Actual Donuts

January 7, 2012

#RIP // TOM ARDOLINO (1955-2012)

(Tom Ardolino pictured above at the old Mystery Train Records in Amherst, MA)

At some point yesterday, musician and Springfield, MA resident Tom Ardolino passed away. Ardolino was best known as drummer for and Western Massachusetts’ connection to the long-running rock n’ roll outfit, NRBQ - a band who occupied the strange space between either being a bunch of normal guys making really weird music or a bunch of weird guys making really normal music. Perennial underdogs, NRBQ was often referred to as the “world’s best bar band” - a sort of back-handed, however accurate, description of the sub-popular status the band maintained over their 30+ year career. They were big enough to make a cameo on The Simpsons, but small enough to not have anyone know who they were when they did.

I was never a fan of the band while they were actually active, but my strongest personal connection to the group came when I was working in a used cd shop in Northampton, MA during their series of 35th anniversary concerts at the local Calvin Theater. The town got flooded with serious NRBQ-heads from all over the world, the overwhelming majority of which I would describe as genuine oddballs. Goofy, sincere and wholly uncool, these dudes (let’s face it, most them were dudes) felt more like comic-con attendees than any kind of dumb rock audience. A real endearing bunch.

It feels strange to describe a band as straight-forward as NRBQ as hard-to-pin-down, but the production on their records is so cut and dry it doesn’t afford even an ounce of affectation, which in and of itself feels strange. They get a lot of credit - all of which they deserve - for their thick-as-thieves musicianship (the result of years of on-the-road experience and anchored no doubt by Ardolino’s steady, reliable beat) but not as much attention is paid to their near perfect pop sensibility. The way the melody moves around those chord changes, kinda melts my heart. And when that hook hits, it sinks in deep. Total dad rock for sure, but this dad’s gonna be missed.

NRBQ - “That’s Allright” from All Hopped Up (1977) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxiACrGW9hc

NRBQ - “Ridin’ In My Car” from All Hopped Up (1977) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BP1ASZzivA

5:39pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z3Ip1yEQHo6S

(Notes: 10)