Larry



Josh Kiley, the former lead singer of 1980s straight edge band Deadlift, now lives the quiet life of family man in Ayer, Massachusetts. The once formidable frontman has traded hitting punks in the pit with a taped up hockey stick for soccer games and trips to Home Depot to gather annuals and perennials. He still sports an 'X' on his shoulder with the words “Clean till Death” etched below in a Celtic script. However, this weekend at a soccer game, some parents thought they saw something amiss.

 The sprawling acres of soccer fields sit next to the Wachusett Brewery and during halftime a group of males that Josh calls “Dads Who Drink” disappear and leave Josh alone to educate the wives and kids on the virtues of abstinence and clean living. On this day, Josh noticed the dads were late returning and could possibly miss the start of half two. He announced he was walking over to the brewery to retrieve these wayward dads. Playing the hero came naturally to Josh. It was time for the dads to come home.

Upon entering the brewpub Josh became momentarily hypnotized by a colorful sign for the establishment's flagship IPA, 'Larry,' which boasts a high octane ABV of 8.5. Josh had not had a beer since 1982 when he swore them off and joined the straight edge movement. He opened the door and saw all the dads each holding a can of Larry and laughing uncontrollably. Josh readied his sermon as he approached the boisterous lot.

 This was not the first time Josh had placed the responsibility upon himself to bring these wayward dads back home but it was the first time in Larry's presence and something in the air felt different.

 Meanwhile, back on the soccer field, the second half started and neither the Dads Who Drink nor the lone dad who did not drink had returned to the sidelines and the soccer moms carried on without them. Nobody seemed to miss them. A few of the moms remarked to each other how pleasant it was without the stench of stale beer and liquid courage that accompanied the dads after the halftime lubrication.

 Then with about two minutes left in the match, the nine lubricated dads, many interlocked at the arm, came marching across the field as they belted out Lunatic Fringe by Red Ryder like a bad barberhop quartet. They were passing around cans of Larry and taking giant belts as they neared the field. Josh Kiley, former straight-edge footsolder, walked tall in the center of the fallen fathers, the loudest of the bunch. He shotgunned a can of Larry and crushed the aluminum container against his forehead and the dads all started chanting "Larry, Larry, Larry," and just like that, his legendary straight edge streak was over.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

American Town

Image
In the 80s in Waltham, I could count on two hands the number of kids who liked punk rock and hardcore music. Three of the kids were friends of mine and the other half dozen or so were older kids who worked at Waltham Hospital and hung out at Lena's Pizza. They wore punk rock garb and one of them had orange hair. They seemed more into the Sex Pistols classic punk than the hardcore revolution that was emerging in Boston on the heels of 'This Is Boston Not LA'. This revolution did not extend to Waltham and my friends and I had to go into the city for the music we liked best to places like Newbury Comics and then sneak the forbidden fruit back into Waltham. I would say 99% of the citizens who were into music listened to album rock or disco and both groups belittled me for listening to punk and hardcore. While I liked some metal and hard rock like Aerosmith and AC/DC at the time, I hated pop music, top 40, and disco. KISS 108 was popular with the jocks and student coun
Read more

Johnny D, Johnny Thunders & Captain Jack

Image
Punk rock music was instrumental to my youth. Discovering albums like Black Flag's Damaged with my cousin Johnny D in his bedroom on an old Realistic record player in Newport, RI gave me joy and happiness and provided something to be excited about. While I grew up in Waltham, Massachusetts, I spent many summers, weekends, and school vacations staying at the Davis house in Newport and hanging out with my cousin Johnny D, a local legend in the hardcore scene. Johnny D knew everyone and everyone liked him. I was shy by contrast and simply enjoyed tagging along and being part of, at least by proxy, their music scene. Newport had a music scene of its own that did not exist in Waltham. By attending shows in Providence (Living Room, Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel) and Boston (The Channel, Paradise, The Rat etc.) with the Newport kids, we all eventually met some of the tight-nit Boston crew and became friends with them. Many of us have reconnected decades later via the magic of soc
Read more

The TDK Tapes

Image
In the early 80s, I discovered a vault of unchartered music via college radio on the side left of the dial.    On Friday nights in Waltham from the perch of my bedroom, I listened to Boston College radio WZBC and The Hardcore Hour with Dave Smalley and Curtis Casella. They played all the latest songs from established and new punk rock bands. I had to keep the music very low because my Dad deplored punk rock and would kick the door open if I ever blasted it. Once I had made the tape, I would crank it up in my headphones or car stereo. The weekly radio show was my passport to music and discovery of countless bands like The Necros, Husker Du, and all the Boston bands like SSD, DYS, F.U.s, and Jerry's Kids. I recorded each show on a TDK cassette and sent or sometimes hand delivered them to my cousin Johnny D in Newport, RI. Johnny then shared the latest and greatest hardcore stylings with his friends. Sometimes a crowd would be waiting at the Davis house for me or the tapes
Read more