Eric R. Danton
@erdanton.bsky.social
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
https://buttondown.email/freakscene
Lisa O'Neill puts the bleak in "The Bleak Midwinter" on her version of the song. Just gorgeous.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V5Z...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V5Z...
Lisa O'Neill - The Bleak Midwinter
YouTube video by Lisa O'Neill
www.youtube.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Lisa O'Neill puts the bleak in "The Bleak Midwinter" on her version of the song. Just gorgeous.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V5Z...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V5Z...
Reposted by Eric R. Danton
In the latest Freak Scene, Trash Panda Kill Kill revs up a compelling take on 70s-style greaser rock with a punk edge on their self-titled debut, plus Hartford's POSSM have a new song:
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
Freak Scene #93: Trash Panda Kill Kill Find Catharsis on Debut LP
Plus, Hartford band the Professors of Sweet Sweet Music are back with new music
buttondown.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:08 PM
In the latest Freak Scene, Trash Panda Kill Kill revs up a compelling take on 70s-style greaser rock with a punk edge on their self-titled debut, plus Hartford's POSSM have a new song:
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
In the latest Freak Scene, Trash Panda Kill Kill revs up a compelling take on 70s-style greaser rock with a punk edge on their self-titled debut, plus Hartford's POSSM have a new song:
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
Freak Scene #93: Trash Panda Kill Kill Find Catharsis on Debut LP
Plus, Hartford band the Professors of Sweet Sweet Music are back with new music
buttondown.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:08 PM
In the latest Freak Scene, Trash Panda Kill Kill revs up a compelling take on 70s-style greaser rock with a punk edge on their self-titled debut, plus Hartford's POSSM have a new song:
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
Made a delightful lunch today of matzo ball soup and a potato knish from Lichter & Levin Deli in Northampton. I know the lines were ridiculous when they first opened, but the crowds have thinned, and the food is fantastic. The soup was restorative!
November 21, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Made a delightful lunch today of matzo ball soup and a potato knish from Lichter & Levin Deli in Northampton. I know the lines were ridiculous when they first opened, but the crowds have thinned, and the food is fantastic. The soup was restorative!
Seems like a good idea for this nation, too
Spanish PM calls for nation to heed past lessons on anniversary of Franco’s death
Spanish PM calls for nation to heed past lessons on anniversary of Franco’s death
Pedro Sánchez says his country must defend the democratic freedom ‘wrenched from us for so many years’
Spain has marked the 50th anniversary of Francisco Franco’s death with an absence of official events but with a call from the prime minister to heed the lessons of the dictatorship and defend the democratic freedom “wrenched from us for so many years”.
Franco, whose military coup against the elected republican government in 1936 triggered a civil war and brought about four decades of dictatorship, died in Madrid on 20 November 1975. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 20, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Seems like a good idea for this nation, too
From Hill's last telegram to Big Bill Haywood: "It is a hundred miles from here to Wyoming. Could you arrange to have my body hauled to the state line to be buried? I don't want to be found dead in Utah."
Remembering Joe Hill on the 110th anniversary of his murder by the state of Utah.
Paul Robeson singing "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night" to Scottish coal miners in 1949.
Paul Robeson singing "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night" to Scottish coal miners in 1949.
November 19, 2025 at 8:37 PM
From Hill's last telegram to Big Bill Haywood: "It is a hundred miles from here to Wyoming. Could you arrange to have my body hauled to the state line to be buried? I don't want to be found dead in Utah."
Reposted by Eric R. Danton
See? BU doesn't just produce li'l pieces of total shit that call ICE on our friends & neighbors.
www.bu.edu/bu-classnote...
www.bu.edu/bu-classnote...
November 19, 2025 at 8:17 PM
See? BU doesn't just produce li'l pieces of total shit that call ICE on our friends & neighbors.
www.bu.edu/bu-classnote...
www.bu.edu/bu-classnote...
And Cristiano Ronaldo, the preening dickweed
Here’s the list of guests who honored the killer crown prince of Saudi Arabia last night at our White House, including Elon Musk (Tesla) and Tim Cook (Apple), and more: www.businessinsider.com/white-house-...
The guest list for White House dinner for the Saudi Crown Prince included nearly 50 executives
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff were on the guest list.
www.businessinsider.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:34 PM
And Cristiano Ronaldo, the preening dickweed
Eric Bachmann has resurrected his Crooked Fingers project with a new album, "Sweet Deth," that's due Feb. 27. I'm as excited about this as by the Archers of Loaf revival from a couple of years ago. Here's the first track, "Cold Waves":
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq2O...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq2O...
Crooked Fingers - Cold Waves (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by Crooked Fingers
www.youtube.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Eric Bachmann has resurrected his Crooked Fingers project with a new album, "Sweet Deth," that's due Feb. 27. I'm as excited about this as by the Archers of Loaf revival from a couple of years ago. Here's the first track, "Cold Waves":
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq2O...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq2O...
Reposted by Eric R. Danton
November 17, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Niece in Chicago: "We should get one!"
"Malort advent calendar" is already such an unhinged concept but every little window just having Malort in it really pushes it over the edge into something transcendently funny
November 16, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Niece in Chicago: "We should get one!"
Reposted by Eric R. Danton
Want Craig Finn from the Hold Steady to write you a personal postcard? It's one of a bunch of cool options available through his year's @commonmag.bsky.social postcard auction fundraiser:
event.auctria.com/deea9774-733...
event.auctria.com/deea9774-733...
Auctria
event.auctria.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Want Craig Finn from the Hold Steady to write you a personal postcard? It's one of a bunch of cool options available through his year's @commonmag.bsky.social postcard auction fundraiser:
event.auctria.com/deea9774-733...
event.auctria.com/deea9774-733...
Reposted by Eric R. Danton
New Freak Scene newsletter! This week, New Haven's Ponybird reminds us that one song can take different shapes at various moments, and Joshua David Thayer has a bold new single:
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
Freak Scene #92: Ponybird Changes Contexts on 'Fire & Stars'
Plus, Joshua David Thayer has a new single, and Erin McKeown had a change of heart
buttondown.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:54 PM
New Freak Scene newsletter! This week, New Haven's Ponybird reminds us that one song can take different shapes at various moments, and Joshua David Thayer has a bold new single:
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
What's notable about the mayor's promise of unity after winning re-election by <80 votes is that she actually got on the phone with a reporter instead of her usual practice of issuing an anodyne statement denatured to the point where it doesn't mean anything at all
gazettenet.com/2025/11/12/f...
gazettenet.com/2025/11/12/f...
Following divisive election, Northampton mayor pledges unity after razor-thin victory - Daily Hampshire Gazette
Gina-Louise Sciarra may have claimed victory in the municipal election, but her administration has a lot of work to do as it heads into a second term. Sciarra won the mayoral election by the thinnest ...
gazettenet.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:37 PM
What's notable about the mayor's promise of unity after winning re-election by <80 votes is that she actually got on the phone with a reporter instead of her usual practice of issuing an anodyne statement denatured to the point where it doesn't mean anything at all
gazettenet.com/2025/11/12/f...
gazettenet.com/2025/11/12/f...
New Freak Scene newsletter! This week, New Haven's Ponybird reminds us that one song can take different shapes at various moments, and Joshua David Thayer has a bold new single:
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
Freak Scene #92: Ponybird Changes Contexts on 'Fire & Stars'
Plus, Joshua David Thayer has a new single, and Erin McKeown had a change of heart
buttondown.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:54 PM
New Freak Scene newsletter! This week, New Haven's Ponybird reminds us that one song can take different shapes at various moments, and Joshua David Thayer has a bold new single:
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
New candidate for worst person alive. What a total dungheap:
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/13/m...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/13/m...
BU student says he called ICE ‘for months’ prior to Allston Car Wash raid - The Boston Globe
Nine workers were detained by immigration agents last week. Many of them hold legal status, according to their attorney.
www.bostonglobe.com
November 14, 2025 at 12:45 PM
New candidate for worst person alive. What a total dungheap:
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/13/m...
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/13/m...
Reposted by Eric R. Danton
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
November 13, 2025 at 11:33 AM
As of this morning, Starbucks workers across the country are officially ON STRIKE. And we're prepared for this to become the biggest and longest ULP strike in Starbucks history.
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Say #NoContractNoCoffee with us: DON'T BUY STARBUCKS for the duration of our open-ended ULP strike! $SBUX
Reposted by Eric R. Danton
50th anniversary today of an album that I picked up the same week it was released, when I was a college freshman. I've got a longer chapter on Patti Smith and "Horses" in a forthcoming project, and here's a slice:
www.facebook.com/share/p/1BU6...
www.facebook.com/share/p/1BU6...
November 10, 2025 at 7:15 PM
50th anniversary today of an album that I picked up the same week it was released, when I was a college freshman. I've got a longer chapter on Patti Smith and "Horses" in a forthcoming project, and here's a slice:
www.facebook.com/share/p/1BU6...
www.facebook.com/share/p/1BU6...
My pal Ken Partridge, author of "Hell of a Hat" about '90s swing and ska, is doing a really cool deep dive into Latin freestyle, the sound that was a dance-ready club sensation in the latter half of the '80s:
The Miracle of Shannon’s “Let the Music Play”
Diving deep into the song that started it all.
lostinemotion.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:19 PM
My pal Ken Partridge, author of "Hell of a Hat" about '90s swing and ska, is doing a really cool deep dive into Latin freestyle, the sound that was a dance-ready club sensation in the latter half of the '80s:
Reposted by Eric R. Danton
This week in Freak Scene: Winterpills are back with their first new album since 2016, and it's a little different, but very good:
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
Freak Scene #91: Winterpills Return With 'This Is How We Dance'
Plus, Western Mass. trio Our Three debut with the EP 'Never Fall in Love'
buttondown.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:59 PM
This week in Freak Scene: Winterpills are back with their first new album since 2016, and it's a little different, but very good:
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
This week in Freak Scene: Winterpills are back with their first new album since 2016, and it's a little different, but very good:
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
Freak Scene #91: Winterpills Return With 'This Is How We Dance'
Plus, Western Mass. trio Our Three debut with the EP 'Never Fall in Love'
buttondown.com
November 7, 2025 at 12:59 PM
This week in Freak Scene: Winterpills are back with their first new album since 2016, and it's a little different, but very good:
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
buttondown.com/freakscene/a...
Am so rarely in the know about contemporary fine art, but I used to know Sam McKinniss when we both lived in Hartford, and I have a wonderful portrait of Aretha Franklin he painted in 2006
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/s...
With JPEGs and Oils, Sam McKinniss Paints the 2020s
www.nytimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Am so rarely in the know about contemporary fine art, but I used to know Sam McKinniss when we both lived in Hartford, and I have a wonderful portrait of Aretha Franklin he painted in 2006
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/s...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/s...
Reposted by Eric R. Danton
Support our neighbors! Save this info in your phone & share with friends.
See #ICE? Call the LUCE Hotline as soon as possible! We need to do all we can to protect & support our #immigrant neighbors & their families. #ImmigrationMakesUsStrong
November 6, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Support our neighbors! Save this info in your phone & share with friends.
Reposted by Eric R. Danton
Hoy ha salido esta entrevista, que es un buen resumen de mis cosas los últimos 30 años.
www.hoyesarte.com/entrevistas/...
www.hoyesarte.com/entrevistas/...
"Las canciones me salen de una forma que casi no puedo evitar" - hoyesarte.com
Estuvo al frente de Malconsejo, formidable banda de clásico pop de guitarras con la que editó dos espléndidos álbumes y un buen montón de singles que hoy son codiciadas piezas de colección. Pero lo me...
www.hoyesarte.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Hoy ha salido esta entrevista, que es un buen resumen de mis cosas los últimos 30 años.
www.hoyesarte.com/entrevistas/...
www.hoyesarte.com/entrevistas/...