Joyce Linehan is the former manager of the Lemonheads, Sub Pop's Boston rep, and the manager of songwriter Joe Pernice. Courtney Love wrote "Doll Parts" staying at Linehan's place. But she's also the Massachusetts-based activist whose supportive urging helped convince Elizabeth Warren to run against Republican goof Scott Brown and his pickup-truck sidekick, a campaign for Senate the Harvard professor ultimately won, as you know. So you might say that Joyce Linehan gets shit done.
Now Linehan's most recent undertaking is also pretty fantastic: a push to make the Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner" the official rock song of Massachusetts.
This just may just happen. Yesterday, State Representative Marty Walsh, Linehan's friend, filed HD3506: "An Act designating the song ‘Roadrunner' as the official rock song of the Commonwealth." The crusade's Facebook page is currently urging supporters to call their representatives, adding "At some point there will be a public hearing at the State House-probably in April or May, where you can all testify about WHY this should happen." (The campaign to make Jonathan Richman testify on behalf of "Roadrunner" begins here.) As of this morning, five co-sponsors have signed on to this very important piece of legislation.
Like most state anthems, Massachusetts's current song is an insignificant fossil of loyalist hokum, Arthur Marsh's "All Hail to Massachusetts." As a born Masshole, I had never knowingly heard the song before, oh, yesterday, which allows me to make the arrogantly sweeping statement that "All Hail to Massachusetts" means nothing to no one. "Roadrunner," on the other hand, means a great deal to many, especially as a rebuttal to all those shit-bag strangers who identified Boston's sonic heritage as Guster, New Kids on the Block, or cock-rock cretins like Aerosmith and Extreme. Boston birthed the Pixies! Mission of Burma! The Cars! Yes, two out of those three moved away. Let Massachusetts compensate with "Roadrunner"!