Wee Folkestra And The Burlington Bread Boys At Radio Bean February 16, 2013
Words by Tim Lewis.
Having missed most of the Joe Adler and the Rangers of Danger show the other week, I was curious to see what Joe was up to with the Wee Folkestra. I worked Saturday from 9-5:30, and was tired and dragging a bit by the end of the day. I got home and ate, then slept for 3 hours. I woke up at 10 and got ready to go out. I found a red T-shirt and put on the black and was ready for the show. Billed as The Second Annual Red and Black Ball: The Wee Folkestra’s 2 Year Anniversary, there were a ton of bands at Radio Bean. I walked into the very full coffee house with The Big Lonesome playing. I patiently waited to get a beer and caught a bit of their set. I kind of liked what I heard, solid blues based rock, but wasn’t focused yet, then they left the stage. I found a place to sit but the constantly moving throng of people made it a challenge. The Burlington Bread Boys grabbed acoustic guitars and a banjo and played out in front of the stage unmiked. The were inches from the audience and in the din of voices it was hard to catch all of their music. What I did catch was a bit out of my comfort zone, but they played with zeal and enthusiasm. I really enjoyed how much energy they had. It was pretty fun and at the end, as they were finishing, the Wee Folkestra had taken the stage and started playing behind them.
The Bread Boys joined the mighty collection of musicians in the Folkestra for the first couple of songs, and others joined in as the evening progressed. They opened with Oh Mary, a song I have heard them do before, but don’t know too much about, except that it’s pretty catchy. They followed with a set of fun covers. The band had 3 electric guitars, Joe on acoustic, a mandolin player, a stand up bass player, an accordion player, Johnnie Day Durand on saw and Aya Inoue and Samara Lark on vocals. At one point one of the singers said there were 13 musicians on stage.
The playing was great and most everyone came through clear as a bell. A couple of times Joe slowed it down to let the saw come to the front of the mix. That was great since Johnnie is so good. I wish he had done the same for the accordion player, although there was a subtle texture to all of the songs, that I think came from her.
They played Sitting on the Dock of the Bay. They played This Will Be the Last Time. They played Werewolves of London, and Samara really nailed the vocal. I loved the way she growled out the I’d like to meet his tailor line. Aya’s voice is a wonder to behold and she was in great form all night. Joe’s deep resonating voice added wonders.
So much great music was played, that I wish I had taken better notes. Part of me wants to tell you all that they played, but most of me was just lost in the show.
They wrapped things up around 2am and I headed out shortly after. I had their cover of Atlantic City running through my head for the whole walk home. Getting to work at 10 on Sunday wasn’t bad at all, and I had that wonderful musical glow all day long.
This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.