Bobby Joe Thorazine

It was a weekend with at least 17 deafening band practices in small rooms across Murfreesboro, close to the same number of beer kegs floated in four days, one broken guitar, for sure, and I may be down a kidney but it was all in good spirits for this year’s annual Borostock Festival at the Boro Bar and Grill on Greenland Drive: the cleanest dive bar this side of a river.

The festivities began Thursday, Aug. 18 with Noah Tyson starting the sets a little after nine. It’s the unofficial beginning of the weekend for the Murfreesboro night life, and people began trickling into the green, tin-roofed dive; ladies were dressed to kill, and even some of the guys, but they were dressed, indeed. The bartenders set the tip-pitchers out, the sound guy, Lance, was miraculously found after the Boro’s event coordinator’s last ditch effort to post an ad on Craigslist deemed fruitful and there wasn’t a cloud in that big warm sky.

Thursday night seemed fit for the Southern rock sound, and the folks on stage did not disappoint, so after the first couple of beers served up by the beautiful bartenders, Moonshine Matinee, a local number we’ve been able to call our own, was the first band on stage to play the only way Boro crowds expect it: Sloppy, loud as hell, and with tons of reverb, but nary a mad or sad soul was in attendance. Following was another local band, Josh Farrow and the Union Rail, who had a similar Americana sound while Feedback Revival, gruff voice and handling the mandolin, finished up the Thursday night lineup after midnight the same way Noah Tyson and the crowd started it: fully-dressed.

The following Friday night, Bobby Joe Thorazine, local cowpunk troubadour, walked on stage in a black leather suit with leopard skin trim, a cowboy hat to match, and his guitar in hand and started the night off with his brand of love songs such as “Too Drunk to Fuck” and “I Worship the Devil.” He remained the ring-leader throughout the night by playing for the crowd during set changes. “Oh, the eloquence of Bobby Lee wrestling the silence between bands. Sometimes he wins. Sometimes not,” said one Borostock patron while the second sound of the Friday, Laughing Storm Dogs, walked on stage.

There, the amplifiers were opened wide and aimed at the crowd as the six beautiful old souls of LSD played their take on early ’90s rock, sounding similar to the likes of Cracker or Dinosaur, Jr., until the keyboardist broke out a trombone from God-knows-where and wailed on a couple of ska-influenced originals as the place began to fill up. The garage doors were opened completely, bringing in a nice somber summer night and setting the mood for the next local act whose name is to be determined but led by Murfreesboro local, Levi Massie.

I got to sit down with Levi and his band—Ben Becker on drums, Pete Leske on electric bass and backup vocals, Charles Mulberry on banjo and harmonica, and Levi on acoustic guitar and lead vocals—while practicing in one of those small rooms a couple of hours before their set.

You guys excited about the 10 p.m. spot tonight? I heard somebody say that’s the best spot all weekend.

Oh, yeah. This is the first time we’ve all played on stage together, so it’ll be fun no matter what time. We had this big surprise, too, for our buddy, Billy, to play one of his songs on stage, too, but our banjo player dropped the ball and mentioned it in front of him last night . . . We won’t forget that, but, yeah, ten’s great.

You’re the only band this year without a name yet?

Well, we decided to write names like ‘Levi Massie and the Boys from Tallahassee’ on pieces of paper and get Billy to draw one out of a hat after every song or two we do tonight, so it’s up to him now. The second show could be more formal but definitely not this first one.

So, first show they did. Levi Massie and band played their Southern soul set, giving the crowd a chance to just sit back and enjoy the warm night’s breeze coming in from the patio. Afterwards, the crowd reciprocated the love, and we all forgot which name everyone decided on. Even the band.

Following the nice breather, The Boro got back on its feet for Static Revival playing an indie set comparable to the Manchester Orchestra or Jet when it came to the guitar player. Unfortunately, the crowd started teetering out while cheering them on and not paying attention all at the same time leaving the last band, Overzealous, and one drunk guy in a Yankees shirt who jumped on stage, to play everyone out until the next night.

Saturday mirrored Friday in capacity and atmosphere but had a different feel music-wise and more beer was spilt. The ringmaster that evening was a local gentleman dressed in a three-piece suit and white face paint across his eyes appropriately known as Kirky F. Raucous. Kirky serenaded the audience with his electric guitar fuzz and Jack White-esque vocal styles until he got excited later in the night when the final band of the evening and Dead Kennedy’s cover act, Live Schrivers, played “Blister in the Sun” with him, and poor Kirky got so excited he smashed his guitar on the dance floor. Live Schrivers didn’t care at all.

Between that, though, Scale Model, who played a few songs sounding like the Cranberries, were followed by Murfreesboro’s new local feel-good band, Mize and the Drive (featured in last month’s issue) who, between then and now, have obviously been practicing. They’re becoming a wall of sound and it sounds amazing in the Boro.

Following Mize was a Secret Policeman’s Ball, who managed to pull off a Blonde Redhead sound/look on stage if Karen O were the female voice before Live Schriver took the stage, but no hostages.

Sunday night was tamer and funkier than its southern rock Friday and hodgepodge set Saturday siblings with only two bands left to play Borostock 2011.

Scott Fernandez, a 12-string jazz bassist, graced the bar with his stylings as the crowd listened and saw up close how one person can play a snowboard with strings on it. Some of his performances are on Youtube, but not this particular one. And after Fernandez’ applause died down, the groove band, Relapse, funked the rest of the night away, leaving Borostock 2011 spent and successful, and the bar itself, still standing.

No band members or employees of the Boro Bar and Grill were injured in the making of this long and rock-powered weekend.