This is Boston, not L.A.

Last night Jen and two of her friends from her art school days at RISD went out to see Screeching Weasel at The Middle East in Cambridge. The Queers were one of the opening bands. HOW cool!

I don’t know how old any of the founding members of either of these groups are but I figure they’ve gotta be around my age and my 50th high school class reunion’s come and gone. *dramatic sigh*

Jen said much of the audience was around her age (mid 50s) but there were younger people in the crowd as well.

When The Queers came on a mosh pit with crowdsurfing broke out. Can you fucking imagine? A mosh pit with a bunch of mostly 55-year-olds who probably had to get up for work this morning. I can only guess the amount of ibuprofen and Tylenol consumed — the number of iced, elevated limbs, and sick calls today probably comes close to last night’s ticket sales.

Is this anything like our mothers getting mondo psyched to go see Tom Jones in concert? You know, swooning dramatically when he broke into It’s Not Unusual?

NO — NOT. AT. ALL!!!

In other, not fun, punk news, on Saturday the founding member of The Freeze, Clif "Hanger" Croce, passed away. 

The band, originally from Cape Cod, then Boston and now LA. Clif was influenced by The Ramones, The Clash and other early punk bands, Clif — he put together The Freeze in 1978. His was the title track for This Is Boston, Not L.A, the hardcore punk compilation released in 1982. Man o man, I remember that well. I moved to Boston in late 1980. In ‘82 I was living in Kenmore Square — punk central. That anthem — This Is Boston, Not L.A — was everywhere.

If you dance the same and dress the same
It won't be long 'til you are the same
You look the same and act the same
There's nothing new and you're to blame
This is Boston, not L.A.
This is Boston, fuck L.A.

"It is with profound sadness that we share the news that Clif “Clif Hanger” Croce has died of natural causes. He passed away in his sleep early on the morning of Saturday, October 17, 2026. 

As Clif’s friends and bandmates, we were constantly amazed by how his mind worked. He loved performing our songs and he wrote some of the greatest punk rock lyrics…ever. There was truly no one like Clif and he will be sorely missed."
~ Tom Reardon, The Freeze, bass

"Clif Hanger was an incredible talent. Singer guitar player songwriter. He was one of the best!

Clif was his happiest when we were in the studio. He’s been a huge part of my musical journey since I was about 13 years old. I will be forever grateful to be part of his."
~ Bill Close, The Freeze, guitar, vocals, bass

Bill Close was Clif Hanger’s principal songwriting collaborator. Will he keep the band going now that Clif’s gone?

In other news this morning …

Per Dutch psychologist and writer Paul van der Meer on Threads:

Semafor reports that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pushed journalists to investigate alleged ties between Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and the Muslim Brotherhood.

She also reportedly directed staff to pursue the debunked conspiracy theory that Texas Democrat James Talarico was in a mental health facility.

CBS is Trump sponsored media (AKA Pedophile sponsored media).

Bari’s wife must be so proud of her. Maybe Nellie Bowle is just the same as Bari — a willing mouthpiece for the billionaire and trillionaire autocrats of our current kakistocracy. 

 They have two children — a boy a girl. Future clueless entitled Republicans of America. IF there’s an America when those kids grow up. 

Also attacking El-Sayed, or making a bad attempt at it anyway, was little Tommy Teepell. Who’s that? Why, he’s Josh Hawley’s (Running Man-MO) former operations director and son of Timmy Teepall, a Republican strategist with strong ties to Christian Nationalists. Little Tommy was a Republican plant and not a particularly talented one at that. The GOP — just a load of embarrassing, nasty, dumbfuckian slimeballs at this point.