Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams ~ 2010 April 10 ~ Homegrown Coffeehouse, Needham, MA
Band personnel: Joziah Longo (lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, mandolin); Sharkey McEwen (backing vocals, guitar, mandolin); Tony Zuzulo (drums); Tink Lloyd (backing vocals, accordion, cello, melodica, ukulele, xylophone); Orien Longo (backing vocals, bass, keyboards, harmonica)
Set List
Circus of Dreams - Dear Prudence - Pushing Up Daisies - Look Around - Baby Jane - Folsom Prison Pinball/I Wish - Clear Channel - Windmills - Already Broken - The Grand Slambovians - Tink (I Know It's You) - Trans-slambovian BiPolar Express ... intermission ... Who Is This Girl - Beautiful Friggin' Day - The Great Unravel - Fiddle I-O - Talking to the Buddha - Alice In Space ... encore ... I Got You Babe - The Invisible - Angels We Have Heard on High/Gloria
Video
Review
There are quite a few venues with coffeehouse-this and coffeehouse-that in their names around the Boston area. I remember which one this is because it has a slogan: "powered by carrot cake." It was a pretty spring day when I and two concert going companions arrived for my third visit to Slambovia. We began our evening with a delicious Indian meal in a restaurant around the corner, right on the main road where runners stream through by the thousands every Patriots' Day in the world renowned Boston Marathon.
The performance space is in the church itself and we settled ourselves into a front row pew on the Sharkey side. Joziah was in fine form tonight, tossing some funny improvs into the set list. After he decided to perform "Dear Prudence" as the second song of the evening, we were told to forget he'd done it! (Oops -- I guess I'm not following instructions, am I?) This improv was followed in the encore set with another one -- "I Got You Babe" (!) -- both became audience-grabbing singalongs.
The band also debuted a few new songs from The Grand Slambovians. One is "Who Is This Girl," a humorous, yet touching father's cry of bewilderment directed to his teenage daughter. Another, in the encore set, is "The Invisible," a beautiful love song featuring Tink on a hand-held xylophone. Another is "Windmills," on which Tink alternated between a ukelele and a green reed instrument called a Melodica. It's a Slambovian anthem, something along the lines of "Talking to the Buddha," but where that song's lyrics are rooted in the deeply personal, the lyrics of "Windmills" evoke history and populism on a national scale. It might be the closest Joziah has come to writing a political song.
Because the new album is The Grand Slambovians it appears that the official name of the band has also changed. I heard Joziah say at the end of the first set, "We are the Grand Slambovians! We'll see you after the break!" Well, I suppose if the idea of choosing a ridiculous band name is to keep the major labels away, changing the ridiculous band name to something equally silly is also a good idea.
The band were in exceptionally fine form. Tink played her usual dizzying variety of instruments, Sharkey broke out the e-bow (an electronic device that vibrates the guitar strings without touching them), Joziah played the mandolin on a song or two, and Orien alternated smoothly between bass, keyboards and harmonica. Oh -- and let's not forget Tony -- with a drummer like him there is no chance this band will be mistaken for a folk band -- even if the venue is powered by carrot cake!
I really enjoyed the light show. I wasn't sure if this was something the venue did, but it turns out the band uses a light show when the layout of the venue permits. Interesting shapes and colors were projected onto the stage during the songs, adding to the general mystical feeling. I regret that none of the lights appear in any of the pictures, since the camera flash obliterated the lights. However, if you watch the video of "The Great Unravel" (scroll up) you will see the light show.
The friend I brought to the show who hadn't seen them before loved them so much she was literally babbling after the show! This band has that effect on people.
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