About 2000 LPs, 4000 CDs, 1000 45s, and all my wife's $&*#@ shoes... that's why I'm walking this way. I think I'm even typing with a limp. It's also why I missed Bill Kirchen's show Friday night with the Hi-Risers at the German House. But I made it out Saturday night with the help of a couple Vicodin.

Heavy Kevvy's annual Valentines Day Massacre is whole a lot of fun, overflowing with guilty pleasures, mostly in the songs the bands chose to cover. Old Boy gave WHAM!'s "Careless Whisper" the Massey-Ferguson mash-up. And Eddie Nebula and The Plague nailed a couple of mid-80's classics. It sounded like they had actually practiced playing "My Sharona." They brought up Jen Santoro without her Cherry Gun, but with her cathedral-strength pipes to hit the high notes on "Livin' On A Prayer." There are very few high notes Eddie can't hit, including a few you've gotta be a dog to hear. But when the song modulated, Santoro stepped in so he wouldn't blow a gasket. The Plague is one of my favorite bands but I still hate Bon Jovi.

Hit the German House Theatre later the same night to catch Boston's Zili Misik banging out all tropical and exuberant. These eight women rocked the joint with a jazzy horn attack, gorgeous multiple layered harmonies, and drums that offered some Caribbean relief. It was joyous, infectious, bodacious, and gone.

Black August closed the night and brought the soul, baby. My God, this band writes great songs. Guitarist Denise Reese sent notes slithering through the band's wall of soul. Beneath hair that made Foxy Brown's look like a crew cut (Pam Grier's Foxy, not the imprisoned female rapper), Danielle Ponder sang beautifully with a commanding, demanding force. This band is gonna be heard.