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A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed For All That’s what the flyer promised—and the show delivered! A show at the Valley Brook Lounge in New Hartford was billed as “The Benefit For Mr. Kite” (a take-off of a Beatles song title on the Sgt. Pepper’s album) on Saturday, September 20th and featured the Beatles tribute band Plastic Soul, and acoustic guitar trumpet duo called Dare & The Rev, plus two comedians filled out the bill. The show was the creation of TV producer Rick E. Lewis who works as the Director of Creative Services at the Utica area Fox station. In the past, Music315 has worked with him on past shows at the Savoy in Rome (Collaborations-which featured Jazz pianist Rick Montalbano and guitarist/vocalist Jon Liebing) during November 2002 and also in last December’s Rip & Burn Music Party at Myron’s in Rome which featured Plan 607, Lithium Zero, Michael Vincent, The Bufftones and the Flashing Astonishers. Both of those were videotaped and then aired on Fox 33. This show follows in that same tradition. If you’ve never been to the Valley Brook, let me tell you this—it’s really small!!! I mean it. There are literally 16 table seats and a bar which seats 12 and no floor space! On this night it was asses to elbows with fifty to seventy people who crammed into the small room to see the show. The first comedian “Dancin’ Phil” came onstage on time at about 10. His set started out okay but then within a minute or two of his five minute set, he lost it. I mean, you really felt for the guy. Try as he may to get the ball rolling with his stand up act, his jokes landed with a dull thud on the deaf ears of the audience. People wanted to like him, but he lost it. The most common comment about his performance was “I felt sorry for him”. That’s not good for someone to say about a comedian. People felt so bad, they wouldn’t even heckle him. When his set ended, he received a quiet sympathetic applause. Boy, I felt sorry for him too. Almost immediately at the end of his set, Dare and the Rev took the stage and started playing (I’m certain that Phil thanked them for taking away the crowd’s attention.) Dare sat on a barstool with an acoustic guitar playing through a distortion box and the Rev played trumpet with a variety of mutes. Dare and the Rev are members of the seven piece group “No Budget Orchestra”. Dare’s gravely groaning vocals blended in well with his unusual percussive and dynamic musical presentation. The duo mostly performed original material but did slip in the occasional familiar tune. Especially noteworthy were the Johnny Cash renditions in the wake of his recent passing. Also, a couple of New Orleans and Delta blues numbers were warmly received by the crowd (Did I say asses to elbows?! I couldn’t move to get a drink!) Then it was time for the second comedian: Blair Genther. The crowd which was more accustomed to watching live bands than live comedians, clapped anxiously as he went onstage. (Although you could feel that everyone was saying to themselves, ”Your ass better be funny ‘cause we’re all out of feelin’ sorry!”) Right off the bat Blair launched into the audience daring them not to participate. He picked on a table of girls at the front of the stage who were waiting to see Plastic Soul who were clearly embarrassed. He picked out personalities in the crowd. They yelled at him, and he yelled back! He even got heckled in the middle of a several minute long amusing rant about taking a shit at Walmart. And finally at the end of his set, he really made the room roar when he stripped down to a much too small halter top and a pair of Daisy Dukes. He then gyrated wildly to the thumping sound of hip-hop. (You really had to see it—oh yeah, you can! Look for the next edition of 33 Degrees on Fox33). The entire bar was rolling in laughter! Now it was time for the main event: Plastic Soul. Could a three-piece band really do justice to the Beatles in a live performance? The answer: YES! The band is comprised of John Smales on bass and vocals, Mark Barnes guitar and vocals and Jon Liebing on drums and vocals. Yes that’s right, Jon Liebing on drums! For those of you who never heard of Jon Liebing, he has been a fixture on the central New York Acoustic music horizon since the 80s. He usually performs James Taylor and the other traditional artists covered by solo artists,(including a few Beatles numbers) and is known for his witty and at times bawdy commentary. But tonight, he was playing drums to the amazement of many. Plastic Soul played non-stop to the end of the night, nothing but music from the Beatles. (Mainly the earlier material—She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There, I Wanna Be Your Man, etc.) The incredible harmonies and extremely accurate renditions were a pleasure to hear. The one thing that I found quite striking was that the band members truly seemed to love the music. It wasn’t like a stiff calculated tribute act that attempts to imitate every mannerism of each member. Granted, Smales played a Hofner bass and guitarist Mark Barnes had a full array of Beatles guitars and a Vox cabinet—but hey man, they had the sound down! The main thing that I remember (besides being crammed asses to elbows in the room) was the look on the faces of the people in the audience. The whirring TV cameras and the unusual line-up of entertainment gave the night a true feeling of being at an event. Earlier in the week, the headline act “Plastic Soul” had played on a rooftop off Genessee Street in Utica. The publicity stunt was covered by Bill Keller of the local TV show “The Keeler Show”—seen weeknights at 11 on Fox33. Also, several people who heard WOUR DJ Jerry Kraus mention the impromptu performance showed up and got on the roof with the band. This show will truly be a great bit of local TV entertainment and I recommend you catch the next episode of 33 Degrees. Having worked with Mr. Lewis in the past: “A splendid show is guaranteed”-- but when is anyone’s guess. The Rip & Burn Party was in December of last year, It was supposed to air in February, and it finally aired in May! A Splendid Time Was Had By All. |