Two decades of local music

"The Worcester, Mass (AKA Wormtown) punk scene was an outlet for the youth of a dying industrial city gone mad with boredom. It was, simultaneously, tougher than the metropolitan scenes of the day in that the punks were real punks rather than suburban psuedos out for kicks, and yet far more naive in that it had never been touched by the big business music mill."

-- Liz Ireland in Pop Top: A Record Buyer's Guide, March 1979

This is the unofficial official history of Worcester's underground rock-and-roll scene from 1977, brought to you through the eyes of its authors (both who invested hours and ridiculous proportions of their earnings toward supporting its growth) and through the words and memories of the people who were part of it.

Wormtown was never meant to be another name for Worcester; the city never embraced the bands included in the following pages -- and the groups were happy to do things for themselves, though like anyone else they would like credit for their accomplishments. In its infancy, Wormtown was our city, the dream state held in our imaginations, and wherever the bands and supporting community found themselves, that was Wormtown. True, many of us (okay, most of us) were and are incredibly flippant about our music favorites at times, but when you truly believe in what you have, and believe the world is missing out by not sharing in it, there's reason to be frustrated. Twenty years is a long time, and the fact that bands still find it worthy to use the Wormtown moniker in attempting to create something special and unique is a tribute to those people from years past who made something out of nothing.

And though the ongoing existence of the city's all-ages scene -- from its early days at Fred's Basement Bar and Grille, the Underground, and the Quinsigamond Village Community Center, to more recently the Worcester Artist Group, the Space, and Espresso Bar -- is the biggest tribute to Wormtown possible, this doesn't pretend to pay proper respect to those efforts, which deserve a history of their own.

Should you find yourself frustrated by not seeing one of your favorite Wormtown bands in this version of history, write your own!

-- Brian Goslow

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In the beginning

by Brian Goslow

Why Wormtown? People have asked that question ever since Lenny Saarinen plastered the moniker on the city 20 years ago. By the summer of 1977, Boston had an exploding original-music scene. But when local fans attempted to bring the burgeoning punk movement into Worcester, they were met with loud disinterest from booking agents who said thank you but no thank you to Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band, DMZ, Fox Pass, and the Cars (who unsuccessfully offered to trade a Worcester band one night in Boston for the Cars' two performances at Sir Morgan's Cove). Instead, Worcester clubs opted for the tamer mainstream bands. Zonkaraz were arguably the city's most popular group, though they became a ceaseless target for local punkers; and local outfits like Fate, Mad Angel, and Albatross were all in the Billboard Top 100 with independently released 45s.

There was only one thing to do, create a scene of our own.

"There was a bunch of us looking for each other," recalls Bob Peters, then of the Blue Moon Band and now the Free Radicals. "We searched, we found; and with what little there was, we made something of it." Trailblazing bassist Cathy Peters adds, "You wanted to support somebody who was a familiar face. It was mob psychology at work, a bunch of people getting together and having fun. Most of us were already hanging around together anyway."

Community radio broadcaster WCUW served as the conduit, with It's Rock (and It's Local!)debuting in March 1977 (I was the deejay). The first musical shot was fired at Circe's, a small bar on Franklin Street that had become home to many of the city's jazz and poetry bohemians. In the fall of 1977, both the Blue Moon Band and Hooker (best-known for their durable posters plastered all over the city for nearly a decade and for Preston Wayne's blaring guitar declared an unsuitable soundtrack for the porno theater next door to the club). But the Circe's experiment was (temporarily) canceled after club owner John Petropulos declared, "Rock and Roll is dead."

After seeing Alexander open for the Ramones in Providence, Cathy Peters returned to her day job with stories of the singer's impish antics. Over the following months, Bob and Cathy Peters would load as many people as possible into their red Econoline van to see Willie and the Boom Booms wherever they played. The hours on the road created the foundation for what became Wormtown, the original population of which began to gather at Paperback Booksmith in the Worcester Galleria, where WCUW deejays Ivan Lipton (who went on to become Strawberries president), Leland Stein (now at Rounder Records and author of the notes for Jimi Hendrix's Radio One album), and Carol Marie Kowalski served as Wormtown's chamber of commerce.

When WCUW music director Owen Maerks booked the Blank Records Tour, featuring Minneapolis' Suicide Commandos and Cleveland's Pere Ubu, for a two-night stand at Circe's, a surprising number of people turned out, many of them students at Clark University and WPI (the drinking age was 18). The turnout convinced the club to give rock and roll another chance, and on April 7, the room was packed for a benefit concert for WCUW (featuring Count Viglione's Auguste Phenomenon, Troy, the Iggy Pop-ish Crazy Jack and the Heart Attacks, and the Blue Moon Band). A few weeks later Boston's Nervous Eaters played the room.

"It was very dark and smoky," says Cathy Peters of Worcester's first "underground" club. "The ambiance was great. We just descended on this unsuspecting club owner."

Bob Peters continues, "It had all this garbage on the walls, shovels and wagons wheels and stuff. It was a shithole, but it wasn't a worse shithole then the Rat. I still find it hard to believe he actually served lunch there during the day." Still, they turned the room into their showcase. "The stage was six inches high. We brought in a bunch of lights we made out of wood. We used to take it pretty seriously." And the owner? "He always treated us like big stars, although on the side, he said the only reason people came in was the drinks were cheap and we didn't charge a lot at the door."

On May 1, 1978, Lenny Saarinen took a piece of the heart of the Commonwealth and named it Wormtown, then gave the budding scene its own newspaper by publishing the first issue of the Wormtown Punk Punk Press. Boston bands started calling for gigs at Circe's, including the Real Kids, Unnatural Axe, and the Shane Champagne Band. Unfortunately, the onset of summer brought the annual exodus out of the city. And by the time colleges were back in session, Circe's was on its last legs, closing for good in September.

Ironically, the Blue Moon, now considered the city's reining underground band, got their first "non-underground" area performance thanks to an invitation by then-Zonkaraz guitarist Walter Crockett, who invited them to play at a benefit concert for the Clamshell Alliance.

"I remember being happy just to do a gig," says Cathy Peters.

Bob Peters adds, "I met them [Zonkaraz] and found they were decent, most of them. I gave them shit but they still gave us whatever we needed." Afterwards, the couple took time off to give birth to their first child, and local rockers turned their attention to Boston, where Preston Wayne (of the Heart Attacks and Hooker) was hired as the second guitarist in DMZ.

A document of the Circe's era, Wormtown '78 (featuring tracks by the Blue Moons, Crazy Jack, Hooker, and the Towel), was released in early 1979. Soon after, a two-song cassette arrived at WCUW announcing the existence of the Commandos and with it, the birth of "Suburb Rock." The West Boylston teenagers based themselves in the basement (known as the N.M.E.) of lead singer Brian Hopper, whose parents were the willing hosts to hundreds of past, present, and future teenagers. A few months later, the Performers, a trio of Doherty High School students, showed up at WCUW with gas for a needy deejay. In return, they were allowed to perform their new song, "Out of Gas."

They were much too young to play in the clubs (not that there were many options), but that didn't stop 13-year-old Bobby Barnes, who along with vocalist (and future television personality) Jay Riley, and drummer Pete Flynn (who had played Circe's with the Westborough-based Slugs), made up the Bobby Barnes Band, opener for the Blue Moons at the Charter Club, an Indian Lake room frequented by bikers. The group renamed themselves the Vejtabils, who had a number-one hit on WBCN with "Ed King," their biting tribute to the excesses of the Massachusetts governor set to the tune of the Troggs' "Wild Thing."

Looking to fill the void, Joe Longone created a program on a new local cable outlet. Generation 13 premiered with the Commandos playing in front of a German battle flag. For an encore, vocalist Brian Hopper smashed his drummer's drum set with a machete. A live broadcast featuring the Blue Moons, Crazy Jack, Boston's Crash Street Kids, and a video -- then an unheard of thing -- by the Towel aired on February 24, 1979, attracting a new audience of unsuspecting viewers, including Mark Owen, who would go on to become a WCUW deejay. "I was watching the show on cable out in Spencer and said I have to be there. It was live and so spontaneous." Certainly an understatement, especially considering future broadcasts included Crazy Jack serenading hookers on Main Street and drug dealers in front of Channel 13's Oread Street studio. And then there was the Jay Riley Show, where the singer-become-host interviewed Michael Jackson (well, a life-size cutout swiped from a local record store) and chatted with "Eric Heiden" (played by Milton Gentry, who by the color of his skin, obviously wasn't the Netherlands's Olympic speed skater, but he brought his skates just in case).

While most groups played where they could, the Nebulas waited for the perfect moment to perform live. Fronted by vocalist Deb Penta and guitarist Charles Blaum, their distinctly polished demo tape (recorded with the help of the Commandos' Ed Ramstrom), which included a post-nuclear nightmare-sounding version of "Suspicion," became one of WCUW's most requested recordings. Although Blaum was older than his West Boylston neighbors, he willingly shared his knowledge, and even filled in for Commandos guitarist Jeff Crane at the "Wormtown Woodstock" when Crane's mother yanked him from the group after watching teenage girls rip the pants off members of the Electric Guilloteens and the Performers at an Odd Fellow's Home gig.

As the '80s opened, WCUW put together what was to be Wormtown's crowning achievement, a three-day battle of the bands (at the Grafton Hill American Legion Hall) which convinced area club owners there was an audience for the music it had been championing. On opening night, just as the Blue Moon Band were concluding their set, Doug Hartwell of the Lynch Mob (one of the favorites to win the competition) suddenly appeared on stage and punched an unsuspecting Bob Peters, who retaliated with his guitar. So much for scene unity! The following night's show was moved to the N.M.E. (minus the Lynch Mob) to avoid further violence. The finals returned to the Grafton Hill the following weekend, with more than 300 people turning out to see an opening set by Boston's Neighborhoods and to witness the Blue Moons win a tight contest over the Bobby Barnes Band and Crazy Jack and the Automatics.

Sir Morgan's Cove soon began hosting weekly Sunday-night shows, and "Wormtown Rock" was featured on the cover of Worcester Magazine. A new club, Ralph's, was starting to draw large crowds and top Boston bands. And the Bad Habits became the Odds. They would write the next chapter.

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1979 to 1982

by John O'Neill

The first time J.J. Rassler rode the Greyhound into the terminal on Southbridge Street, he wasn't fully prepared to experience what made up the Worcester music scene in early 1979.

"I'd heard the Wormtown '78 album, and there were some cuts on there that appealed to me, the stuff with Preston Wayne and Steve Cohn, and I could hear something was happening," says Rassler, now at the Cambridge-based Rounder Records. Confident that the punk movement had a secure toehold in town, he was more suprised to find that Worcester's more popular acts also had their distinct style -- one greatly at odds with the new movement. "There were all these `mustache bands' sadly stuck in 1973 with bellbottoms, platform shoes, right there . . . alive. There was no doubt we were vastly different, and they didn't care for us at all."

Lured to town by local guitar hero Preston Wayne after the split of Boston's seminal punk outfit DMZ and the subsequent loss of their rehearsal space, Rassler and company took up residence downtown at the Day Building. Fueled by a love of '60s and '70s punk, they would rapidly evolve from the Diamondz to the Bad Habits to finally solidify -- with the line-up of Rassler, Wayne, drummer Eddie Lavasseur, and a 18-year-old Vernon Hill punk named Steve Aquino on bass -- into the Odds, the band who would become the flagship of the Wormtown fleet, eventually changing the face of the live music scene.

"Hippie/Southern rock was the way out here. They were the first bands I saw, unfortunately," relates Aquino, who's still plugging away as the guitarist for garage revivalists the Lyres. "Luckily, the Blue Moons and Crazy Jack came along.

"Jack was my life preserver. He threw it to me, and just like that, I'm in Worcester playing along with an Iggy Pop clone. You can imagine how that went! Talk about method acting, they weren't ready for him. But it was my coming-of-age party.

"My first gig with the Automatics [Crazy Jack's band] was on Joe Longone's Generation 13 show, and we had Joe bound and gagged, and we were whipping him in front of the camera. And Jack kept saying, `No matter what you see, keep playing. Well we start, and he comes running out, cocked, in Alice Cooper make up, and falls into the drums. His whole mouth was gushing blood. I found out a week later it was theatrical blood. He did have no front teeth though 'cause he tried that deal one too many times."

With the influential Generation 13 and ongoing air support from WCUW, the Wormtown movement continued to gain steam as the '80s broke. "Veteran" bands like the Commandos, Performers, and Blue Moons were joined by the Lynch Mob, Nebulas, Unattached, Prefab Messiahs, Foaming Agents, and Odds as club favorites, performing at a new hotspot called Ralph's Chadwick Square Diner.

"People were really coming out," says guitarist Danny Rugburn, a longtime scenester who now plays guitar with Thinner. "You'd play Ralph's on a Monday, and it would be packed. It was great to hang out and talk."

Rassler says of the early-'80s Worcester: "It reminded me of what happened in northern England and the Mercybeat scene, because it was a small mill town, and suddenly there were a shitload of bands. We started out as the Tuesday-night band at Ralph's, then we got Fridays and Saturdays, and things started to happen. Bands were supporting each other and people were coming out, but we weren't taken seriously by the established bands."

As momentum continued to mount, locals began to release material on their own. By the end of 1981 the Commandos and Performers did a split EP, and both the Blue Moons' and Lynch Mob's singles ("Hate You, Want You"/"Wild Weekend" and "Naughty Girl"/ "Pick of the Litter" respectively) were well-received.

Clubs were responding to the new breed of kids' drawing power, and Worcester suddenly began to attract world-class underground talent. By 1981, Black Flag visited Ralph's, the Sanctuary hosted early US-tour gigs for both the Pretenders and the Stray Cats. And with Flipper (who's singer, Will Shatner, shocked the crap out of Highland Street diners by walking into the Acapulco with a manacle around his leg) christening the opening of Xit 13 on March 11, 1982, Wormtown now had their equivalent of CBGB.

Fear, the Replacements, the Fleshtones, Black Flag, and Wayne Kramer all played the club within the first three months of opening, and Johnny Thunders, legendary punk guitarist/junkie would have, except for his inconvenient drug bust by Worcester Police. Given a choice to get out of town or go to jail, he packed his two guitar riffs and sneer, went back to New York, and continued his slow spiral down into hell.

There was certainly no doubt that something substantial was going on in town as the spring of 1982 rolled in; though nobody, not even the movement's biggest boosters, really expected what was to come next.

Billed as the Spring Rock Showcase and held at the Sanctuary, this battle of the bands attracted the area's top acts and drew the battle line between the young punks and the older, established acts.

"We entered on a lark, never thinking they'd accept us," recalls Rassler. "But we got in, and we kept on winning. And everyone started to get pumped."

By the time the semi-finals rolled around "Wormtown" had officially made its mark as the Odds, Nebulas, Prefab Messiahs, Lynch Mob, Unattached, and Natural Rhythm were the remaining acts. The final showdown featured the Odds edging out the Nebulas. There was now no denying that, not only were the kids alright, but they were now in control. But, to be expected, critical acceptance was still slow in coming.

"You could see the media wasn't rooting for us," says Aquino. "John Fraser (Worcester T&G entertainment columnist) wrote that the Odds were `sixties hoodlums who'd steal your hubcaps after their set' which really pissed J.J. off. I didn't mind 'cause it wasn't that long before I was doing just that."

"The media was never really there," Rassler concurs. "I don't know if the clientele was too small for significant press, but I think they were just oblivious. But the bands were just as much to blame because they didn't capitalize on [what was happening]. There was a bit of a defeatist attitude that came with being from Worcester.

"Worcester was great to us and to me. I still have my Worcester, Paris of the '80s shirt. It's one of my prized possessions."

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1983 to 1987

by John O'Neill

While the Odds celebrated their Spring Rock Showcase victory by splashing beer and jumping around to a ripping cover of "Tore Up" -- with the certainty that the sky was the limit -- a new cable network was also in the process of changing music. Full of glitz, fashion, and (at the time) a willingness to give almost any act with a music video a chance, the fledgling MTV would do more to shape the look, sound, and attitude of Wormtown's next generation. And this new group of bands' time to play was just around the corner.

As 1983 kicked in, Worcester acts continued to disseminate the Wormtown sound throughout the state and across the nation. The Odds ended up (minus Steve Aquino, who went on to form their chief competitors, the Actions, with former Xit 13 "bouncer" Artie Sneiderman and Prefab Messiah Mike Michuad) on a Boston-based compilation with fellow scenesters the Unattached and the Outskirts.

The Odds went national, too, recording for Greg Shaw's Voxx imprint. Battle of the Garages Volume 2 featured a dozen of what were considered the country's greatest hopes for a sixties-punk revival, and the Odds' scalding take of "I'll Make You Sorry" was included even though it was sent in demo form. Scheduled for an East Coast tour with the Alarm, the Odds were quietly dropped after the first show for blowing the then-little-known Welsh punk group off the stage.

Other bands were also faring well: the Nebulas released a single and made it to the semi-finals of the WBCN 'Rumble only to call it quits shortly after. Bob Swanson's Dialtones enjoyed their moment in the sun (literally) when they opened for the Fixx at Canobe Lake Park; and North Shore transplants the Time Beings cut a pair of songs for Voxx's Beasts from the East comp.

Now known as a base for basic blue-collar, garage rock as well as new wave leanings, Wormtown had regular visits from like-minded rockers the Del Fuegos, Smithereens, and Del Lords as well as shows at E.M. Loew's from X, Adam and the Ants, and the B-52's.

"It was like `Stay tuned and don't blink, you might miss something,' and it was like that all the time," says Aquino. "I fully expected to round the corner and have the mayor give me a key to the city, the vibe was that great. You didn't feel like you were pissing against the wind, that's for sure."

There was plenty of room for everyone on the Wormtown bandwagon, and bands continued to crop up from all around the area, ranging from the inspired hardcore sounds of Muffy and the Patriots to the Cramps-induced psychosis of the truly warped Alex and the Droogs (considered as unpolished geniuses by a few and plain lousy by most, they would eventually be tossed out of every club in the city as booking agents agreed with the masses). The scene had become a diverse and vital hotbed of styles, and it rivaled Boston's.

Then, a very subtle shift in philosophy began to creep into the mix.

"Things began to change in '85 and '86, where the scene became more commercially driven rather than artistic," says J.J. Rassler doing double duty with the Odds and future punk-greats the Queers. "Rick's was operated by a guy who could give two shits about music. There was no p.a. and the sound was terrible. The music was secondary. And Ralph's was booking too many bands, for less money, and other people started to get in on the act."

Not the least of whom was the suddenly omnipresent Dan "Danimal" Hartwell (member of Danimal and the Wild, Life With Danimal, and Danimal's Animals), who became Wormtown's most prolific promoter, self-promoter. There was a glut of bands and very few places to play and Dan solved the problem by booking as many as 10 bands a night to perform (free of cost) at Sir Morgan's Cove.

"We started out playing the `Monday Night Fiasco' at the Cove," says former Childhood guitarist Scott Ricciuti. "He'd invite bands, and you'd get to play two songs, max. But we were all itching to play somewhere."

Formed in 1986, Childhood along with groups like the Hip Civilians, Perfect Strangers, Fabulous Ones, Resistance, Kidz, and Dharma Bums came to represent the next generation of Wormtown band. While the first and second wave of Wormtown bands were, like the punk movement that spawned them, interested in reclaiming the roots of rock-and-roll as well as trashing the establishment, the new movement was the first generation affected by the undeniable influence and power of music video and, just as the new medium matured, so did local bands, for better or worse.

"When we first came in it was a little more glamorous," says Ricciuti. "We had dumb hair and clothes, and we thought we'd pave the way."

"Actually," adds Dave Robinson, later of Black Rose Garden and Huck, "it was a lot of cheesy-ass crap, but we'd play and sell the place out, and I didn't have to work. People didn't mind investigating new bands to hear how they sounded."

While Ralph's and Rick's continued to pack the crowds in, so did the Cove and McGillicudy's, which became home base for the new order. McGillicudy's hosted the next influential battle with the Rock `n Roll Runoff in October of 1986 where Childhood ultimately walked away with all the marbles earning an invite to the 9th Annual WBCN Rock `N Roll Rumble (semi-finalists included old pals the Unattached and Treat Her Right).

"At the time, Worcester tended to ignore Boston and visa versa," remembers Ricciuti. "It was a pride thing, but for me it made common sense that we tried to break in there. I was so amazed when we won the Rumble, I thought all these Worcester bands would follow our lead, but nobody did."

Winning the Rumble may have been the worst thing to happen to Childhood. They were roundly dismissed in the Boston press the morning after their victory and reaped none of the benefits previous champs enjoyed. Past Winner New Man got a record deal and an opening slot for INXS, Til Tuesday got a record deal and an opening slot for Hall and Oates, Childhood released an EP with their own money and warmed up the crowd for the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. Worcester's newest heroes' 15 minutes of fame never came. And it was a bodyblow to the entire music community.

"We've had some of the best bands here, no kidding," says Ricciuti of his years in the trenches. "Maybe it's the low self-esteem that comes from this town, but I don't see the frenzy that you'd see in the '80s. I don't mind being a Worcester band. Unfortunately nobody looks to Worcester for new blood."

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1988 to present

by Brian Goslow

If Wormtown intended to be a scene unto itself, the Worcester Artist Group was going to be the ultimate symbol of its individuality. Brainchild of multi-media performance artist Rich Goulis (who now works similar magic at Providence's AS220), WAG was based in a second-floor warehouse on Harlow Street. The alliance blended music, spoken-word, performance art, multi-media, and art. It provided an all-ages venue, filling in the void left after Quinsigamond Village Community Center discontinued live music. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones played at one of the first WAG shows, encouraging the crowd to donate money, which the band did, to replace the stage. Once a larger stage was built, WAG expanded its offerings, including a memorable night where Fugazi overpacked the room, drawing the attention of fire marshals.

"It was perfect," recalls Roger Lavallee, whose band, the Curtain Society, played their first show ever at WAG on December 16, 1988. "It was a friendly scene, which let us do anything we wanted to do. People were supportive of each other; and everyone didn't sound the same. Rich Goulis put together all these wacky bills."

Evicted from Harlow Street, WAG moved to Cherry Valley (on Route 9 at another former industrial site), where Black Rose Garden played some of their earliest shows. With a smaller capacity, WAG looked for other venues to hold bigger events, including the White Eagle Ballroom. Eventually, the organization had to move once again, sharing office (and performance) space at the Heywood Gallery (where it would put on more memorable shows), cohosting Joey Mars' annual Pelvic Carnivals, and working with the Worcester Artist Alliance, and the Space.

Other clubs were experiencing their own changes. Having survived a temporary conversion into a sports bar (Deke's Sports Bar), a rejuvenated Sir Morgan's Cove began hosting "Wormtown Underground" nights, spotlighting the best local and Boston bands in conjunction with the Worcester Phoenix, which arrived in 1993.

It appeared Wormtown was reborn, with cassette releases by Black Rose Garden, Bonehead, and the Missionarys equal to anything released in the world. All three bands could be counted on to pack any room they played. "I can remember a night where Bonehead, Dr. Bewkenheimer, and Furious Dance were playing on a Thursday night, and we were sitting around before the show wondering how it was going to do," says Brian Holbrook, then of Bonehead, now of the Seven Hill Psychos. "By the end of the night, it was packed." Bands could count on huge turnouts whenever they played. "People were doing it because they care. They took it to heart -- when you like something a lot, you'll be there no matter what."

Perhaps the scene's biggest moment came over Thanksgiving weekend of '93, when Bonehead, Black Rose Garden, and the Missionarys played a series of shows around the city, including the now-demolished Economy Lounge. "It was a hell of a time," says Holbrook. "We played on the side of this little room, but they gave us free beer and rooms. The rest of the details are a little sketchy . . . but it was family."

At the same time, the Curtain Society's swirly ethereal pop sound also attracted attention and admiration. "I remember the unity and love and mutual respect for each other, regardless of the music they played," Holbrook says.

Roger Lavallee doubled as a producer, working out of former Nebula guitarist Charles Blaum's Sound of Glass Studio. "I was working at a studio that was being sold and needed a place to take my clients," says Lavallee, who formed Apostrophe Records. Puddle, Jive Lama, Product, Banshee Bribe, Canister, and the Curtain Society all released recordings from that studio. "I thought I could share what I knew about the music industry, and share it with the bands," Lavallee says. "I realized that no matter how obscure any of us local bands were, amassed together, we would seem bigger than we were."

His efforts paid off in 1994, when the Curtain Society signed to Washington, DC's Bedazzled Records. They're currently writing and recording material for their fourth album. Any plans for a 10th anniversary bash? "Maybe we'll just break into Harlow Street and throw a party at the old WAG," Lavallee laughs.

Also standing on their own were Public Works, who held on to some of that original Wormtown spirit by fighting the local press, particularly the T&G's music columnist at the time, Walter Crockett, for increased coverage. The band went so far as to put Crockett's face on a target and use it as the poster image to promote a Ralph's show. Mean? Yes. But at the very least it helped announce a new generation of rock and roll was on the way.

"We sort of brought that post-punk somewhat-alternative sound into Worcester," says guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Bret Talbert.

But, did it help them get coverage? "I think he's giving me more power than I had," says Crockett of Talbert's comments. "If there was a band that was drawing large crowds I wrote about them. Basically, my policy was if you don't have something good to say about a local band, don't say it at all."

Whether they were good or lucky, Public Works caught a big break when they put a tape in the hands of one of the members of the Wonder Stuff, who asked them to open for their next American tour. The same ingenuity earned them the opening spot for a Paradise (Boston) appearance by Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, who also put Public Works' cover of one of their songs, "Falling on a Bruise," on the B-side of their Glam Rock Cops (Chrysalis) 45, which reached No. 11 on the British rock charts. The band soon disbanded, and despite a series of side-tracking name changes (from Everthing to Say Please to Please to settling on Runaway Brain), Talbert's still chasing his rock and roll dream. "We opened up the 1998 Mix 98.5 Music Festival for Cher."

Wormtown also went international in the form of compilations compiled by Rick Blaze and former Commando Jeff Crane, who also returned with the Surreal McCoys to pay tribute to the city with the cassette-only "Party in Wormtown." Exile in Wormtown (which featured the Time Beings, Rex Pluto, Rick Blaze and the Ballbusters, Surreal McCoys, Deb Beaudry, Huck, and First and Last), and I Wanna Be a Stooge (featuring Crane and the Mike Ladd Foundation) spread the Wormtown sound worldwide.

Although it's gone through lulls, and almost disappeared a number of times, the original Wormtown spirit continues to thrive. Eric Spencer at the Espresso Bar, Erick Godin at Sir Morgan's Cove, Phil and Ed McNamara and everyone donating their time at the Space all make it possible for anyone with a dream to have a place to pursue it. The Wormtown Cultural Corporation, a/k/a/ former WICN DJ Mike Malone and the staff of microbroadcaster WDOA, which despite having been shut down by the Federal Communications Commission last November after broadcasting for 22 months without a license, continues finding ways to broadcast via the Internet. A history of Wormtown program, hosted by L.B. Worm (who's also putting together a 20th anniversary concert scheduled for September), will be available to the world in the near future (www.ultranet.com/~wdoa). And in the truest form of irony, despite being a haven for those same "hippies" Wormtown had originally intended to "destroy," no one represents the much honored do-it-yourself tradition better than the Wormtown Trading Company, which sponsors Slipknot's annual pre- and post-summer concerts at the Northborough Fish and Game. And earlier this year, the Worcester Autonomy Center and Firecracker Books moved into the same location which had housed Circe's.

Does Wormtown still rock? Definitely, says Holbrook, whose Seven Hill Psychos release their debut CD this weekend. "We proudly represent the city of Worcester with our name." What keeps him going? It's an outlet for me. If I don't play for a while, I get pent up. It's a way to express myself, and for a moment, you're in the spotlight."