Willie Alexander

Willie "Loco" Alexander is a rock'n'roll survivor, whose Boston-based career has traced the history of rock for thirty-five years.

From the Lost, a 60s garage-band that made a couple of records for Capitol, to the psychedelic late-60s Bagatelle, to a brief stint in thepost-Lou Reed Velvet Underground, the Boom Boom Band in the punk 70s, which recorded for MCA, to an introspective take on the 80s recording for the French label New Rose, and renewed band energy in the 90s with the Persistence of Memory of Orchestra, Willie has maintained a consistently high level of emotional and artistic integrity.

"The East Main Street Suite" reveals a mature yet fresh artist musing on his hometown of Gloucester "Fishtown" Massachusetts in a series of stunning meditations upon life and death, memory and loss. The music is a rich stew with a base of rock'n'roll and elements of jazz, beat poetry, klezmer, samba and electronica mixed in. To say it defies category hardly does justice to the originality and uniqueness of this music.

Willie's vocals and keyboards are accompanied by the Persistence of Memory Orchestra, multi-reed work of Ken Field and Mark Chenevert, and the drums, loops and guitars of co-producer Jim Doherty. Also aboard for two tracks is trumpet legend - and Gloucester native - Herb Pomeroy, whose resume runs from Charlie Parker to Duke Ellington to Benny Golson.

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