Eric R. Danton

@erdanton.bsky.social

1658 Followers 261 Following

Writer of Freak Scene, about music in #WesternMass and CT. Bylines in the Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Paste and more. IWWFJU. Ex-Hartford Courant. Knows it's only rock 'n' roll, but likes it. https://buttondown.email/freakscene

The Rev. James McGready, one of the early fundamentalist preachers to hold camp meetings during the Great Awakening
A bumper sticker that reads, "I have no idea what shoegaze is, and it's way too late to ask"
Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit performs March 19, 2010, at SXSW in Austin, Texas. He's wearing a plaid shirt and playing an Epiphone semi hollow-body guitar in the style of a Gibson ES-335.
The pitch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London a few minutes before kickoff against Sunderland
A man on trumpet stands next to a man seated playing a Telecaster-style guitar. To their left, a third man plays a drum kit. They are onstage, lit by moody blue and purple lights.
A couplet written in chalk on the sidewalk near Smith College in Northampton that reads, "Talk your professors no need to fear! They want you to succeed while your here." The second "your" should have been the contraction "you're."
A photo of an enormous 19th-century Bible, a carving knife, honing steel, chapstick, a kid's walkie-talkie and a manual typewriter.
Image of a headline from the Midwest print edition of the NYTimes reading "Johnson Strains for a final vote on Trump's Bill"
A red flag that often symbolizes New England, featuring a green tree in a white field in the upper left-hand corner
Bumper sticker that reads, "You can go to Hell, I'm going to Western Mass." The word "Hell" is in red letters surrounded by flames, and the words "Western Mass" are inside an outline of Massachusetts
Email newsletters sent by Wired and The Onion, which are increasingly indistinguishable.
A three-piece band -- Chelsey on a small red keyboard, Ceej on a minimalist drum kit and Chad playing a pink Gibson SG -- in front of a black background with a banner that reads "Perennial" once each in blue, yellow and orange.
A golden-retriever puppy lays underneath a wooden desk so that only her paws and head are visible
Ted Leo plays guitar onstage at the Iron Horse in Northampton on March 23, 2005, flanked by a second guitar player and a drummer.
A letter to the administrator of the EPA sarcastically thanking him for gutting environmental regulations.
An upside down American flag hangs from the porch of a blue and white duplex in Northampton, Mass., once occupied by Calvin Coolidge when he was the city's mayor.
The web form to report a scam. The box for "other" is checked, and the text field reads, "An unelected billionaire with a drug habit is illegally firing Social Security Administration employees as part of an apparent bid to enrich his fat-cat pals by privatizing a public good."
Part of an email from the Social Security Administration about "National Slam the Scam Day"
Chuck Prophet, center, and his Cumbia Shoes perform Thursday, Jan. 30, at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass.
Northampton band Outro performs Jan. 24 at the Marigold Theater in Easthampton, Mass.
Perennial guitarist Chad Jewett performs Jan. 17 at the Drake in Amherst, Mass.
A PR bio for the band Fantastic Cat, which pokes fun at PR bio cliches.
Western Mass. band Radical Joy onstage at the Drake in Amherst.
Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy and Mike Heidorn, the original lineup of alt-country band Uncle Tupelo
Screenshot from the Industrial Union Bulletin of Dec. 14, 1907, referring to the Rocky Mountain News as "a capitalist sheet, which was a tissue of lies ..."
The cover of Steven Hyden’s book “This Isn’t Happening,” translated into Spanish as “Esto No Está Pasando: El Kid A de Radiohead”
AP News alert that’s of questionable news value and certainly not an alert
Load of sourdough bread with two slices overlapping
Newspaper headline has a typo that turned “snake” into “snack”
The cover of Tom Waits' "Rain Dogs," which depicts him being embraced by a woman whose face is obscured
“No parking” sign to which someone applied a sticker reading “talking to cops” under the word “No”