The Real Kids; The Woggles; The Semi-Colons? @ Bell House

The Real Kids; The Woggles; The Semi-Colons?
@ Bell House
Brooklyn, NY - May 23, 2014

On a rainy night in New York, on the last night of East Village Radio (where the DJ was blasting the Clash when I walked by), on a night in which a mentally handicapped woman came into the Double Down Saloon to use the bathroom but couldn't use it because "this is not a micro-brewery!!", it was a good night for old rock n' roll.

John Felice might be an older man but his voice is sounding pretty fine. And considering I only knew "All Kindsa Girls" going into this show, it was nice to hear old power pop sound new.

It's been almost a full damn decade (9 years and and a little less than 2 months) since the first and only time I saw the Woggles, when they blew up Maxwell's. Professor Manfred, Flesh Hammer, and the other guys, are all getting a little older themselves but they've lost little of that punch. It's striking how they remain a potent act, venerable and veteran, and yet don't even have their own Wikipedia page!

The oldest band on the bill, the first band on the bill, and technically speaking I might even have to say the best - it's the backing band of ? and the Mysterians, as in the Mysterians, as in yes really the chaps who did "96 Tears". They made it so that you were hearing old men do old covers while wearing decent suits, but what you were really hearing was one of the original garage dynamos, bustin' out Detroit, tearing it up.