More than you really want to know about Natick, Mass.
In Natick’s biggest wrestling news since the high school team won the state championship last year, pro wrestling is about to hit town.
Lucky Pro Wrestling will be bringing its crew to AMVETS POST 79 in Natick on Superior Drive on Saturday, April 30 at 7:30pm (doors open an hour earlier). $15 tickets can be purchased in advance online or at the door, with discounts on packages of four.
Let the mayhem begin…
Our original angle on visiting Boston’s newest live music hot spot, Roadrunner music club, was that the venue is named after the classic 1970s rock n’ roll song put out by the band The Modern Lovers. Not seeing the Natick connection? Here’s the lowdown: the classic tune, an ode to Route 128, was written by Natick native Jonathan Richman.
That’s all the encouragement we need to chase down a story. Besides, we wanted to check out the place, which opened in mid-March. So off we went to pay our inaugural visit on Tuesday, April 5, to catch LCD Soundsystem on their third of four nights at the concert hall. (Coincidentally, they played a song called “Losing My Edge” that includes the line: “All the Modern Lovers tracks”).
Roadrunner is located on Guest Street, about a half hour drive at 6pm on a Tuesday night from South Natick. We would have taken the commuter rail to Boston Landing, which practically sits at the venue’s front door, but as usual the MBTA schedule is pretty useless for events that end a few hours after sundown—you get stuck either leaving your event early or investing in a pricey ride service trip. We scored sweet on-street parking, and there are a handful of nearby garages, too. If you haven’t been over to this area of late, it’s been transformed, featuring the gleaming New Balance and Warrior Ice Area buildings that you can’t miss when traveling the Mass Pike. Roadrunner is smack in the middle of all that, along with the Rail Stop Restaurant, where we began our evening.
But first, the venue.
You barely can tell it’s there from where we entered on Guest Street other than the “R” logos and the line of incoming patrons. We arrived early (more on that later) and cruised right in after showing IDs and getting our bracelets to prove we’re part of the over 21 crowd. After passing through security, we entered the venue. Our vax cards weren’t checked, and most inside were maskless.
The place is huge, as you might have heard. Operated by the same Bowery business that runs The Sinclair in Cambridge, Roadrunner has a similar feel in that it’s all about the music. Well, and the bars. There are three long bars on the first floor and more on the second floor, including one where you can essentially escape any view of the stage other than what you’d see on a closed-circuit TV screen.
Roadrunner holds 3,500 patrons, and about that many were there. The floor level was pretty packed, though you could air out a bit near the back and edges, or head up the second level, where we situated ourselves. There are a few rows of relatively uncomfortable seating (think concrete) up there for those who prefer not to stand the whole time, plus standing room along railings. One standing room section is off-limits to those who don’t upgrade above general admission. It didn’t look like those who paid for the privilege got all that much extra for their money, beyond hovering bouncers tasked with keeping the riff raff out of that special space. The view from just one row above is good though, especially straight on. As proud members of the riff raff, that’s where we staked out our spot.
While the venue is largely made of hard surfaces, the acoustics were clear. It felt very much like we were in a surround-sound theatre, and it was pretty hard to converse in between songs or during the DJ set ahead of the main act.
LCD Soundsystem, which has stuck close to home in New York during the pandemic, only recently started to branch out and play elsewhere, including the four shows here and before that, four in Philly. The band, often described as dance-punk, has been around for about 20 years. The outfit, led by vocalist James Murphy, consisted of eight players on stage, featuring a mess of instruments from bass and electric guitars to keyboards, synths, and drums, including bongos. Everyone seemed to get a piece of the drum kit at some point during the show, and drummer Pat Mahoney held court at the front right of the stage. The band played a strong 18-song set, with material from across its collection, including crowd favorites “Daft Punk is Playing at My House,” “Tribulations,” and “Dance Yrself Clean.” Explosions of light ranging from golds to reds to blues at times accentuated the music and at other times were too much.
The one downside of Roadrunner, like with so many music venues just looking to get you on premises so you’ll buy drinks and merchandise, is that it wasn’t clear when the main act would start to play. I’ve been to enough shows locally to realize these things are never exact, but the tickets said the show started at 8pm, and no opening act was listed (I usually figure the main act goes on around 9 if there’s an opener). It turned out a DJ played tunes for almost 90 minutes. I definitely should have worked social media harder to get clues about when the real show would start, especially since LCD Soundsystem had already played two shows there.
Despite this inconvenience, we’ll be back, as their line-up includes more bands and performers we look forward to seeing live.
We enjoyed a pre-concert meal at Rail Stop Restaurant, just steps from the venue. Like Roadrunner, it’s big and airy.
We ate in the main dining area, which was quiet at first, but filled up as we dined. On our way out, we could see that the spacious bar area looked to be the buzzier place to hang before or after a show.
I started with clam chowder ($9), which had a smoked bacon flair. It was flavorful, included a good amount of clams, and thankfully, didn’t include a heavy onion taste (my make-or-break issue on clam chowder).
For entries, I went with a grilled chicken sandwich (minus the buttermilk ranch dressing). More smoked bacon, so I got my fill for the month there. The sandwich was served on a toasted brioche roll done just right. It came with a choice of sides, and I went with a salad served in a generous portion, with a variety of crisp lettuce.
My wife ordered the Apple Walnut Salad, tossed with spinach, butternut squash, cranberries, gorgonzola, and topped with a slightly acidic apple vinaigrette. The meal checked that night’s required boxes of healthy, fresh, and—with the addition of grilled shrimp—filling. The kitchen made sure that no wilted spinach leaves sneaked past the line, and that the Granny Smith apples were crisp and flavorful. She left not a bite behind, always a good sign.
Our plans to see one of those indie bands I like, Car Seat Headrest, perform at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Mass., began more than 2 years ago. I snapped up 2 tickets in January of 2020 in advance of the band’s new album dropping and plotted to rope Deborah into going outside her musical comfort zone to join me at the concert. We’d turn it into a weekend otherwise filled with dining, art, and hiking.
But the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the April 2020 show to September 2020, and after that got nixed, I kind of figured that was that. But I was surprised to see the show was back on for this March 25, so arranged for an Airbnb and loosely scheduled some art museum visits and hiking.
From there we headed to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA). The vast, 25K square-foot building on the Hoosic River was built in the 1860s and served for decades as Arnold Print Works factory. With the decline of manufacturing, in the 1940s the Sprague Electric Company took over the site. But it wasn’t until 1999 that MassMoCA became the place for large-scale art installations as well as a great spot to attend a concert and party like it’s, well, 1999.
Masks were required at the spacious, indoor venue, and proof of vaccination needed to be shown. The sound in the venue was crisp, starting with opener Bartees Strange, and a well-synced light show propelled Car Seat Headrest through its set, with every few songs eliciting crowd singalongs, fist pumps, or cellphone flashlights. Lead singer Will Toledo sported a gas mask with animal ears and lit-up eyes throughout the show (we wished he’d ditched the headwear partway through), but his voice still sounded clear. I enjoyed the show, as did my wife, though her favorite song was actually when compelling guitarist Ethan Ives rocked on with a tune that comes from a side project of his. Somehow rock n’ roll stardust follows Deborah wherever she goes.
While our legs got a workout at the sold-out, standing-only show, we forced them back into action Saturday morning for a hike on Mt. Greylock. We originally planned to summit the highest peak in Massachusetts, starting from the trailhead on Hopper Road in Williamstown, but decided instead to take the Money Brook Trail and hiked along the fast-moving water. With the trees not yet in leaf, we had water views the entire way. We never made it to the top of the falls, as we found one part impassable (or at least 1 of us did…), but still enjoyed roughly 2 hours of moderately up and down hiking. As we learned later, there are other routes to the falls that might get you there more easily.
During the afternoon we returned to Mass MoCA ($20 per adult), this time to see the art. We devoted 2 hours to exploring the museum, but you could easily take more. Among the grabbiest installations we saw were Marc Swanson’s spooky Memorial to Ice at the Dead Dear Disco, Glenn Kaino’s walk-through In the Light of a Shadow, and Jenny Holzer’s endlessly readable Truisms (we’ve seen her stuff at Wellesley College’s Davis Museum, too).
For dinner, on the recommendation of friends who used to live in neighboring Williamstown, we hit the lively Trail House Kitchen & Bar, owned by a local resident and packed with a fun-loving crowd. My wife tried out the small caesar salad topped with salmon. The salad was small, as advertised, and the salmon plopped on top dwarfed the greens. She pronounced the meal visually unbalanced but tasty. The leftover salmon, plus leftover stuffed mushrooms made for a good dinner the next night as well.
Our final day included a short trek past lovely Williams College to the Clark Art Institute ($20 per adult). Like Mass MoCA, this is a spacious museum, though the art selection couldn’t be more different. The Clark features impressive collections of American and European paintings from Renoir, Cassatt, Inness, and others. It’s been on our list of places to go for a long time, and it was excellent.
A special exhibit on Artists Witnessing War included fascinating Civil War illustrations from Winslow Homer, who was embedded with the military as an artist (the museum is free to veterans and active military members through May, by the way). We spent about 90 minutes at the Clark and easily took in everything, though we had to hit the road, so didn’t take advantage of the scenic hiking trails surrounding the museum that could stretch an outing there through much of a day.
On the way home, GPS routed us briefly through New York, and then we hit the Pike only to be treated to what we hope will be the last hail of the season. A great way to kiss winter goodbye and say hello to what we hope will be a spring full of new adventures.
Beyond Natick—Worcester Art Museum is a nearby gem
Beyond Natick—a 2-mile walk around Weston Reservoir
Beyond Natick—visiting Block Island
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We’re less than a month away from the opening of Boston’s new Roadrunner music club, a venue that gets its name from the 1972 song of that name written by Natick native Jonathan Richman and performed by his band The Modern Lovers.
We reached out to Richman’s label to find out what he thinks of having a club named after the song, but as it says on the label’s website, “Jonathan Richman chooses not to participate in online culture, and does not have any direct communication with Blue Arrow Records website, facebook, instagram, or twitter…” So we’re not holding our breath waiting for a response from the label.
Neither have we heard back from The Bowery Presents, which will operate the 3,500-person club in addition to my favorite, The Sinclair in Cambridge. Roadrunner kicks off its schedule on March 15 with a sold-out show by Billy Strings, and future shows feature the likes of Big Thief, Cousin Stizz, and Mitski.
We wondered if Bowery got Richman’s OK to name the club after his song, and whether it might be trying to line him up for a performance. Richman had planned to tour early this year, including locally, but the shows have been canceled. (He has played in the past at TCAN).
Bowery’s canned quote about Roadrunner song: “Inspired by the iconic song by The Modern Lovers, the name of the venue evokes a musical love letter to Massachusetts, while also nodding to the track located adjacent to the room and the high-energy world of live music.”
The venue is located at 89 Guest St., right near the Boston Landing commuter rail station along the Mass Pike. But as is so often the case with the commuter rail, it could be largely useless if you want to stay until the end of shows that start at 8pm if you account for opening acts putting the main acts on around 9pm. It’s about a 30-minute drive.
Natick State Rep. David Linsky in 2017 co-sponsored a bill aimed at making Roadrunner the “official rock song of the Commonwealth.” Eventual Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, then a state rep, tried something similar a few years before that.
In the end, maybe having a club named after the song along the Pike is just right.
The weather has cooled off, but Ocean Edge Resort & Golf Club on Cape Cod in Brewster extends a warm welcome to guests with a line-up of winter events and experiences available at the year-round resort. With its mid-Cape location (and just a sub two-hour drive from Natick), the 429-acre, 337-room resort is well-positioned for exploring Barnstable County.
We were invited to visit the resort as part of a press tour to see what the area has to offer now and through the rest of the season. Our room and meals were paid for by Ocean Edge. What we found was plenty to keep us occupied during our two-night stay—two indoor, 86-degree heated pools, each with an adjacent (even warmer) whirlpool, were available to guests; four restaurant options; and plenty of experiences were on tap. Ocean Edge recently has created a Director of Fun position, and when I tell you that Brandon brings on the energy, believe it. “I used to be a cruise ship director for 11 years,” he told us. “So I really learned there how to keep activities going. Plus I love seeing everyone having a great time, and I can’t sit still until they do. Even then, I can’t sit still.”
Coincidentally, the first person we met in taking part in an Ocean Edge activity during the trip was…a Natick resident.
