Tony Jones: Are there any plans for you to record new music with The Smithereens? Marshall Crenshaw: Not that I know of. Tony Jones: What keeps bringing you back to touring? Marshall Crenshaw: Playing music keeps my spirit intact. God knows what I would turn into if I stopped doing it. Maybe I will stop sometime but I’m not there yet. Tony Jones: How do you prepare for a tour? Marshall Crenshaw: I don’t always prepare, actually. Sometimes I just show up at the first gig and wing it from there.. Tony Jones: You and I both share a passion for independent radio, is there any chance that The Bottomless Pit will someday return to the airwaves? Marshall Crenshaw: Ah, thanks for asking. The show went on hiatus in January so I could focus on a film production that I decided to attempt. Once I’ve completed that (unless I die trying), I’d like to do the show again, probably will. Tony Jones: What advice would you give to new and up-and-coming bands and musicians? Marshall Crenshaw: Be yourself. The Smithereens tour hits Rhode Island on Saturday, November 17th at The Greenwich Odeum. Tickets are available at: http://www.greenwichodeum.com/ Donations to the Pat DiNizio Scholarship fund can made online at: http://www.countbasietheatre.org/commemorative-giving/ (Select “Pat DiNizio Musical Performance Scholarship” in the drop-down menu)
Check out The Tony Jones Show #201 - With music from:
The Callouts, The Components, Castle Black, Legendary Shack Shakers, Deadpan Sally, 1031, Sasquatch and the Sick-A-Billys, Tammy LaForest, The McGunks, The Devil Makes Three, The Dead South, Only On weekends
Check out The Tony Jones Show #198 with music from: Army of Halfwits, Castle Black, The Suicide Dolls, Flogging Molly, Tsunamibots, The Maybes, Only on Weekends, Shore City, Johnny & the Bootlegs, and November Party
 With his former project Blitzkid disbanding in 2012, Argyle Goolsby has been pursuing his solo career at a break-neck speed. He currently performs with both his acoustic band, The Hollow Bodies and a live electric band, The Roving Midnight. 'Darken Your Doorstep', his latest release, came out this past June. Tony Jones: Tell us about the current tour, what can those who attend your upcoming gig expect? Argyle Goolsby: This will be a one off for us. We have some European dates and festivals starting next month in Germany and Russia though. People can expect a good show from us live. Lots of energy and a one of a kind stage set. Tony Jones: Tell as a little bit about 'Darken Your Doorstep' Argyle Goolsby: It's my newest album that just came out this past June. 17 songs of energetic and melodic punk rock in the vein of Bad Religion, The Damned and Misfits. You can check it out at: www.argylegoolsby.com/downloads Tony Jones: With the Roving Midnight, you have assembled a bit of a horror punk "super group" tell us about getting those musicians to back you up? Argyle Goolsby: I've set the band up in a way that different people can occupy it at different times. Touring is based on peoples availability. People can't always go out on tour. This way I can always go on tour, and the best part for me is I get to play live with a lot of different friends, and for the fans they get to see a lot of people from their favorite bands on stage with me. The sound is always fresh too, because each lineup sounds different. Tony Jones: What keeps bringing you back to touring? Argyle Goolsby: A self destructive nature I guess ha ha. I love playing music live. It's nothing til it's live. Tony Jones: Do you have a favorite place to tour? Argyle Goolsby: No, I love playing anywhere people are into it. Tony Jones: Did you expect all the support you’ve received throughout the years when you first started? Argyle Goolsby: No. When I started I just wanted to have a way to get my ideas expressed. It was more of a personal thing, always has been, but in time people pick up on what you're doing and identify with it, which is cool. From that point you start getting support from those people, which is awesome. It's definitely motivating. Tony Jones: Do you have any musical influences that people might be surprised by? Argyle Goolsby: Michael Jackson. Tony Jones: What does the future hold for Argyle Goolsby? Argyle Goolsby: No clue, but I'll be there to do it. Argyle Goolsby & The Roving Midnight bring the tour to The Cove Music Hall in Worcester, MA on Friday August 18th along side The Koffin Kats, The Evil Streaks and Tony Jones & The Cretin 3, tickets are available at www.thecovemusichall.com 
As a true road warrior of punk rock, Michale Graves has kept extremely busy since his time as vocalist for legendary horror-punk band The Misfits. In fact, he's back out on the road with a new tour that will bring him to Providence's own Firehouse 13 on Friday, April 28th
Tony Jones: For those who haven't had a chance to catch Michale Graves live, what can people expect at your upcoming gig? Michale Graves: The performance that we have planned in Providence will be in support of my current 'Backroads' CD. We released our new CD 'Backroads' about two months ago at the beginning of the tour and I have committed each of the 55 performances on this tour to feature the songs from the new CD. This CD is a continuation of the voice that we created in the 'Vagabond' acoustic album and then later followed up on 'The Wanderer' acoustic album. This is very different from my monster rock voice and I really perform these new songs any unique and I hope entertaining way. Tony Jones: You seem to always be on the road, what keeps bringing you back to touring Michale Graves: Everything that we do is centered around people. The fans and the time I have to spend with them on the road is why I tour so much. This album, Backroads, is all about my life on the road touring especially in this acoustic voice. So the bottom line is what keeps me on the road? I need to touch and interact live with our fans. Tony Jones: Do you prefer being out with the full band or doing solo acoustic? Michale Graves: That's like saying which one of my two children do I love the most. Why I'm so excited about both the full band and the acoustic is it allows me to stretch artistically in several different ways. Full band events are more kinetic and action driven. Acoustic shows are much more personal. So I have the good fortune to be able to perform in both formats and that keeps me a balanced performer. Tony Jones: How do you prepare for a tour? Michale Graves: You know, I prepare for a tour in the same way that an athlete prepares for tournament. I spend a lot of time on cardio and getting my body in shape, eating the right things and keeping my brain and body healthy. I also try to get a lot of rest before a tour because, I will tell you that one thing, a tour is not full of sleep. Tony Jones: With all the years of touring, do you have a favorite gig/festival that you've played? Or a particularly memorable one? Michale Graves: Well, I'll answer this the way an old friend of mine answered, to simplify the question, my favorite one is the one we are about to do. That way I can say that every single day I perform, and by the way, it's true. Tony Jones: You have had great success crowd-funding different projects, tell us about being able to connect with the fans in that manner. Michale Graves: Yes, we have for years involved the fans in crowd-funding projects. It's a way that we can announce and market our projects way in advance of them being done and it's the way that we can reach out to new fans as the crowd-funding sites have a community of their own. Tony Jones: What is in the pipeline for Michale Graves, what are the next projects you are working on? Michale Graves: Well Tony, you know Mark Allen Stuart, CEO of Hydraulic entertainment. Mark always has about 48 different projects up his sleeve at any one time. Because the release of the 'Backroads' acoustic album was so successful, as a matter of fact, almost sold out, we've decided, and I'll give you an exclusive here, we've decided to create a full band version of the album as well, so we should be heading into the studio early in the summer to make that happen. We also have another monster rock project in the works, as well as an October Halloween tour. Also, Mark is working on a feature film based on our songs from the 'When Worlds Collide' album to be entitled '3 Days till Dawn' and we're trying to get the production of that film in this calendar year as well. Mark also has us working on a re-release of another project, that unfortunately I can't announce today, but it should be coming at you in a few weeks. Tony Jones: Any chances of a return to doing radio on the regular basis with the Michale Graves Show or Radio Deadly Graves : You know, I would love to have the radio show, but given the fact that I'm on tour over a hundred and fifty days a year, it makes doing a consistent radio show very very difficult. We've tried to do it while on the road and that just doesn't work, on for a month, off for two months, really doesn't create the consistency or sustainability that we really want. But we love the medium and we're trying to figure out ways that we can make a show happen. Tony Jones: A message to all the young bands out there? Michale Graves: I think the best advice I can give is to forget doing cover songs. Find your own voice. It's natural that every artist has inspirations, I, for one, had a ton of bands and artists that inspired me when I first started out, and still inspire me today. One of the things that I know is, if you're really trying to make a go at it at performing as a profession, or quite frankly, if you're just trying to get better as an artist, find your own voice, find your own uniqueness, and ways to exploit your own talent and in that you'll have a better chance of creating some magic. Michale Graves brings his 'Backroads' tour to Firehouse 13 on Friday, April 28th with local openers Damnation, The Skeleton Beats, Deprived and Wolfman Chuck. Doors are at 8pm, $12 cover. Check out http://fh13.com for details ICYMI: Michale Graves joined us on the line for The Tony Jones Show a few years back, while we were on the AM dial So here we are at Terror Con, the crew of Rhode Island Free Radio.org. Also in attendance: evil clowns, a couple of zombie Star Wars troopers, a killer car, a battered Jurassic Park jeep, and aisle upon crowded aisle of merchandise vendors, food vendors, artists, authors, and a bunch of ‘B’ movie and TV show celebrities not getting as much attention as they’d like for their 30 dollar autographs and 50 dollar photos. It does my heart good to see the clowns, dead stormtroopers, and a faux Batman and Wonder Woman getting more attention than the grizzled oldster who played Danny Torrance in The Shining once upon a time. (You remember, the kid with the stupid haircut that rode the Big Wheel and talked to his finger.) There’s also Kane Hodder (Jason Voorhees), some folks from The Walking Dead, the Cenobites from Hellraiser(minus Doug Bradley), Adrienne Barbeau, a Freddy Krueger pinball machine (Our own Tony Jones has his eye on the pinball machine), and last but not least a table full of RI Free Radio stickers, pins, CD’s and candy that needs to either be given away or thrown away by 5 pm Sunday afternoon.
Saturday, 9 am. We dose ourselves every hour with caffeine and sugar. Our self- promoting outgoing natures do not manifest without help before 2 pm. My outgoing nature threatens not to manifest at all after a conversation with the owner of Christine, the car I mentioned at the top of the first paragraph. Sad to relate, I found the present owner to be just as obsessed with the evil auto as the kid in the King novel and Carpenter’s movie adaptation. Can’t sit behind the wheel, can’t lean on it, can’t touch it. Oh, well. Just a missed photo op for Tony Jones and me and the rest of the RI Free Radio crew. My real concern is for that man’s family. I hope one of the demonologists at this event notices the state of affairs around that car and takes the proper steps. 11 am My mood revives with the arrival at our booth of two Lasik Girls. Cute, eager, intellectual. By the time they finish their pitch to restore our 20/20 vision, and the second one has discussed the conditions and problems threatening our world and their solutions, we have also been visited by robed cultists, a fanged leather-clad female vampire, Michael Myers, and Santa Claus. We give out CD’s, buttons, and stickers. I convince our Dj Psycho Eddie, a large man in prison garb and face-paint, to stop asking little kids if they want candy because it’s creeping me out. Ask the parents about the candy, I tell him. Give promo stickers to the kids to stick on mommy’s car. We try to talk somebody into slapping a RI Free Radio sticker on Christine’s back bumper, but nobody’s brave enough. Sunday, 1 pm The day goes on. The pile of internet radio station merch in front of us goes down. We meet several possible recruits to our RI Free Radio Family. We teach you the internet radio ropes for free, we tell them, you won’t owe us any gigantic student loan amounts when you’ve finished learning. This is true. We take the commitments we make seriously. Less seriously do we take the inflatable T-rexes bopping down the aisle, or the Crypt Keeper’s voice screeching over the announcement intercom. 3 pm I have a problem of my own: for every single dollar in my pocket, there’s a Ben Franklin worth of stuff I want to leave with. Posters and Godzilla action figures, autographed books and signed pics, a set of erotic female monster stickers that stick to anything. That Freddy Krueger pinball machine (maybe I’ll talk to Tony about going halfsies on that)... Lasik eye surgery. Christine. 5 pm I settle for the erotic female monster stickers that stick to anything. For the rest, there’s next year. -George Goner (Host of The Haunted Cabaret) Join us LIVE on NYE for Witty Banter, Rock & Roll and so much more Listen online via: http://www.rifreeradio.org/ The fun starts at 9:00 pm and goes until 2017   Recently our own DJ Psycho Eddie had a chance to check out the new Half Way Tree location in Providence, RI , here are his thoughts...
While venturing out one night, I was looking for some dinner options before an event I was attending. After searching an app for local restaurants, I happened upon Half Way Tree, located at 150 Chestnut St in Providence. (They share a space with "The Fat Squirrel") Half Way Tree serves authentic Jamaican food. Looking at the menu, It has the the typical Beef Patties and Jerk Chicken. It also has Caribbean staples like Calliloo, Jerk Chicken and Ackee and Saltfish. Their menu also features several other authentic Jamaican dishes, such as, Curried Goat Chicken and Shrimp, Jerk Chicken Pork and Shrimp, Pepper Shrimp, and Ten Varieties of Patties. We started the meal off with a Beef Patty and a Jerk Chicken Patty, which were both spicy (but not too Spicy) fillings wrapped in a flaky crust. Delicious! For our entrees, it was the Stewed Oxtail and the Fish Escovich. The Oxtail came with rice with pigeon peas and plantains. The meat was tender and flavorful, with a little of the sauce it was cooked in. The Fish Escovich was a whole fried Red Snapper, topped with onions, peppers and a vinegar sauce. Also served with rice with peas and plantains. Having actually been to Jamaican, I have eaten some very good Jamaican cuisine and Half Way Tree is by far the best place I have been. DJ Psycho Eddie is the co-host MyNightOut Radio on RI Free Radio |
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