For the past two
weeks we’ve been practicing with Chris Devenney to get ready for the shows on
June 7 at the M Room and June 18 at L'Etage.
Chris Devenney is the lead singer/guitarist for New Pony, a
New Orleans style funk/blues band. Since New Pony shares the same bass player
as the Absinthe Drinkers,
Chris D. was a good candidate to be a temporary sub until we
get our guitar situation worked out on a more permanent basis.
We threw 12 songs at Chris D. in pretty short order, but he
handled the workload with minimal groaning. It’s been fun hearing another
guitarists’ take on our material.
Chris D. claims to enjoy the experience of playing outside
of his comfort zone, but he may just be trying to be nice.
Sunday
we played at the M Room on Girard Avenue. Nicki Jaine was slated to perform as
well, but had to leave town because of a family emergency.
Peter Gaffney and Annie Abomb of Cabaret Redlight did us a
huge last minute favor by putting together a tidy set featuring highlights from
their previous shows.
They also managed to convince the lovely violinist Julie K.
and the equally lovely comediennes The Bagladies to show up, so the crowd was
treated to an hour of witty banter,
beautiful women, dirty limericks, bad puns and sentimental
Russian ballads. All in a day's work for the Cabaret Redlight, who can justly
claim to be the
Sharing
the bill was Black Fortress of Opium, a four piece from Boston. They played a
set of dreamy virtuoso pop seasoned with a bit of the mysterious east.
Carefully arranged and flawlessly performed, their music
sounded like the soundtrack for a movie too cool to ever actually be made. Chris
D. and Black Fortress's guitarist
are both Berkeley alums, so outside between sets they
eagerly exchanged secret handshakes and began speaking guitarese to the
exclusion of all else. Check them out.
The
Absinthe Drinkers finished out the night. Chris Devenney performed admirably,
without a trace of jitters, and the band slammed through a tight set that
favored the rock. (Although we did let Chris D. shake out his blues shoes by
going way back into our catalog and reviving "Vale From Carthage," a
slow cooker from 2004's Red Handed Muse Fringe festival show.) Helped by Dan, M
Room’s sound man, we got through the set with minimal fuss and more fun than we
expected to have.
We knew things were working when we could hear Robert really
flail away on the congas, which is always a sign that he's happy.
Our next shows will be…
June 18
L’etage,
6 and Bainbridge Sts., Philly
9pm Doors at 8 $10
featuring R&B artist Damon Hamilton
Hosted by Svedka Von Schotz with Gina Izzo on the vids
also Dancers Deana
Colada and Randi Warhol
July 11
The Piazza at Schmidts
8pm?
N. 2nd and Hancock Sts., Philadelphia
More info to come!
We may unveil a new member! Stay tuned!