I want to share with you some of the responses I received to Jonathan Perry’s article in the Boston Globe on the Noise’s 30^th anniversary.

Hey T Max,

Great article in the Boston Globe. When I lived with you in 1982 (boy, were we the odd couple—me going to work in a suit and tie, dating women that tended to have or pursued graduate degrees and you getting up at noon and going out at night wearing sunglasses and bringing home women wearing black leather and purple hair) I witnessed your passion for the Boston rock scene, your passion for ensuring that the musicians and their fans receive not only the attention they deserve, but also the recognition they deserve for making Boston a better community to live, work, and play. More importantly, I also know the values that have guided that passion then and now—equality, justice, fairness, the critical importance of protecting freedom of expression and a belief that one person can indeed make a huge difference in this world. You are a top notch individual. Happy 30th anniversary. I was then a political activist working for progressive political candidates and now an Assistant United States Attorney working to achieve fairness and justice in each case I handle. Actually, we were not that different because our values were the same.

Christopher Alberto (Assistant U.S. Attorney)

From David Minehan
(the Neighborhoods/
Woolly Mammouth Studios):

Fantastic, Mr. T Maxwell. You know I’ve got only high praise and respect for the long distance runners; let’s not forget the wisdom that can be extracted from such longevity. Now it seems in many cases the very passion we experience in this music business can turn the best of us into jaded and bitter cynics, which is the cruelest irony. In your case T, I see a tempered man at the helm but one in which passion still steers the wheel. Incredibly I have seen you strapped to this mast for the last 30 years first hand and can’t believe it can add up to tri-decades just like that. Kudos and mega congrats—I’d like to celebrate it with you in the Noise, probably too late regarding deadline but let me know, maybe next month. Boo-yeah!

From Peter C. Johnson:

Happy anniversary! You’ve really democratized the music scene, and you’ve made a huge contribution to this wonderful music community. I’m working at Right Turn now, tending to the casualties!

From David Kirkdoffer (the Blank Attack/ UNDO):

Nice! People underestimate how Boston’s local music scene would be different if the Noise didn’t exist. Here’s to the next 30 years!

From Ayal Naor (27/ the Garment District):

Congrats on a great article, and especially on 30 years! Awesome! Never realized but the Noise is the same age as Dollar-a-Pound (now called By the Pound)... the Garment District was born five years later in ’86.

From James Ryan (Hoodoo Barbeque):

Congratulations! I saw (and read) the piece in Friday’s Globe. Nice work. 30 years is an estimable span! Quite some time ago another noted journalist, Horace Greeley, said, “Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings, those who cheer today will curse tomorrow; only one thing endures—character.” You, my friend, have character writ large. Hope you are well, and thanks for allowing me to sometimes put the “ugh” in laughter in your pages.

From Peter Rinning of QRSTs (an actual comment on the Globe’s boston.com…)

T Max has been INCREDIBLE in documenting the local scene for the past 30 years—NO ONE can do it like the Noise. Good, bad or ugly—T Max and the Noise are usually right on the money. With all the variety that the Boston music scene offers—you can get a feeling for it every month in the Noise. My company employs a lot of local musicians and we always look forward to the day when T Max brings over the new issue! Don’t forget the editorial section—some of the best reading in the Noise.

UPCOMING GIG

I’m very excited to perform my one-man folk-rock opera Why Do We Go to War? (with a new ending!). The show is at the Byfield Community Arts Center starting at 8:00 on the button. The night also includes a performance by Anna Dagmar from New York .