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Eric R. Danton

@erdanton.bsky.social
1.7K followers 263 following 3.6K posts

Writer of Freak Scene, about music in #WesternMass and CT. Bylines in the Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Paste and more. IWWFJU. Ex-Hartford Courant. Knows it's only rock 'n' roll, but likes it. buttondown.email/freakscene

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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
J.H. Walsh was born on this day in 1869. One of the most effective organizers in the early Industrial Workers of the World, Walsh played a huge role in creating the Little Red Songbook. Far less known than Joe Hill or Big Bill Haywood, Walsh was no less colorful. (That's him with the bass drum.)
A brass band comprising nine members of the Industrial Workers of the World in 1909. J.H. Walsh is at far right, behind a bass drum emblazoned with the IWW logo
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Kind of like Steve Carrell, and kind of like Syril Karn from Andor
Syril Karn, an ineffective Imperial bureaucrat, in "Andor"
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
He's dreamy. This guy, though ...
The Rev. James McGready, one of the early fundamentalist preachers to hold camp meetings during the Great Awakening
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Always makes me think of this, courtesy of @golddust.bandcamp.com
A bumper sticker that reads, "I have no idea what shoegaze is, and it's way too late to ask"
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
If you see this, post a concert photo you took.
Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit performs March 19, 2010, at SXSW in Austin, Texas. He's wearing a plaid shirt and playing an Epiphone semi hollow-body guitar in the style of a Gibson ES-335.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Not today, Satan
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
This afternoon’s entertainment
The pitch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London a few minutes before kickoff against Sunderland
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
Riley Mulherkar, Rafiq Bhatia and Ian Chang (left to right) took full advantage of the sound system last night at Hope Center for the Arts in Springfield with a performance that was visceral, immersive and, in its way, meditative. Very cool show.
A man on trumpet stands next to a man seated playing a Telecaster-style guitar. To their left, a third man plays a drum kit. They are onstage, lit by moody blue and purple lights.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Maybe especially talk to your English professors
A couplet written in chalk on the sidewalk near Smith College in Northampton that reads, "Talk your professors no need to fear! They want you to succeed while your here." The second "your" should have been the contraction "you're."
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
Walkie-talkie life is great. Essential part of my EDC
A photo of an enormous 19th-century Bible, a carving knife, honing steel, chapstick, a kid's walkie-talkie and a manual typewriter.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
"Johnson Strains to Pass Giant Turd"
Image of a headline from the Midwest print edition of the NYTimes reading "Johnson Strains for a final vote on Trump's Bill"
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Let's go United States of New England (and the Good Parts of New York)
A red flag that often symbolizes New England, featuring a green tree in a white field in the upper left-hand corner
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Somebody gave me a bumper sticker that reads, "You can go to Hell, I'm going to Western Mass," and I don't quite have the guts to put it on my car.
Bumper sticker that reads, "You can go to Hell, I'm going to Western Mass." The word "Hell" is in red letters surrounded by flames, and the words "Western Mass" are inside an outline of Massachusetts
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Just look at this
Email newsletters sent by Wired and The Onion, which are increasingly indistinguishable.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Caught @perennialtheband.bsky.social last night at UMass with Debbie Dopamine and Jaded in Paradise (from Manchester, CT) and it was, as expected, beautiful sonic mayhem. Someone asked if I was a professor, which is better than thinking I was a cop
A three-piece band -- Chelsey on a small red keyboard, Ceej on a minimalist drum kit and Chad playing a pink Gibson SG -- in front of a black background with a banner that reads "Perennial" once each in blue, yellow and orange.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Hard to tell where the desk ends and the puppy begins
A golden-retriever puppy lays underneath a wooden desk so that only her paws and head are visible
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Hadn't seen Ted Leo perform in ages before seeing him and the Pharmacists rip it up at the Iron Horse last night. Not only did the songs from "Shake the Sheets" sound amazing, he introduced me to the Irish folk singer Lisa O'Neill with a cover of "Rock the Machine." Phew.
Ted Leo plays guitar onstage at the Iron Horse in Northampton on March 23, 2005, flanked by a second guitar player and a drummer.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Send, or no?
A letter to the administrator of the EPA sarcastically thanking him for gutting environmental regulations.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Calvin Coolidge's former home in Northampton is displaying an upside down American flag, and not in an Samuel Alito insurrectionist way
An upside down American flag hangs from the porch of a blue and white duplex in Northampton, Mass., once occupied by Calvin Coolidge when he was the city's mayor.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Oooh, found one
The web form to report a scam. The box for "other" is checked, and the text field reads, "An unelected billionaire with a drug habit is illegally firing Social Security Administration employees as part of an apparent bid to enrich his fat-cat pals by privatizing a public good."
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Serious business here from the Social Security Administration with Slam the Scam
Part of an email from the Social Security Administration about "National Slam the Scam Day"
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Saw Chuck Prophet last night at the Iron Horse in Northampton, and he and his cumbia band were excellent. He's a showman, in his laid back way, and kind of a low-key nut in the best way possible. I'm glad he's out there doing his thing.
Chuck Prophet, center, and his Cumbia Shoes perform Thursday, Jan. 30, at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Could also be all of @adamzucker.bsky.social's band Outro, which would make for a weird therapy dynamic
Northampton band Outro performs Jan. 24 at the Marigold Theater in Easthampton, Mass.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Does @perennialtheband.bsky.social count?
Perennial guitarist Chad Jewett performs Jan. 17 at the Drake in Amherst, Mass.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Fantastic Cat's bio last year was kind of along those lines, which makes sense, in that Anthony D'Amato worked as a publicist for a while. (When I saw them in December, he said, "Do you miss my emails?"
A PR bio for the band Fantastic Cat, which pokes fun at PR bio cliches.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
Holy God @perennialtheband.bsky.social were sheer anarchy onstage and 100 percent amazing.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
At the Drake, where @radicaljoy.bsky.social slayed. Next up: @perennialtheband.bsky.social!
Western Mass. band Radical Joy onstage at the Drake in Amherst.
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
Choice headline from yesterday’s local paper
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
Still can't figure out why anyone cares what a drug-addled, union-busting, unelected, extremist-supporting loudmouth thinks about anything
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
Somebody check at tonight's show
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
I've got receipts!
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
The maga cockroaches one? Interesting. This is what it looks like on my end
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 13/09/2024
We were there for a long weekend in June after school let out in Madrid. It was great! Except for this:
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 26/12/2023
If you were visited by 3 ghosts on Christmas Eve, who would you want them to be?
Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy and Mike Heidorn, the original lineup of alt-country band Uncle Tupelo
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 05/12/2023
Found a great turn of phrase in an Industrial Union Bulletin from 1907 referring to the Rocky Mountain News as "a capitalist sheet, which was a tissue of lies ..."
Screenshot from the Industrial Union Bulletin of Dec. 14, 1907, referring to the Rocky Mountain News as "a capitalist sheet, which was a tissue of lies ..."
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 27/10/2023
Spotted a copy of @stevenhyden.bsky.social’s Radiohead book in the wild at Molar in Madrid
The cover of Steven Hyden’s book “This Isn’t Happening,” translated into Spanish as “Esto No Está Pasando: El Kid A de Radiohead”
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 08/07/2023
There’s never been a better time to chair the Taylor’s Version Studies department
AP News alert that’s of questionable news value and certainly not an alert
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 07/07/2023
Thread this
Load of sourdough bread with two slices overlapping
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 05/07/2023
I’d rather just have a few chips.
Newspaper headline has a typo that turned “snake” into “snack”
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 04/07/2023
Lol the good "doctor" went trawling for an invite code
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 04/07/2023
Reconnecting with my Twitter mutuals
The cover of Tom Waits' "Rain Dogs," which depicts him being embraced by a woman whose face is obscured
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Eric R. Danton @erdanton.bsky.social · 03/07/2023
Northampton being true to itself
“No parking” sign to which someone applied a sticker reading “talking to cops” under the word “No”
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