On Friday, October 18th at 8pm, Foam presents @miltonbusker & the grim work, with special guests Troy Millette and John Gratton, as they perform Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever.

In the words of Milton Busker:

In January 1990 I turned 14 and I asked my parents for a CD player and a couple of CDs, which they were kind enough to get me.

Up to that point, every piece of stereo equipment we had in our house was second-hand; gifted to us by friends and family who were upgrading, or special finds at the church garage sale. I didn’t know such things as component stereo equipment existed, but I found out real quick when I opened my CD player, plugged in the speakers from an older stereo, and couldn’t figure out where the volume was. Of course, there was no volume because you needed a receiver/amp that we didn’t know about and couldn’t afford. But there was just enough signal that if I put my ear against the speaker, I could hear it. And what I was hearing was Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty. It was perfection, even at such a low volume.

It was about two weeks before we had time to drive back to Sears and exchange the component CD player for a standalone CD player/boombox, but I have such vivid memories of lying in my bed every night with my ear against that speaker, listening to the whole album on repeat for hours.

So in honor of its release 35 years ago and the full moon in October, I asked the band and some special friends if we could cover Full Moon Fever front-to-back. They said yes, and here we are.

Thank you to Foam Brewers for hosting this special event to keep the music of Tom Petty alive and howlin’.

-Milton Busker

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About Milton Busker:

Milton Busker & The Grim Work brought in mandolin player Jom Hammack and played as a three-piece until being joined by bass player John Treybal in early 2016. Dave Simpson rounded out the group on drums shortly after and the group spent some time honing their repertoire at occasional shows in the Burlington area. 

The band plays a type of Americana/Alt-Country they call"suit-folk", defined as the people’s music, all dolled up for a night on the town. It is an Appalachian ditty played by Cole Porter. It’s a gospel song for heretics. It’s hippie music for people that can’t afford to drop out.It’s a love song for the kid who couldn’t get a date but still dresses up for the dance.