Review of "Live in the Living Room" release party

(Daily Hampshire Gazette: Feb. 23, 1996: p.26

from "Clubland" by Ken Maiuri)

The Grotto was red hot and sold out last Saturday. The Northampton club was packed shoulder to shoulder for the release of "Live in the Living Room," the local music sampler put out by Aimee Swift and Amy Greene (of the local band Pirate Jenny) on their new Red Hot Records label. (If you missed it, the compilation cassette is now available at the B-Side Records, Dynamite Records, and Main Street Records in Northampton, as well as For the Record in Amherst.)

The four-hour, eight-band show was a marvel of good music, good planning, and good will. Area stars like Tizzy and The Ray Mason Band played go-for-broke 20-minute sets, and appearances by lesser-known (but equally stellar) acts like Stringbean and Diana Davies were just as strong. The local music marathon stayed on schedule for the entire night, and everyone, performers and audience alike, seemed caught up in the celebratory mood. Balloons, banners, red hot candies and even plates of homemade heart-shaped chocolate cookies (courtesy of Mark Lattanzi of Stringbean) decorated the crowded club. I only heard one complaint all night: "I wish Pirate Jenny could have played longer."

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