Boston Pop Underground’s Tuesday Night Cabaret with Mike Viola at the Paradise Lounge

Andrea Kremer put together a magical night of pop delights for the Tuesday Night Cabaret at the Paradise Lounge. Mike Viola of the Candy Butchers hosted the evening and was accompanied by his pal Todd Foulsham on drums. Gordon Wright from Fooled by April performed a short set and then was joined by Mike and Tom for a cover of Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over.” I was hoping they’d go for something else by Crowded House or maybe a Neil Finn solo tune. But it was good. Great, even! Meghan Toohey from The So and So’s sang a few of her tunes and then joined Mike for Roy Orbison’s “Love Hurts.” My favorite part of the night was when a newish Boston band (who Mike introduced as The Clique but the Q Division websites has a photo of them as Zoo) got up to sing “Jet” by Paul McCartney with Mike Viola standing in front of the stage assessing how well the band administered their popness.

Andrea’s Boston Pop Underground has other happenings coming up including The So and So’s at the Lizard Lounge on September 9th. See you there? Mmmmm pop!

Boston Pop Underground is a live music series featuring the best local and national indie pop artists. Not “pop” as in Britney — pop as in the Beatles, the Kinks, the Beach Boys, the Zombies, Big Star, Cheap Trick, Badfinger, Elvis Costello, Squeeze, the Posies, Jellyfish, Matthew Sweet, Jon Brion, Neil Finn, Michael Penn, XTC… you get the idea. The kind of pop distinguished by memorable melodies, soaring harmonies, thoughtful lyrics, irresistable hooks, and a love of the craft of songwriting.