All’s well that ends well
By MATT ASHARE | October 3, 2006
Bang Camaro (pictured here at their August video shoot) played the BMAs after only two gigs |
It all started a week ago Wednesday at Avalon, where bands played, the audience mingled and schmoozed, a guy in a bear suit turned out to be Dresden Dolls drummer Brian Viglione (I think), and the NEMO music festival kicked off with the 2006 Boston Music Awards. I had the honor of presenting the first award of the night — “Best New Band,” to Humanwine. That was after a drum corps in lab coats from Berklee joined forces with a female hip-hop duo backed by a turntablist and a drummer to prove that it ain’t your parents’ Berklee School of Music anymore. As is almost always the case at this sort of event, it was impossible to pay attention to every award presentation. In fact, I’m not even sure what award the Dresden Dolls were accepting when a French-sounding dude in a white suit and slicked-back hair read in broken English from a card presumably provided to him by Amanda Palmer thanking someone or everyone for the honor of being there. That’s when the bear appeared and it seemed some kind of cool performance art might take over the stage. Instead, the stage folks mingled back into the crowd, and that gave me a chance to hunt down the guy in the white suit. He turned out to be Otto from Porsches on the Autobahn, a band based in Boston and NYC who may or may not have gotten here via anywhere in Europe — aside from pronouncing “cool” as “cooowell,” Otto didn’t give much away in terms of his heritage.But bringing a little DIY fun to an awards show that just a decade ago was doing its best to declare its irrelevance to the local music scene by holding its annual event in huge venues like the Wang Theatre and the Orpheum and inviting celebrities (like New Kids on the Block vets) to help boost ticket sales can only be a good thing. Robby Roadsteamer’s blowhard rant about the BMA’s “sucking” or something like that aside, it was a relief not to be seated among screaming teens. And regardless of who took home an award, the live performances, especially the pop metal of Damone, the apocalyptic Americana of Frank Smith, and the harmonizing hard-rock guitars of Bang Camaro (who invited a couple dozen friends up to sing their tune while they focused on complex soloing), were all well timed to keep the momentum moving. Things stalled for a bit only when local DJ Shred read what seemed like an entire Gang Green biography before introducing the veteran Boston hardcore band for a quick run through all their hits, from “Skate to Hell” to “Alcohol.”
Related:
All dolled up, Growing pains, Boston, beer, and Bobby Brown, More 
- All dolled up
We have seen the face of Boston rock and roll, and it’s got painted-on eyebrows.
- Growing pains
So much has happened for the Dresden Dolls over the past year that it’s no surprise the duo fared so well in this year’s Best Music Poll.
- Boston, beer, and Bobby Brown
Last weekend at the Orpheum, Bobby Brown was not indicted but inducted.
- Sex, clubs and rock ’n’ roll
The first thing you’d have noticed about the Dresden Dolls’ CD-release show at the Orpheum April 21 was how different it felt to be seated in a theater while the duo played.
- Crying game
The Onion Cellar that Amanda Palmer envisioned is not the one that the ART will present at Zero Arrow Theatre.
- Boston music news: December 1, 2006
It’s no secret that, along with being a rock band, the Dresden Dolls are, well, theatrical.
- Tracks of her tears
There are tears but no onions in The Onion Cellar. But who needs emotionally catalytic root vegetables when you have the Dresden Dolls?
- Boston music news: August 10, 2007
The Dresden Dolls played Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” tour this summer.
- Boston music news: March 16, 2007
Amanda Palmer may be the public face of Dresden Dolls, but drummer BRIAN VIGLIONE is no shrinking violet.
- Life is a cabaret
The Dresden Dolls have been crazy busy since the release, earlier this year, of Yes, Virginia (Roadrunner), and their autumn itinerary ensures they’ll be applying the pancake make-up well into winter.
- If it ain’t broke . . .
For the past three years, the only real suspense in the local end of the Best Music Poll has been whether the Dresden Dolls or the Dropkick Murphys would win more categories.
- Less
Topics:
New England Music News
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, Entertainment, Music, Dresden Dolls, Berklee College of Music, Music Festivals, New Kids On The Block, Entertainment Awards, Music Awards, Robby Roadsteamer, Bang Camaro, Less
