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That Time Boston Punks Tree Played Rosie O’Donnell

adam12 November 10th, 2022
Photo by Scott Gries/ImageDirect

Another Thursday, another Throwback Thursday. This time? That time Boston punk band Tree played Rosie O’Donnell.

 

The Rosie O’Donnell Show was a bastion of culture and entertainment from 1996 through 2002. It’s where America came together on weekdays to discuss the issues of the day and capture the zeitgeist…nah, I’m just kidding. It was Rosie O’Donnell’s talk show. And it was just like any other daytime talk show of that era or of any era, really. Those shows are a dime a dozen. Until, that is, one of them is smart enough to feature an act that doesn’t quite fit the expectations of the daytime TV talk show viewing audience. Then they’re worth paying attention to.

 

The story goes like this. John McDaniel was the producer and composer on The Rosie O’Donnell Show. McDaniel is a pianist and his background is in theater. He also clearly has a wicked sense of humor. In the clip below, Rosie is having your standard, run-of-the-mill “what did you do over the weekend” banter with McDaniel. McDaniel shares that he did “a little cabaret” over the weekend and offers to share a clip of his performance. And does he ever.

 

Tree Played Rosie O’Donnell?

Boston hardcore band TREE on the Rosie Show from Rory Owen Delaney on Vimeo.

 

Yes, that’s McDaniel in full punk regalia joining Dave Tree and the rest of Tree on stage for a performance of their song “Stands Alone.” I have no earthly idea how or why this took place, but it certainly made for an unexpectedly entertaining bit on Rosie’s show. I’ll have to ask Dave about it. If you missed it, he recently resurrected Tree with a new lineup and is teasing new music, too. For an old Boston punk head like me, that’s music to my ears. Dive into Tree’s catalog on their Bandcamp page.

 

Boston's Best Dive Bars

Boston’s best dive bars, all laid out for us in a handy, interactive map. This might be the best thing since bottled beer.

 

I have to give credit where credit is due: this first came across my feed courtesy of this piece from Axios. As writers Mike Deehan and Steph Solis so eloquently put it: “Boston is a drinking city, and it’s also an expensive one. That’s why the humble dive bar has been a venerable institution for generations, helping out folks without enough money for the good stuff or with too much sense to overpay for it.”

 

Deehan and Solis also astutely observed the decline of the beloved dive bar in Boston. If you’re west of Dot Ave. in Roxbury, you won’t find one. And if you’re in the Seaport outside of Fort Point or in Mission Hill, you’re in a bit of a dive bar desert. And don’t even get me started on the Back Bay, which has seen so many dive bars fall to the villain that is gentrification over the last decade-plus. My stars, do I miss T.C.’s Lounge on Haviland St. Only savvy Northeastern and Berklee kids and neighborhood regulars knew about the cozy little dive with the sign flush on the side of the building. So many memories of that beloved bar, which was shuttered after a fire back in 2012.

 

Boston’s Best Dive Bars

So let’s raise a glass to Nick Roy, who drew up the Best Boston Dive Bars map. Blue icons show the dive closest to you. Green icons mark joints with cheap, greasy food and sometimes cheap beer. You can even track the bars you’ve visited if you so choose. So start exploring, then scroll through my twelve (of course) favorite Boston dive bars that made Nick’s map. Cheers. And RIP T.C’s Lounge.

 

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