3 Bands @ The Living Theatre 6/4/08

Another great RUCMA event! I was especially excited about this because aside from Burnt Sugar, it was a bunch of people I never heard of. I know I can trust RUCMA and it's likely I will like whatever they do.

I got there around 7:45 and got the last 1/2 hour of Burnt Sugar. It was awesome! A trombone, trumpet, alto, tenor, 2 guitars, a keyboard guy laying down some serious bass, freakaphone, drums, violin, and a cool japanese drum.

The violinist, Mazz Swift was the curator and played with each band. I don't think she ever played with Burnt Sugar or Monkeyworks before. She was great.

I got down in my dancing spot for Burnt Sugar, and was very happy. It was interesting that a lot of people came for just that and left after their set. Then, a new crop of people came for the 2nd act and left after that. Some stayed.

The 2nd act was interesting and different from my usual thing. It was more like avant garde classical. It was mellow, but kept me interested the whole time. I did get a little tired of it toward the end, but that was no big deal. It was just an accordion and a violin and they sounded really good together. They met when they did a Zydeco gig together in Europe. The accordion and violin go together very nicely.

I loved the last band, Monkeyworks. I would have to classify it as "avant jam". I don't see it here, but I thought that one awesome guy played a great electric mandolin. Maybe it was a guitar that was shaped more like a mandolin. He sounded awesome. There was the electric drummer and another percussionist that played that Peruvian box drum, a cymbal, and then he grabbed a snare from the drum kit. The bass player was kind of different, and I liked the "jamminess" of it. The reed guy played soprano sax and bass clarinet. The accordion was awesome. After a song or 2, they invited Mazz up for the duration of the show. A little later, the japanese drum guy came in and played through to the end. The other accordion from the 2nd set came in for the last couple. It was fun and great. Here's a description from their website.

Members of Burnt Sugar
Greg Tate: Conduction / Avram Fefer: Alto Sax / Mikel Banks: Vox/Freakaphone
Derrin Maxwell: Poet / Meret Koehler: Drums / Dave Smith: Trombone
Ben Tyree: Guitar / Mazz Swift: Vox/Electric Violin / Paula Henderson: Baritone Saxophone

Egdetveit & Swift
Johan Egdetveit: Accordion/Composition / Mazz Swift (of MazzMuse): Violin/Vocals

Monkeyworks
Kevin Brown: Bass / Alan Camlet: Drums / Jeff Eldredge: Accordion/Harmonium/Keys
Steve Meltzer: Percussion/Electronic Percussion / Steve Peckman: Reeds
Jim Stagnitto: Trumpet/Cornet / Ian Smit: Guitar