Flyer for calendar listings at Cambridge, MA rock club T.T. the Bear’s Place, January 1990.
With the exception of 23 Skidoo on 17th (!), this was a relatively uneventful month at T.T’s. That it was a January in reliably cold and snowy Boston was certainly a factor. But I also think the club was still mostly booking local acts, the biggest of which listed here would be Treat Her Right, on the 19th. Though it was another local band that originally brought me to T.T. the Bear’s just a couple of months earlier...
I’d been a big fan of The Cavedogs ever since hearing their demo tape on WFNX’s Boston Rocks local music program on Sunday nights. And so I decided to look up each of the band members in the phone book to cold call them, asking if I could interview them for my high school newspaper. I think guitarist Todd Spahr was the first one I reached, and yes, they graciously accepted what much have seemed a pretty weird request. The post-interview pics of the band in the back room at T.T.’s was one of the first posts on this blog.
Having experienced hanging out at this particularly cool rock club, I began following its listings. And of course all the local bands I heard on the radio would play there, plus occasional international artists of note such as Steve Kilbey and Robyn Hitchcock.
And the only reason why I was able to attend those two particular shows is that, one day after school, I marched up to the club box office and asked to speak to the manager. That person turned out to be Bonnie Bouley, the owner of T.T.’s. I’d come prepared with a copy of my high school newspaper and the two zines I’d started writing for, ready to make my case as to why she should allow me, a 16-year-old, into her club.
Bonnie listed to my pitch about being a young music journalist who only wanted to be able to see the bands, not for any very illegal underage drinking. True and true. I would even end up touching alcohol until sometime in my twenties. So maybe she saw how sincere and passionate I was and decided to cut me a break. Maybe she felt just like me when she was in her teens. At any rate, after listening to my spiel, Bonnie simply stated: “All right, I’ll let you in. But you’ll get two black X’es on both hands. And if I ever see you drinking, you’re banned for life.”
I kept my part of the bargain, and she hers. And that was the key that unlocked my access to so many great shows at such an early age.
