HOT STOVE COOL MUSIC

THE STORY

It is only fitting that the Paradise Rock Club has served as the home of Hot Stove Cool Music for more than two decades. After all, it was there in the front hallway at 967 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston that the idea for HSCM was born. And it was at the ‘Dise that HSCM grew up, sprouting from a hastily arranged Monday night experiment into one of the nation’s longest-running fundraiser concert series.

While waiting in line to enter a Superdrag show at the Paradise in November 2000, Boston Herald sportswriter Jeff Horrigan noticed a poster for an upcoming show at the venue. It wasn’t the show’s long-since-forgotten headliner that caught his eye, but the name of the small-print opening act: Thurman Munson.

Horrigan, who covered the Red Sox for the Herald, turned to his friend, Casey Riddles and said: “Look at this: a band called Thurman Munson. I know a guy who’s in a band in Brooklyn called Carlton Fisk. Wouldn’t it be great to get Thurman Munson, Carlton Fisk and, maybe, Slide on the same bill?”

Munson and Fisk, of course, were the rival catchers for the Yankees and Red Sox, respectively, during the 1970s, while Slide, an eclectic Boston rock band fronted by Shaun Wolf Wortis and Suzi Lee, had released an album a few years earlier titled “Forgiving Buckner (which contained a sly wink to astute sports fans with a catalog number of 2715, which happened to be Buckner’s career hits total).

Horrigan explained to Riddles that he and his mentor, Peter Gammons, had often talked about getting musician friends together for a party of some sort, possibly at a restaurant on Nantucket owned by Gammons’ friend. Busy baseball schedules, however, prevented the idea from ever moving forward. Sure, there was the baseball offseason, but trying to get something together in the winter on Nantucket just wasn’t going to work.

“I think I’ll call Peter tomorrow and pitch the idea of a baseball-themed concert,” Horrigan said. “We’d have it in the winter before we head off for spring training. We could even make it a fundraiser.”

Riddles suggested adding mutual friend, Kay Hanley, to the proposed bill. Kay was a devoted Red Sox fan and she’d earned the admiration of Gammons, who witnessed her turn down the opportunity to be included in a group photo with Cincinnati Reds coach Ray Knight prior to a spring training game, simply because Knight had scored the winning run when Mookie Wilson’s grounder bounded through Buckner’s legs to seal the infamous Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Seconds later, Riddles stopped a well-dressed young man walking swiftly through the quickly filling main room at the Paradise.

“Hey, Scott!” Riddles said. “This is my friend Jeff. He has an idea and I want to hear what you think of it.”

Scott Whitcomb, as it turned out, was a former colleague of Riddles and he’d recently taken over as manager of the Paradise. He politely listened to Horrigan’s idea and said he loved it. Whitcomb said he’d happily arrange a meeting with executives of the Lyons Group, which owned the venue.

The next day, Horrigan phoned Gammons and Hanley. Both were supportive of the idea. He then phoned Michael Creamer, the Boston-based manager of Letters To Cleo and others. Creamer, who pretty much knew everyone in rock and roll, was in, too.

And for the charity component, the Jimmy Fund seemed like the ideal initial pairing, considering its established ties with the Red Sox and, in the past, the Boston Braves. Boston broadcaster Debbi Wrobleski was a member of the Jimmy Fund’s fundraising division and she agreed to make introductions there.

MAKING THE PITCH

Whitcomb set up a meeting two days later with Lyons Group VP Mindy d’Arbeloff. The group – Whitcomb, Horrigan, Riddles, Gammons, Creamer and Wrobleski – arrived at the Lansdowne Street office but it was clear that d’Arbeloff was in the midst of an extremely busy day … and that she was going to have to be won over. She invited them to join her for a quick lunch at nearby Boston Beer Works, where she explained that there was a standard room rental price ($2,300 at the time) and that the only date available was on a Monday night, just 20 days away.

“They came to me and asked if I would give them the Paradise for the night for their event,” d’Arbeloff recalled in 2019. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t know who any of them were. I didn’t even know who Peter Gammons was. I said, ‘Sorry, I just can’t do that,’ and as I’m talking to Peter, I looked up and his face was on every television in the bar. I said (to myself), ‘Ohhhh…’”

The group agreed to pay for the room and got to work on putting together an event in just under three weeks. Creamer located Thurman Munson and called Slide, as well as local favorites, the Push Stars. Horrigan contacted Stephe Sykes, who fronted Carlton Fisk. Gammons added the band Janke. Within a week, the bill was set.

Fun fact: the first HSCM was both opened (Janke’s Stephanie Dougherty) and closed (Hanley) by the two singers who performed with the Dropkick Murphys on the album and single versions, respectively, of the popular song “The Dirty Glass.” The Dropkicks would later become staples of HSCM shows.

LIGHTING THE STOVE

As for the name, “Hot Stove Cool Music”? The credit goes to Mark Quigley, a friend of the group, who suggested the wordplay centered around “hot stove,” the ages-old term for off-season baseball chatter.

Despite the short preparation time and the fact that it occurred on a frigid Monday, just one week prior to Christmas, the event nearly sold out.

“They packed the room,” d’Arbeloff said. “I had the great honor, midway through the show, of telling them that we were giving them (the complimentary use of) the Paradise. Not only that, I told them, ‘I want to be a part of your team.’ It was one of the coolest things I’d ever been involved with.”

Thanks to the Lyons Group’s generosity, the evening (which included raffles and silent auction items) netted approximately $17,000. The Paradise continues to host HSCM thanks to the generosity of subsequent owners Declan Mehigan, Don Law and Joe Dunne, manager Billy “Bud” McCarthy and sound man “Sus” Susi.

“I think we could all tell that we were onto something special,” Gammons said. “Before the night was over, we were already starting to plan the next one.”

DOUBLE PLAY … AND TRIPLE PLAY

Just over a year later, the second Hot Stove Cool Music sold out the Paradise. It featured a lineup of Hanley, Carlton Fisk, Raging Teens, Flynn and Crown Victoria, a side project of Buffalo Tom singer-guitarist Bill Janovitz. Three members of Crown Vic – Janovitz, keyboard player Phil Aiken and drummer Tom Polce – joined what would be a growing cast of HSCM regulars, and they still perform with Gammons’ Hot Stove All-Stars most years. The same went for Hanley’s bass player, Ed Valauskas, who eventually became HSCM’s musical director.

Year 3 featured the debut of Gammons fronting an all-star band with a fluid cast. Even though he hadn’t performed onstage since his college days at the University of North Carolina, Gammons seemed to never miss a beat. His group (which includes Valauskas, Janovitz, Polce, Aiken, Will Dailey, Mike Gent and Chris Cote) plays at every HSCM and has featured members of Little Feat, the J. Geils Band, Wilco, the Figgs, Cheap Trick, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Smashing Pumpkins, the Allman Brothers, the Hold Steady and many more.

That third show also included the addition of a Boston band called Trauser, featuring a guitarist named Theo Epstein, who had just been named Red Sox general manager. While the band appeared at HSCM only twice, Epstein stuck around much longer. And in 2005, after guiding the Sox to their first World Series title in 86 years, he and his twin brother, Paul, decided to start their own foundation, which would become Hot Stove Cool Music’s primary beneficiary.

The Foundation To Be Named Later aimed to raise funds and awareness for nonprofits serving urban youth and families, but it ended up doing much more. As of 2021, FTBNL has issued grants to more than 200 nonprofits, while providing Red Sox and Cubs tickets to more than 3,200 kids. In 2010, FTBNL launched the Peter Gammons Scholarships, which have helped send under-resourced students in Boston and Chicago to four-year colleges and universities. To date, under the leadership of CEO Allyce Najimy, FTBNL has helped send 200 Gammons Scholars on to higher education and even higher life goals.

EXPANDING TO CHICAGO

When Theo joined the Chicago Cubs as President of Baseball Operations after the 2011 season, he brought Hot Stove Cool Music with him. While maintaining the annual shows at the Paradise, HSCM expanded to Chicago in the summer of ’12. Thanks to the hospitality of venue owner Joe Shanahan, the event debuted at the iconic Metro, directly across Clark Street from Wrigley Field.

The Chicago shows, which have all sold out, have featured memorable performances by the likes of Eddie Vedder, Buddy Guy, Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair, Cheap Trick, Tom Morello and Poi Dog Pondering. Len Kasper, the Cubs’ TV play-by-play announcer from 2005-2020 (and White Sox radio voice since ’21), has played the lead role in the Chicago shows. A talented bass player, Kasper has also founded the Chicago Hot Stove All-Stars, who now play at every HSCM with their Boston counterparts.

AN EVEN FLOW OF SUPERB TALENT

Over the years, HSCM has featured countless major bands and performers. The list includes John Legend, Little Feat, James Taylor, Buddy Guy, Letters to Cleo, the Dropkick Murphys, Belly, Juliana Hatfield, Buffalo Tom, the Figgs, American Hi-Fi, Liz Phair, Tom Morello, Smashing Pumpkins, Cheap Trick, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, Nada Surf, Lemonheads, Fountains of Wayne, Lori McKenna, the Baseball Project, Ben Kweller, Al Kooper and many more.

In 2016, a subset of those performers formed a unique all-star band that quickly became a HSCM staple: Band Of Their Own. With a name offering a nod to the beloved movie, “A League of Their Own,” many of HSCM’s top female musicians perform unforgettable covers with a fluid cast that includes the likes of Hanley, Tanya Donelly, Gail Greenwood, Jen Trynin, Freda Love Smith, Jenny Dee, Hilken Mancini, Magen Tracy, Kate Tucker, Nora O’Connor, Kelly Hogan and Amy Griffin. Guest appearances have also been made by the Bangles’ Debbi Peterson and Runaways singer Cherie Currie.

No HSCM performer, however, has caused as much of a stir as Vedder, who has made four HSCM appearances. A diehard Chicago Cubs fan, the Pearl Jam singer has brought several Cubs (both current and former) on stage during his performances, including for the debut of his Cubs anthem, “All The Way,” in 2015. The team did indeed go all the way one year later.

In 2017 in Boston, the entire Cubs and Red Sox teams bused over to the Paradise from Fenway Park for an unforgettable HSCM headlined by Vedder. It featured the 2004 and ’16 World Series trophies being sent on a crowd surf during his set.

MAJOR LEAGUE MUSICIANS

While most HSCM performers are baseball fanatics, the event has also included many notable baseball players who are music fanatics, including several musicians. Most notably, that list includes a pair of former stars on the field – Bernie Williams and Bronson Arroyo – who have shown impressive musical talent during their frequent HSCM appearances.

Former Yankees centerfielder Williams, whose guitar playing has earned Grammy Award nominations, is a regular in Gammons’ All-Star band. Arroyo, meanwhile, had never sung on stage prior to an impromptu performance of a pair of Pearl Jam covers at HSCM in January 2004. A music producer in the crowd was so impressed that he contacted Arroyo to convince him to record what would become a critically acclaimed album, Covering the Bases.

Big leaguers like Jake Peavy, Lenny DiNardo, Jack McDowell and Scott Spiezio have also appeared with bands at HSCM. Several other players have been coaxed onstage to offer backing vocals to various HSCM bands.

THE SPIRIT OF GIVING

Hot Stove Cool Music isn’t just about music and baseball. It’s also about giving back. It’s why everyone involved – from musicians to organizers to club employees – donates their talents and services. And it’s why they take part in service projects/events involving FTBNL nonprofits. Virtually all of the proceeds from HSCM go directly to the foundation, and, subsequently, right back out in the form of grants and Gammons Scholarships.

“It’s one of the reasons why everyone involved with Hot Stove Cool Music and the Foundation To Be Named Later have become so close,” Gammons said. “We may come from different backgrounds, hometowns and even generations, but we all have that common bond of loving baseball, music and giving back. We have a great time playing music but it means so much more knowing that what we’re doing is helping others. That’s what Hot Stove Cool Music is all about.”