Alvin and his crackerjack three-piece, the Guilty Ones, had just crafted a set of his darker songs — among them, “Harlan County Line,” “Out of Control” and “Johnny Ace is Dead” — when Phil emerged from the wings to answer the call, bringing the already-stoked, packed City Winery crowd to its feet.

Phil — who’s had a few health scares in recent years — sounded strong as the brothers slid into a Blasters favorite:

Dave and the Guilty Ones are on a brief Northeast tour. The gigs were already booked when he and Phil were selected for a musical written by Stephen King and John Mellencamp – the CD of which was released this past week — called “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County.”

Produced by T-Bone Burnett, it features Taj Mahal, Kris Kristofferson, Neko Case, Roseanne Cash and Elvis Costello, among others, giving voice to the story of two brothers driven by jealousy.

And in the title roles …

“I got a phone call from John Mellancamp,” Dave told the crowd last night. “He said, ‘You wanna be in this musical play? You get to kill your brother and Sheryl Crow is your girlfriend.’

“Sorry, Phil.”

Big brother flashed a genuine smile, after which Dave (aka Jack) said: “We have ghost-like qualities.”

“Yeah, well I’ve had some recently,” a trim and ready Phil (Andy) replied, laughing.

“”Our names may be Alvin, but we are not on the A-list. So we just got the record,” said Dave, not having rehearsed any of the five Mellencamp tunes he and Phil are on. “So we’ll pretend this next song is from the ‘Ghost Brothers…’ CD.”

They then lit into “One Bad Stud,” by 1950s crossover songwriters Jerry Lieber & Mike Stoller — and featured in the 1984 film, “Streets of Fire.”

“Maxwell’s was a one-of-a-kind venue when it first started,” Barone said. “With its all-embracing loving arms it nurtured bands and customers alike in a unique, non-aggressive, yet totally energized rockin’ kind of way, which simply defied description or duplication.

“Unlike other bars, there were no neon beer advertisements on the walls (Springsteen had to bring them in for the “Glory Days” video),” he told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “Instead, it was an open, blank-canvas, artistic space that invited everyone to have a good time. It allowed and encouraged everyone to be themselves – musically and socially.”

“We were offered a renewal with rates that weren’t necessarily onerous,” Todd Abramson, the club’s booking agent and co-owner, told nj.com. “But after much thought, given the changing nature of Hoboken and the difficulties of trying to run a business in this town, we decided it was time.”

REM guitarist Peter Buck once bought an interest to help keep new music alive. Another alternative giant, Bob Mould, later bought out Buck’s share at the landmark on the corner of Washington and 11th streets.

Liz Phair at Maxwell’s, Nov. 2010 (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photo)

This time, there’ll be no encore, says Abramson, who instituted several changes after taking over bookings in 1986 — including having different acts play as many as three separate-admission shows in a night to draw the largest possible crowd.

Instead, there will be the star-studded sendoff, and a flood of memories for countless fans.

There was one of New Order’s first American gigs after the death of lead singer Ian Curtis prompted the band — formerly known as Joy Division — to reinvent itself.

There were the Feelies reunion gigs, after 17 years, each July from 2008-2010.

And there was the Replacements’ surprise 1990 show: For 5 bucks (if you were lucky), you got to hear Paul Westerberg and company — including brand-new drummer Steve Foley, who’d replaced Chris Mars — drunkenly barrel their way through covers, including a powerful version of the Hoodoo Gurus’ “What’s My Scene?”

Here’s a clip of Richard Barone playing a Bongos’ tune at Maxwell’s (Nov. 2010):

Maxwell’s was once the local watering hole for another former Hoboken landmark, the old Maxwell House Coffee plant. Standing outside, you could smell the aroma a block east along the Hudson.

Getting in on the ground floor of what was to become a gentrification boom in the Mile Square City, sisters Kathryn Jackson Fallon and Anne Fallon Mazzolla, along with brother-in-law Mario Mazzola, bought the building and converted it into a restaurant.

Preceding Amanda’s, Maxwell’s had what many considered Hoboken’s best Sunday brunch — at a time when it hadn’t yet become trendy in Jersey.

Then, in August 1978, brother Steve opened what would be a must-stop for the seminal musicians of a sprawling alternative scene that ranged anywhere from New Wave to punk to ska to grunge, among a host of progressive styles.

The Replacements at Maxwell’s

Old-timers remember that the music began in the restaurant area, where the Hoboken band “a” (featuring Barone, Morrow, Frank Giannin and Rob Norris) got their start. Morrow went on to create the Individuals (above, bottom left), a Maxwell’s favorite, while Barone and his bandmates transformed into the Bongos (above, top left), arguably Hoboken’s most famous group — not counting Yo La Tengo or Sonic Youth.

No one cared that the joint was dark and barely held 200 people if you scrunched in tight. It could get hot in there in the summer, even with the AC cranked. Most of the musicians, rather than leave the postage-stamp-sized stage and wade through the crowd to get out, simply announced that a regular set had ended and an encore was about to begin.

“The legend is bigger than the room,” Fallon once said.

Maxwell’s was a favorite of REM’s (above, bottom right). Besides playing there in the band’s early days, the group often stopped by after shows at larger venues such as the Capitol Theater in Passaic, what once was the Felt Forum at Madison Square Garden, Radio City — and MSG itself.

Maxwell’s often brought out the best, and quirkiest, in its performers.

One night, singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock asked the audience to write its requests on napkins — a stack of which was snatched from the backroom bar. Folks passed them forward, and Hitchcock dropped them around the stage.

One at a time, he picked them up, playing most of the songs that were requested as he went.

Another night, Glenn Tilbrook (formerly of Squeeze) strummed the opening chords of “Tempted,” the band’s biggest hit, and the packed house began singing along — the first verse, the chorus, the next verse, and so on.

Tilbook continued to strum, then hopped into the crowd and kept playing while everyone else sang his song.

During another show, he brought the audience out onto 11th Street.

North Haledon’s the Feelies were always a big draw, as were gigs by the dBs and week-long winter holiday residencies by YLT.

A listing of the acts that played there is staggering (see below — and then further below that). Anyone who was anyone on the alternative circuit played there, as well as at, among others, the Dirt Club in Bloomfield, Hitsville in Passaic Park (with a black-and-white motif that led Barone to dub it “The Zebra Club”), the Meadowbrook in Cedar Grove and a string of Manhattan clubs.

For starters, try:

Nirvana
The Pogues
X
Social Distortion
Jonathan Richman
The Continental Drifters (w/Peter Holsapple and Susan Cowsill — above, top right)
Richard Thompson
Graham Parker (solo & with the Figgs)
The Psychedelic Furs
Joe Jackson
David Byrne
Joan Jett
Husker Du
The Mekons
10,000 Maniacs
John Cale
Hole
Rufus AND Martha Wainwright
Liz Phair
Human Switchboard
Martin Sexton
Jeff Buckley
Dave Edmunds
Killing Joke
The Smashing Pumpkins
Afghan Whigs
Soundgarden
The Blasters
Los Lobos
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Buzzcocks
The Fall

EDITOR’S NOTE: If an act you saw at Maxwell’s isn’t listed here or below, drop us a line (photos, videos & remembrances welcomed): CLIFFVIEW PILOT News Tip Line

The “Hoboken Sound” spread from Maxwell’s, as Morrow and Barone formed Bar None Records and Steve Fallon opened Pier Platters, which sold tickets to Maxwell’s shows along with hard-to-get imports, becoming a prime destination on its own.

A short-lived “brew pub” experiment in 1995 is best forgotten, many agree. Abramson, Sonic Youth Steve Shelley and Dave Post of the Amazing Incredibles and Swingadelic bought Maxwell’s back in 1998 and revived the vibe.

The club also caught some mainstream cred when most of the “Glory Days” was shot there in 1985 — including a walk-on role by one of the regular barmaids — by critically acclaimed Hoboken director John Sayles.

But that mattered little — as did a Rolling Stone designation of third-best music club in the U.S. — to the loyalists.

“The end of an era, yes, but everything changes,” Barone told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “Maybe it is now that Maxwell’s — especially as it was in its pure and music-driven beginnings all those years ago — might be most fully appreciated.”

Rare Bongos publicity photo (COURTESY: Richard Barone)

Among some of the other acts who played Maxwell’s:

Rank & File, The Raybeats, Firehose,the Meat Puppets, Fugazi, Archers of Loaf, The Cynics, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Juliana Theory, Mudhoney, Fire in Cairo, Tad, the Melvins, Mod Fun, Mystic Eyes, N, G Love and Special Sauce, Blue Öyster Cult, The Minutemen, The Mess Around, Katrina & the Waves, Flipper, Rain Parade, Wire, Pylon, Los Campesinos!, Schoolly D, Crime and the City Solution, Kevin Ayers, Snakefinger, Living Colour, The Slits, U.S. Chaos, Dick Dale, Royal Crescent Mob, The Stations, The Strokes, Matt Nathanson, John Doe, Mary Lou Lord, Electric Six, The Ataris, the Cyclones, The Individuals, Urban Allies, Gut Bank, The Dirtbombs, Lemuria, Crooked Fingers, Stars, and Longing for Liberace, Timbuk 3, Kevin Salem, The Swimming Pool Qs, Gigolo Aunts, Poi Dog Pondering, Amy Rigby, Pavement, Soul Asylum, the Cucumbers, Sleepy La Beef, Everclear, Dave Alvin, Rollins Band, Shawn Colvin, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Wreckless Eric …

… and Vic Chesnutt.

“Over the last few years, we’ve been lucky enough to meet, and sometimes perform with, some incredible musicians, like Steven Wilson, John Wetton, Leslie West and Adam Holzman,” Sean Sproviero (above, left) told CLIFFVIEW PILOT, “and now it’s Randy, Felix and Guy from Zebra.”

Some would say the luck of the Hasbrouck Heights twins is exactly what happens when you work as hard as they have and are committed to the music instead of trying to be rock stars.

The last time they played bergenPAC, while attending School of Rock, legendary singer/guitarist Leslie West had to nudge each of the boys forward during a jam on “Mississippi Queen.”

Although the full band played the 2011 Bamboozle festival at MetLife Stadium, Friday’s gig will most likely be before Doomsday Diaries’ largest audience ever. It helps that Zebra – a Long Island power trio popular around here in the days of White Tiger, Twisted Sister and the Good Rats — is headlining its first New Jersey venue in eight years.

It also comes at an extremely positive turn in the band’s history: Handling lead vocals will be Ella Hester, a multi-instrumentalist from New York City’s School of Rock who replaces the departed Jessica Kenny — with a singing range and musical know-how that is both broader and much deeper.

The twins were clearly amped as they launched into their final warmup for the bergenPAC show in their home studio last night, still thrilled by the response from a weekend gig at Mexicali Live in Teaneck – Ella’s first with the group.

Hear for yourself:

“I couldn’t be more excited by the new music that Sean and I have been writing together,” said Jay Sproviero.

The brothers, also known as J Von Doom and The Evil Twin, have lately been referring to themselves as the “precocious grandchildren of the Seventies.”

“I can’t and don’t want to label it as any particular genre,” Jay told CLIFFVIEW PILOT, “but it really isn’t metal, and it’s definitely not pop/punk or anything like that. I just want to take our music someplace other current bands aren’t going, while at the same time stay true to my progressive rock roots.”

Both boys are so true to their convictions that they’re postponing the original June 21 release of their first full-length CD so that they can re-record it with Ella.

An even better Doomsday dawns, given that the twins haven’t yet had time yet to integrate Ella’s other talents on bass, cello, guitar and keyboards. She’s clearly a great fit for their atmospheric brand of trippy yet tight “progidelic.”

Inspired by Radiohead, Porcupine Tree and others, the Sproviero twins created Doomsday Diaries 4 years ago. Jason plays guitar, Sean bass, and both sing. Although they’re in their late teens, the guys’ musical sensibilities stretch back nearly a half-century. Sweeping current music with a broad brush, they aim to smash the idea that musical originality no longer exists.

And y’know what? It’s working.

“I’m not sure if it’s the music that we’re writing, or because we, as twins, leave an impression on people,” Sean said, “but it just seems that doors keep opening up for us. We’ve certainly been blessed – someone up there is definitely watching over us.”

WHO: Doomsday Diaries (opening for Zebra)

WHERE: Bergen Performing Arts Center, 30 N. Van Brunt St., Englewood
(201) 227-1030 or bergenpac.org

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday

HOW MUCH: $29 to $99

“After last year’s Mumford & Sons concert on Pier A, we received countless requests from our community for more similar events,” Zimmer said in a statement. “We’re excited to bring world-renowned talent to Hoboken to provide great entertainment options for our community in our own back yard and to support our local businesses.”

Tickets go on sale Wednesday morning.

Additional details will be announced shortly, Zimmer said earlier today.

Dylan’s AmericanaramA tour is so far scheduled for 26 shows, including at Jones Beach.

Several acts will rotate in on the undercard, including Ryan Bingham and the Richard Thompson Electric Trio.

The local gigs are being organized by Bowery Presents.

(NOTES: My Morning Jacket misses the July 27 Jones Beach show while Jim James performs at the Newport Folk Festival; Thompson & his group aren’t playing either Jones Beach or Pier A.)

Sexton could just as well have mentioned plenty of versatility, color and raw talent — which combined made for yet another set of joyous, rollicking, sold-out shows at the Varick Street venue this Easter weekend.

Martin Sexton, City Winery, 3/30/2013 (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photo)

There’s his beat-box guitar playing, sometimes with both hands plucking at either end of the fretboard, sometimes with neither as he bongos a rhythm.

Then there’s his occasional DADGAD guitar tuning, which produces a bassy sound more commonly found in Celtic music and long a favorite of Jimmy Page, Richard Thompson, David Gilmour, Trey Anastasio and Jeff Tweedy, among others.

And there are those pipes.

After 25 years of performing — and what are now 150+ shows a year — Sexton’s voice still soars, dips and dives through wide and varied shadings.

He can sustain a note longer than most humans, he can scat like Louis or Ella, and he can mimic actual instruments — which on fan-favorite “13-Step Boogie” is a muted cornet.

The tenth of 12 kids, Sexton once had a corporate job but chucked it, then moved from Syracuse to Boston, where he began busking at train stations and playing small clubs.

“The bars were tough,” he said during the late half of a Saturday night double-header at City Winery. “I’d be onstage playing and someone would yell, ‘Touchdown!’ ”

What has set Sexton apart is his gentle unpretentiousness. You can’t fake real, as they say.

Martin Sexton, City Winery, 3/30/2013 (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photo)

Singing from the heart made it easy for him to segue sweetly between songs Saturday night, layering his own originals with snippets from “The End” (the Doors), “I’ve Got a Feeling” (the Beatles) and “Goodbye To Romance” (Ozzy), among others, while laying down a warm version of “With a Little Help From My Friends,” a steamy “Since I’ve Been Loving You” (Led Zep) and the familiar sing-along to Prince’s plaintive “Purple Rain.”

As always, Sexton reworked a few tunes, turbo-charging the already-fleet “Diner” and flipping the poppy “Angeline” and peppy “Things You Do to Me” into bluesier numbers. “The Beast in Me,” set to a hip-hop beat, was nearly unrecognizable at first — a real treat.

Sexton poured himself into “Freedom of The Road” — one of his finest pieces — which tells of a performer looking down a barren stretch that is the rest of his life and knowing, based on a lifetime of bad choices, that his vows to make things better won’t ever happen.

It being Easter eve, Sexton couldn’t help but lift the entire room off the floor with the cutting, sober-eyed “Hallelujah.”

Martin Sexton, City Winery, 3/30/2013 (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photo)

He also brought longtime fans back to the beginning, opening with “In the Journey,” one of his very first recordings (on 8-track, no less) and including a rare performance of another “oldie,” the exquisite “Over My Head.”

For the encore, he reminded everyone that he’s more than a one-man band, digging deeply into Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.”

Martin Sexton may be one of the greatest rock stars who never was. But he’s built — and kept — a deep, strong, consistently loyal following that fills clubs, concert halls and festivals throughout the country.

There’s clearly plenty more to go, but at the quarter-century mark, Sexton is producing is the kind of career enjoyed by only the truest artists — and the most fortunate audiences.

It was a heart-twisting interlude amid a set full of the kind of jukebox-shakin’, rump-rollin’ rock and blues that few party bands rarely approach.

In fact, you wouldn’t have known it was Monday night — not the way the full house roared and stomped and danced the night away.

Raul Malo, Rodney Crowell, Bowery Ballroom (ALL PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT. No re-use without hyperlink)

The Mavs planned to open with “Fool #1,” but a stagehand replaced the band members’ setlist copies just before they emerged and launched into “Back in Your Arms Again” – a sweet opener for their first NYC gig in a decade.

They’re a nine-piece for this round, big as the E Street Band, and complete with the multi-talented Michael Guerra (lead singer Raul Malo’s personal accompanist) on accordion, a two-piece horn section, co-founding rhythm unit Robert Reynolds (bass) and Paul Deakin (drums), as well as a man of both flash AND substance, Ed “Mr. Eddie” Perez, playing the smoothest lead guitar — and sporting a scarf, a pocket hankie and a pair of sparkling loafers.

Malo has spent the better part of the past 10 years doing solo gigs, usually with Guerra. And while the Christmas shows and snuggly date nights are always a delight — filled with popular music standards and catcalled requests – the Cuban-born crooner becomes larger than life with as tight and hot a troupe as there’s been in our time.

You’d never have suspected that the split was particularly bitter for him.

Ed “Mr. Eddie” Perez, Bowery Ballroom (ALL PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT. No re-use without hyperlink)

But here they are again – crisp and generous and reliable as ever.

Last night’s visit coincides with today’s release of the multicultural ensemble’s reunion CD, “In Time,” which comes complete with a ready-made, vintage-style hit, “Born to Be Blue.”

There’s a CD release party with the band tonight at City Winery, which Malo said will include a performance that will begin and end when they feel like it. He couldn’t guarantee the quality, he said, given that he plans to already be half in the bag an hour before the show’s scheduled 11 p.m. start.

They may not have achieved the commercial success of several lesser country acts – then again, the Mavericks stopped being a country band about the time Raul began growing his beard.

Raul Malo, Bowery Ballroom (ALL PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT. No re-use without hyperlink)

Nor have they been hailed anywhere as the second coming of Los Lobos – which is good, because there’s a lot more than Tejano and Tex-Mex to their sound.

Still, the Mavs have snatched up several Grammys for albums that have gone platinum, and put more than a dozen singles on the country charts.

What would be nice, they must think, is for those who might have missed them the first time around, or those just catching a listen, to join the faithful among us who’ve been waiting for that Bat signal to flash once more.

In case there was any doubt, the Mavericks were tight as a snare from the jump last night. They clearly still enjoy one another, the rowdy crowds – and the music itself.

There were plenty of favorites (“There Goes My Heart,” “Dance the Night Away,” etc.), along with the new material, which together produced more show-stoppers than an Andrew Lloyd Webber production. “Come Unto Me” gave Perez a chance to hug the top strings, spaghetti-western style, while “What a Crying Shame” offered Malo a Roy Orbison-like moment of transcendence above the group dynamic.

The Mavericks, Bowery Ballroom (ALL PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT. No re-use without hyperlink)

Yet the one that nearly blew everyone out onto Kenmare Street was “As Long As There’s Lovin’ Tonight.” Each instrumentalist took a turn, the intensity rising along with the volume – if only to be heard over the screams of the crowd.

And speaking of instruments: Quibble if you will, but for some (me included), Malo has the finest pipes in popular music since Orbison.

Still, he’s an entertainer as well as a tenor: He’s has always been funny, in a very cynical but endearing way, but Malo’s an even bigger kick with a guitar on his back, or maracas in his hands — or both — as he shimmies and shakes in time, or trades licks with Mr. Eddie.

Having Crowell come on was special for the one-time music-store clerk Malo, as well as for Reynolds and Deakin, who knew the singer-songwriter’s singer songwriter when they formed the Mavericks in Miami in 1989.

To have a living legend who stands somewhere between Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and Emmy Lou Harris show up was just as special for some of us, as well (As fate would have it, Crowell and Harris are releasing their own album today, too, titled “Old Yellow Moon”).

The Mavericks have always had a sense of musical history, and they treat it reverently. It was tough to tell who was enjoying Crowell’s duet with Malo the most – Crowell, the audience or the Mavericks themselves.

For those who missed them this time, they’ll be back:

Raul Malo, Rodney Crowell, The Mavericks, Bowery Ballroom (ALL PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT. No re-use without hyperlink)

April 13: Tarrytown (NY) Music Hall
April 19: House of Blues, Atlantic City
April 20: Turning Stone, Verona (NJ)

(Pssst: They’re also playing JazzFest on May 3.)

Another leg of the tour is expected later in the year.

Nemo was bearing down on New Jersey, but you wouldn’t have known it from the size of the audience pressed into Trumpets in Montclair for what became a blast of a different kind.

The Peter Furlan Project headlined, led by the amazing saxophonist from Clarkstown, who is also an adjunct music professor at Bergen Community College and the jazz ensemble director and ProTools instructor for Bergen Catholic.

Author: Lynn Paret

After his sextet’s set, the young men in black took their turn, opening with “Funk-O-Matic, “Boogie Stop Shuffle” (a standout) and “In A Sentimental Mood,” featuring senior Ryan Romanos on tenor sax.

You could tell they were being deliberate out of the box, but it took only a couple of selections before the boys let go. The thrill of gigging was clear.

So was their grasp of jazz’s various stylings.

The ensemble slid easily from one to the next, tapping arrangements made popular by Ellington, Mingus, Miles, and Coltrane.

They also got a boost from various pros – such as trumpeter Vinnie Cutro – who took turns sitting in.

“Europa” was a treat, with Luke Barnard on guitar, along with “Ladybird” and “Blue Train,” featuring Munyuong Kim on trumpet. The set closer was “Red Clay,” led by the enthusiastic – and talented – pianist Joe Canlas.

Chris Brendel stood out on clarinet – then again, it isn’t really fair to mention only some of the musicians when they all brought such distinctive ingredients to the bitchin’ brew.

Peter Furlan, Trumpets (Montclair) STORY / PHOTOS: Lynn Paret

Furlan has been with the ensemble for 16 years after starting out with a few boys. With the support of the Bergen Catholic administration, the program has flourished.

Believing they benefit from playing out, Furlan has taken his young charges to Jazz at Lincoln Center and BergenPAC performances.

Then there are the half-dozen or so club dates.

“It’s great for the kids to get this kind of experience,” he told CLIFFVIEW PILOT during Thursday night’s show.

“Trumpets is a place where they get to come out and gig with professionals and get to see a professional band play at the same time,” he said.

Fulan laughed, recalling playing near the counter at a local McDonalds when  he was a kid “while people were buying their Big Macs.”

He said he wants to make sure young musicians have more opportunities than he did.

The Bergen Catholic Jazz Ensemble is:

Francisco Andrade (sophomore): Piano
Luke Barnard (sophomore): Guitar
Chris Brendel (senior): Clarinet
Joe Canlas (senior): Piano
Sean Fernandez (junior): Piano
Anthony Finocchiaro (freshman): Piano
Alec Garino (freshman): Tenor sax
Lance Gibson (junior): Alto sax
Sebastian Gracia (sophomore): Baritone sax
Amechi Iloabanafor (senior): Alto sax
Anayo Iloabanafor (junior): Alto sax
Munyoung Kim (junior): Trumpet
Steven Kim (sophomore): Drums
Jack Meloro (freshman): Trumpet
Adam Radowski (sophomore): Piano
Ryan Romanos (senior): Tenor sax
NIck Ruso (junior): Trumpet
Patrick Ryan (sophomore): Tenor sax
John Vaccaro (sophomore): Piano
Peter Yoon (freshman): Tenor sax

Bergen Catholic Jazz Ensemble, Trumpets (Montclair) STORY / PHOTOS: Lynn Paret

MORE:

Peter Furlan: http://www.peterfurlan.com/peterfurlan/Welcome.html
Bergen Catholic Jazz Ensemble: https://www.bergencatholic.org/page.aspx?pid=311
Trumpets: www.trumpetsjazz.com/

The original Wolves not only have survived: They may be at their highest career point artistically. Not bad for “just another band” that started out 40 years ago last month playing mariachi for weddings and barrio parties in East L.A.

Los Lobos at City Winery last night (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos, video)

It’s been a whirlwind year of nonstop touring – full of festivals, special gigs and 20th-anniversary live performances of the majestic “Kiko” album. Los Lobos also recently opened several shows for Neil Young and Crazy Horse.

The band originally planned to perform an acoustic program called “Disconnected” last night. But that got tossed so they could record a “Live at City Winery” special — another coup for Manhattan’s best live music venue (The cross-cultural three-time Grammy winners, who’ve played New Year’s Eve at the club the past two years, are doing the same this year at City Winery’s new Chicago location).

Although technical trouble plagued Rojas much of the night, the MexiChicano masters slid through an eclectic blend of blues, rancheras, samba, soul, folkloric rhythms and roots rock and roll, all of it danceable and none of it ever in a hurry.

The five original Wolves have been joined by jackhammer drummer Enrique “Bugs” Gonzalez and percussionist Camilo A. Quinones. They’ve taken the volume down a bit, enriching the distinctive gumbo of serenades, cakewalks, syncopated rumbas, polkas(!) and habanera rhythms that no other band has ever matched.

And like the characters in many of their songs, they remain humble yet proud.

Rojas must sit while playing (sciatica, he said), and he’s traded the soul patch for a goatee, but he still has the Ray Bans and the ZZ Top growl. His soul brother, David Hidalgo, still has the sweet voice – the McCartney/Tilbrook to Cesar’s Lennon/Difford — as well as the chops to fly through leads on his acoustic guitar.

Highlights included the distinctively New Orleans-based “Dream in Blue,” which took on a Grateful Dead-like trippiness, “Chuco’s Cumbia” (I thought I was listening to Ruben Blades), the quirky Tom Waits-via-Prince “Oh Yeah” and a rip-roaring version of Traffic’s “40,000 Headmen,” featuring a flute solo by the musical Swiss Army knife, Steve Berlin.

Like the Blasters, Los Lobos is a true American band, beautifully stirring an array of influences into finely sequenced performances that never fail to keep your interest. And even though the decades together have created a collective intuitiveness, they regularly mix it up so much that Hidalgo uses a set list.

Amid the party music last night, the lovely “oldies” that shimmered and shone included “Will the Wolf Survive?” (no surprise) and “The Hardest Time,” a song that could have been co-penned by Dave Alvin and Lucinda Williams.

Among the personal favorites that didn’t make the cut were “One Night, One Time,” “Evangeline,” and “Don’t Worry Baby.” But they also mercifully left out “La Bamba.”

As the first Chicano rock star, Richie Valens was a pioneer, but his pop hit has less to do with Los Lobos’ sound than just about any other number in their expansive repertoire. The band has essentially become its own musical genre, taking Norteña (or conjunto) and melding it with Alvin’s description of American music – Lousiana boogie, delta blues, country swing and rockabilly, too – using a variety of authentic string and wind instruments, along with Hidalgo’s onyx and pearl accordion.

And while he and Rojas serve as frontmen, Los Lobos wouldn’t exist without former drummer/now full-time guitarist Louie Pérez, the effervescent Conrad Lozano – always in the pocket on bass — or the Dostoevsky-bearded Berlin on keyboards, sax, you-name-it, who began with Alvin and his brother, Phil, in the Blasters, that “other” California punk-Americana band, before joining Los Lobos full time.

Bands that last this long can sometimes lose their center or, worse, rust. They stop listening to themselves, forget where they came from, play most songs by rote.

The Wolves, however, have more than proven themselves natural successors to The Grateful Dead and The Band (multi-influenced multi-instrumentalists themselves), both of whose spirits can be heard through much of their canon. It helps that the group’s four original Latinos have known, loved and encouraged one another, like brothers, since high school.

Los Lobos haven’t lost any of their edge, skill or ability to get you to muévete, producing nourishment for both the heart and the hips.

It’s what still keeps them alive.

They will be at City Winery again tonight and tomorrow. For tickets: LOS LOBOS @ CITY WINERY/NY

Paired with the song “Summer of Love,” the new tune is a taste of the band’s first full-length CD, to be released early next year.

With more than a hint of early Alice Cooper and other pre-metal music, “Seaside Lights” recalls summers spent at the popular Shore resort by founding brothers Jason and Sean Sproviero (aka J Von Doom and The Evil Twin) of Hasbrouck Heights, with vocals by Jessica Kenny of Garfield.

Originally a six-piece, Doomsday Diaries has stripped away the keyboards and second guitar — yet have become more atmospheric, as its young members delve deeper into their brand of trippy yet tight progidelic.

They’ve had some high-profile gigs, including the Bamboozle fest at MetLife Stadium and appearances at The Stone Pony. The other night they packed Mexicali Live in Teaneck for a CD release party.

Inspired by Radiohead, Porcupine Tree and others, the Sproviero twins created Doomsday Diaries 3½ years ago. Jason plays guitar, Sean bass, and both sing. Although they’re in their late teens, the guys’ musical sensibilities stretch back nearly a half-century.

Doomsday Diaries sweeps current music with a broad brush, claiming that no originality exists at a time when there’s never been more original music – or easier access to it.

But that only aligns them with the “Do It Yourself” ethos of punk and New Wave, which had no use for “establishment” machines. Like their predecessors, these kids just want to rock.

They also want to do their part best as they know how. Given the band’s name, today seemed the perfect time to do it. Hence: “Seaside Lights” and “Summer of Love,” both written by the twins.

You can sample/order both here: “Seaside Lights / Summer of Love” ($1.98)

Graham Parker & the Rumour at the Society for Ethical Culture (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos)

Parker, who has played New York-area venues regularly since he split with his former bandmates three decades ago, was in fighting shape, as always, belting out familiar tunes, stalking the front of the stage – even swiveling his hips and striking rock-star poses with his Telecaster – driving a sold-out crowd at Manhattan’s New York Society for Ethical Culture wild.

And the Rumour? The best backing band this side of the East Streeters or Petty’s Heartbreakers  was tight-tight-tight.

They had good reason, too: Although you don’t see it in the trailers, GP & the Rumour are principal characters in “This is 40,” Judd Apatow’s new film. They play a once-popular band being plugged by a promoter for a reunion, a role that requires more than a touch of arch contempt for the music industry.

Who better, really?

Graham Parker & the Rumour, Society for Ethical Culture (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos)

Execution doesn’t always meet expectation in rock and roll. Last night, however, expectations were exceeded.

Nice opening with “Fool’s Gold” (although Parker didn’t return to “Heat Treatment,” his second album, the rest of the night).

Sweet to follow with “Nothing’s Gonna Pull It Apart” from the 1976 debut, “Howlin’ Wind,” and, a bit later, “Watch the Moon Come Down,” from the vastly underrated “Stick to Me” (1977).

From there, it was a combination of songs familiar even to casual Parker fans, along with some catchy cuts from the entire group’s first album together since 1980, “Three Chords Good.”

(CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos)

It’s difficult to knock a show for the selections (“Stupefaction,” “Get Started, Start a Fire”) when each and every one was knocked out of the park. Trickier still is not hearing the band through nostalgiac ears.

Having caught them together a few times before – and Parker solo dozens of times since 1979 – these ears heard the same performance the raucous, adoring throng did.

Parker, who turned 62 two weeks ago, still commands a stage, a band, and an audience, with a soulful swing possessed by few performers not named Morrison, Sexton or Johnson, along with plenty of piss and vinegar left from the days when he was the angry yet erudite young man — a basher (with apologizes to Nick Lowe) of all things hypocritical.

Guitarist Brinsley Schwartz, who, with Lowe, created pub rock nearly 40 years ago, ripped off licks like he’d never put the guitar down; bassist Andrew Bodnar and drummer Steve Goulding were crisp and muscular as ever; and Bob Andrews on keys and vocals was Parker’s Paul Shaffer, hamming it up when he wasn’t adding flourishes.

Graham Parker & the Rumour, Society for Ethical Culture (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos)

Ironically, the giant Martin Belmont was the least conspicuous aurally, not doing do as much on the flying Fender as he had in years past (If you ever have the opportunity, listen to the band’s 1976 official bootleg, “Live at the Marble Arch”).

The Rumour, in its day, was a vital a part of Parker’s sound and presence (For an outstanding account of his history, see this past Friday’s New York Times piece: His Perfect Role: Rocker of a Certain Age).

Since then, he has produced some outstanding work, going from bar to club to coffeehouse – as well as living-rooms — with his just his guitars and harmonicas, sometimes busting it up with the Figgs (last night’s letter-perfect opening act) but more often flashing his songwriting and story-telling skills.

Still, whether the prolific Parker likes it or not, his work with the Rumour defined him.

Graham Parker & the Rumour, Society for Ethical Culture (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos)

It also legitimized what would become the biggest pop-music phenomenon from across the pond since the British Invasion.

Together, Parker and the Rumour first delivered “Howlin’ Wind,” an eclectic collection of soul, rock and reggae that still holds up more than 35 years later, as well as the explosive “Squeezing Out Sparks,” a runaway hit album that established Parker’s place in New Wave — and set him up for one of rock-and-roll’s historic tumbles.

Good for them, then, that “This Is 40” holds the possibility of bringing the kind of widespread attention they missed, along with more than the “trickle” of income that Parker says “has a bump now and then.”

Parker never reproduced “…Sparks,” and that’s a good thing for some of us. After a couple of mainstream stumbles (having Springsteen guest on a track, adding synths and other forgivable missteps), he settled into producing deep cuts to somewhere, on stellar albums such as “The Mona Lisa’s Sister,” “Struck By Lighting,” “Don’t Tell Columbus,” and “Deep Cut to Nowhere.”

Although constantly at work, Parker never settles for fluff. His songs remain thoughtful and expansive, enriched by experience. Parker will poke at corporate greed on one track, then gently prize one of life’s gifts, including his young daughter, on another. With a catalog that continues to expand, there’s no telling what songs will make up any given night’s set.

GP & the Rumour at the Society for Ethical Culture (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos)

Wise, then, that Parker began “bootlegging” his own shows (Check out: “The Art Vandelay Tapes 1 & 2”), with an output that would make some record labels blush.

It’s no stretch to anticipate a recording from this mini-reunion tour not turning up too late, to go with the anticipated successes of both “This Is 40” and the soulful, rocking “Three Chords Good.”

The new album’s songs fit neatly into the GP & the Rumour oeuvre. “Long Emotional Ride,” the album’s centerpiece, swings softly, sentimentally, in much the same way as “It’s Been a Long Time,” written by Springsteen for Southside Johnny.

But there’s also a nod to the ska influence that propelled the earliest pub rock in “Snake Oil Capital of the World” (guess what that one’s about?) and some pile-driving rock and roll that recalls early GP&R shows.

“Three Chords Good” also displays pub rock’s greatest virtues — as dance music you could think to.

The Figgs opened with their usual tight, singable power pop (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos)

That their choice of Manhattan venue would be the Society for Ethical Culture on Central Park West – and not, say, Town Hall – only underscored the point.

Using “…Sparks” as a base, Parker and his mates delivered jackerhammer versions of “Discovering Japan” and “Nobody Hurts You,” as well as a funked-up, snarling take on “Protection” that grew tighter and more intense by the measure, with Parker teleporting the cathedral-like concert hall 35 years into the past as he punched the lyrics:

“It ain’t the knife through the heart that tears you apart
It’s just the thought of someone stickin’ it in.”

On the first encore, accompanied by only Bodnar and Andrews, Parker dished up the abortion message of the seemingly delicate “You Can’t Be Too Strong” as powerfully as ever.

Then came a truly arresting turn on “Passion Is No Ordinary Word,” which proved its point before floating softly to a close.

The band went from a whisper to a scream for the second encore with the punk-staccato of “New York Shuffle” before closing the night not with the expected “Soul Shoes” but with “I Want You Back (Alive).”

Parker and the Rumour frequently dropped soul covers into sets back in the day (The Tramps’ “Hold Back the Night,” for instance). “I Want You Back (Alive)” caught on after it was released first as the B-side of “Mercury Poisoning” and, later, on most of a half-dozen or so compilation sets.

For what became a massive love-in at the SEC’s impressive hall, “I Want You Back” was a clever nightcap, a clear exchange of emotion between a legitimately great band and its still-loyal fans.

(Special thanks to Antone DeSantis for this clip:)