Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams ~ 2011 November 12 ~ Channing Memorial Church, Newport, RI
Band personnel: Joziah Longo (lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, mandolin); Sharkey McEwen (backing vocals, guitar, mandolin); Tony Zuzulo (drums); Tink Lloyd (backing vocals, accordion, cello, ukulele, melodica, tambourine) ... also known as the Grand Slambovians
Set List
Grand Slambovians - Windmills - Everybody Needs a Change - Very Happy Now - Pushing Up Daisies - Let It Roll - Tink (I Know It's You) - Circus of Dreams ... intermission ... Slambovia - Sullivan Lane - Northern Sea - Ravenous Ways - Talking to the Buddha - Trans-slambovian BiPolar Express ... encore ... The Invisible
Scroll down past the videos for review; photo gallery to the right.
Videos
"Windmills":
"Slambovia":
"Ravenous Ways":
Review
This show was part of the Common Fence Music Series, which normally puts on events at the Community Hall in Portsmouth, but for this show the venue was moved to the larger capacity Channing Memorial Church in Newport, RI. The church is located across from Touro Park, site of a mysterious stone tower that may have been a Colonial era windmill, or maybe it was built by the Vikings. I have included a picture of this structure in the set of pictures.
It's a pretty church, and the stage, while not huge, was adequate for the band. The pews started about twenty feet from the stage, and I joked with my Slambovian friends that it was nice they had a dance floor. (Nobody took advantage.)
The last time the Slambovians played this venue, there was a power failure, and they played an entirely acoustic second set. I missed that show, unfortunately, but I think their willingness to improvise an entirely acoustic set shows their general adaptibility.
This show was one of their best yet! With a songwriter of Joziah's caliber, a band hardly needs to turn to the Dylan or Bowie catalogs for material, and this show consisted entirely of original material, including the rarely-heard "Let It Roll" (a track that was featured on a 5-song EP released as a preview of The Grand Slambovians). While Joziah was introducing this song, Tink rolled her eyes, and Joziah interpreted this as meaning she thinks it's one of their "dumb guy songs." Bring on those dumb guy songs! Tink told us later on that she was rolling her eyes merely as an illustration for the song ("Let It Roll" ... get it?).
Although nothing else in the set was particularly unusual, it was a well-put together group of songs with exceptional pacing. While introducing "Ravenous Ways," Joziah explained, as he often does, that the pronunciation ("ray-va-nus" not "rav-ah-nus") is a South Philly thing, but he also said that once they had played the song for a group of Ojibway listeners, they were told that the "raven" is a bird that is sacred to Native people, and that gives the pronunciation new meaning.
First time I've seen Joziah without a hat. This changes his look a little, and maybe makes him look a little less eccentric.
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