Oct. 14

Mike McColgan, singer-lyricist for Street Dogs, says "The only thing I'm expert at is ordering a cup of coffee in the morning." He may be underselling himself. McColgan, who originally sang for Dropkick Murphys, grew up in Dorchester, was a union man and fought in the first Gulf War. He served as part of an artillery crew in Iraq during Desert Storm and Shield, and what he saw shows up in song on the Dogs' third album, "Fading American Dream."
"Coming home from the war, watching politics evolve," he says, "I started to read between the lines and see things with more clarity, have some healthy mistrust. We get letters from soliders saying 'thanks' and having genuine empathy. ... I'm anti-war/pro-soldier." "Fading American Dream," McColgan says, is,"In large part,a warning. I feel common working class people and even kids getting out of college, (feel that) things are a lot more difficult. People are pissed. The middle class has shrunk. The gap between rich and poor is more wide than it's ever been, the country's in more debt than ever before. I'ts not time to sing 'don't worry, be happy.' We're not doing it to jump on any wagon. It's where we're at. We sing what's in our hearts." Whole Wheat Bread  and the World/Inferno Friendship Society open. Doors are at 5 p.m. and tickets $15 for their show at Avalon Saturday Oct. 14 with the headlining Bouncing Souls.