There are so many damned bands & musicians out there.

I can’t keep up sometimes so I wallow in extended phases of heartthrob bands. (I’m still reeling from my Tibetan throat singing phase) & what I’ve noticed is that I’m quick to call my favorite groups like GALAXIE 500 ‘legends’; ‘god amongst men types’. Even if this bill appeals to none of my friends, & these ‘legends’ play to 30-40 people in their new-ish hometown of Cambridge.

Damon Krukowski & Naomi Yang, along with ex-Galaxie band mate Dean Wareham (under the expertise of legendary producer Kramer) are pillars of the shoegaze, practically inventing the genre in the late 80s. Over their career they compiled 3 studio albums and a small slew of tracks on compilations, rarities, covers & live performances, before descending into a grisly, yet predictable break up.

One can say about the legacy of Galaxie 500: they were the epitome of a band both exploding on the scene & imploding on themselves.

Damon said during the show that the first time they played this stage was 30 years ago. Damon & Naomi now are still local working musicians, but have also become prominent publishers, writers, photographers & even filmmakers. Over their 30 year career they have influenced the commercial success of their 90’s peers while neatly settling into a delicate, meticulous folk sound where art, literature & music become one.

Performing songs of their later solo career, it was a different sound from their work with Galaxie & early Damon & Naomi. The gig though was representative of the ebbs & flows of their long musical career, which includes beautiful collaborations with Japan’s Ghost & others, scoring Naomi’s silent film ‘Fortune’, all while while heading Exact Change Press. Their press publishes works by art icons of eras past such as Alfred Jarry, Gertrude Stein, Salvador Dali and Kurt Schwitters to name a few of my favorites.

To the show. David Nance was the first opener, and offered up a gritty act. The emptiness of the room, made the energetically driven performance miss the airy, nostalgic aesthetic of the next two bands.

‘I pissed myself/ in a river of clear water’ Dave Nance yells over his screeching beautiful Guild hollow body. The music in my view, may have been better reasoned had the performance been with a full band. Dave Nance (not the old talk show host), lead singer & guitarist, snarky and aggravated at the turnout made no effort to conceal that he was from Omaha. His roots driven vocals mixed with a 60’s jam band rhythm section drove erratically through back country roads of loneliness, regret and mis-comprehension. Dave Nance via bandcamp however, covers the entire Beatles for Sale record, brilliantly. I recommend you check it out.

Simon Joyner was the headliner, the cream of the crop of sad boy rock, too immediately influenced by Cat Power to be able to succinctly differentiate himself. I did not care to stay, but was impressed as I watched him interact with candor and humility with fans & the young David Nance whom he was touring with.

As for the legacy of Galaxie 500, I feel as if it is contingent upon the long-term influence and importance of their prominent musical descendants like Brian Jonestown Massacre & Low & Neutral Milk Hotel. Perhaps in the future Galaxie 500 and their music will be looked at as the true landmark of American music that they most definitely are. This begs a deeper question. Are they the signals of a rock music meeting its own logical end, or are they a blueprint for songwriters to take from, as they did, from the golden past era’s of American music…