Best Local Avant/Prog Act

Cream Team

Submitted for your approval, the story of eight mysterious individuals who banded together to form a covert organization known to locals as the Cream Team -- believed to have possessed super powers, rumored to have been visitors from another dimension. It has been an ongoing, labor-intensive process to sift through the subterfuge and misinformation to glean what little we now know about this powerful and very secret project.

Fact: They maintained a continuous "front" as a local band of "rock-and-roll" musicians, often appearing at various venues throughout Worcester County sympathetic to "rock-and-roll" music and the bohemian lifestyle. These appearances generally occurred well into the evening hours while America slept.

Fact: The group are believed to have strong ties to another area outfit of "rock and rollers" by the name of First and Last. Interestingly, since the Cream Team established their base in Worcester, the membership of First and Last disappeared under still-unknown circumstances.

Fact: The organization operated from late 1996 through the winter of early 1998. During this time, they were able to build a substantial following of "mods," most likely through mind control and by currying favor of local-music columnists through the gift of cheap candy. The swayed columnists would then write positive information about the Cream Team, thus attracting more young people in search of "kicks."

Fact: The Cream Team, after losing the Palladium's Battle of the Bands, walked out into the chilly evening, never to be seen again.

Beyond this, it's speculation. Some say they returned to their dimension, unhappy with the runners-up prizes, others maintain prolonged exposure to earth's sun caused their super powers to erode, forcing them to live under the ocean. Still, a small handful of theorists points to an uncanny physical similarity between members of the Cream Team and current members of both Harrison Ford and New Pop Devil. This theory is roundly dismissed as hokum.

-- John O'Neill