Here’s a review of the first Cobra Verde Show with J on guitar (April 19th, Cleveland/ Ohio). They played a version of TV eye!

The Beacon Journal

Thu, Apr. 24, 2003

Cobra Verde belts out new tracks

‘Easy Listening’ CD released in true rocker style.

Last Saturday, Cleveland mainstay Cobra Verde had a CD release party for its latest, Easy Listening, at the Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights and it was damn good rock ‘n’ roll fun.

Lead vocalist/mastermind John Petkovic and his band mates, including special guest J. Mascis on guitar, plowed through a set heavy on the new songs, many of which traverse the same protopunk/glam rock sonic terrain that made the New York Dolls, Stooges and MC5 legendary, if not famous. That terrain includes walls of distorted, loosely played guitar, a freight train of a rhythm section and Petkovic jumping around and chain smoking.

One of the downsides to hearing a good band play new material live before checking out the CD is that the recorded versions tend to pale, at least a little, by comparison. At the Grog Shop, with Mascis (who now looks like a quiet, older uncle of the guy in Dinosaur Jr.) wailing away, the hard-rocking songs such as Riot Industry and Modified Frankenstein hit like a swift kick in the crotch.

On Easy Listening, they’re more like a hard left hook to the ribs, still powerful but not quite as direct. Throughout the show, Petkovic, who later admitted he may have imbibed a few too many, shared his festive Easter mood by throwing those nasty marshmallow Peeps things and other Easter-related paraphernalia into the audience along with some cans of Black Label beer. They ended the set with a rowdy T.V. Eye.