From subculture to mainstream, Wormtown and Worcester are now becoming one in the same

Jeremy Shulkin

LB Worm has thinning blondish-grey hair, wears a black leather jacket and enjoys Narragansett Lights. He now lives in his family home in Paxton, but was living in Worcester in the late 1970s when he created the nickname “Wormtown,” that even now, thirty years later, Worcesterites still grapple with accepting or denouncing.

The big misconception, he argues, is that people think Wormtown is a derogatory name for a city, an attack, a reference to a dirty or dying place. But it was more about the city’s music scene above anything else, one that reflected the national trends.

“I thought, well the music scene’s dead. Dead equals decay. Decay means worms. Wormtown,” LB explains.

“It was all the hair bands and the country bands and the general business bands,” LB says. “The bands that we held up to say, ‘This is old stuff. You ...

Jim Keogh

If one were to construct the archetype for a sports-talk radio caller, Paul Aufiero would be the living blueprint.

Let’s go over the requirements:
Lives with his mother. Check.
No girlfriend. Check.
Dead-end job. Check.
Obsessed with sports to the point of social dysfunction. Check.
There’s more, but you get the point.

Paul, the title character of Big ...

Repo Men ★

David Wildman

What can you say about a sci-fi flick that makes no sense and expends every minute of screen time trying to gross you out with increasingly more graphic displays of carnage and gore? Repo Men is riddled with flaws of logic, ham-fisted writing, predictable plotting, pointless bloody violence and mailed-in performances. This is why it is being released now, of course. The studio is hoping you will take a chance on ...

Count Zero

Indie rock band Count Zero likes to keep listeners on their toes. Vocalist Peter Moore is originally from Nebraska and moved to Boston in 1983, yet his vocals on “Sail Your Ship By” sound distinctly Tennessean when cussing out some “dumbshit” for dressing “like a pirate.” But the unexpected southern drawl blends well with the lap steel riffs later on. And Moore’s sub–Mason-Dixon inflection isn&...

Doreen Manning

The Pandas are a four piece, instrumental band out of Worcester that for the last 7 years have been experimenting with what they call “sonic textures.” With three recordings under their electronic belts, the four friends have been melting visuals into their live shows with mind blowing artistry, matching their cinematic sound in a way that has lured a devoted fan base to their side.

Each member of The Pandas ...

with Tony V

Nicole Luparelli

Tony V is a comedy legend. He began his comedy career in 1982 after being inspired by a show at Boston’s famous and now defunct Comedy Connection. At the time, Tony was working a high-pressure job as a caseworker at the Somerville Mental Health Center. Maybe it was his experience dealing with all the crazies, but within 4 years, Tony was named “Funniest Person in Massachusetts” ...