I was lying in the gutter the other day having first been kicked out of the local grocery for what they called attempting to set the lobsters free before embarking on a three day super bender of sorts that left me feeling like Bruce Banner after a Hulk comedown when I heard somebody walking by say "The Coffin Lids are ready" and damn if I didn't feel a twinge of something strange infecting my bones that felt worse than that time I decided to give that weird taco stand a chance and while it took some time to figure it out I eventually came to the conclusion that it was an emotion known as fear. The confusion that followed is difficult to relate, but after some events involving a public park, a crafts fair, some mimes that came to a bad end, several trips to my favorite package store, a midnight screening of Two Lane Blacktop, and something that involved tokens and 3D glasses when I finally realized that the coffin lids in question weren't for me, but were for everybody. Because The Coffin Lids are just a kickass rock and roll band from Boston and they've just released a new album, Round Midnight, on the mighty Bomp label.

Hell, I thought; I bet I have the album on my CD player right now. Once I managed to remember where I was flopping and once I managed to bum a ride there I discovered that Round Midnight was indeed on my player. It was even on repeat. If I'd had glass in my windows they would have been rattling because that little boombox I found was generating some sonic reverberations of the sort that Chuck Yeager would have liked. I'm talking boom daddy. Damien's drums are worthy of one named after a devil child. Coffin Jaye Toothake lends his mellifluous primal screams to the top of his bass. Skinny "Coffin" Mike sings lead and plays some damage guitar. I think he might have made a fine member of Sha Na Na. He would have been the one kicking people's heads in when they made fun of Fifties rock and roll.