Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams ~ 2011 December 9 ~ The Uncommon Coffeehouse, Framingham, MA
Band personnel: Joziah Longo (lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, mandolin); Sharkey McEwen (backing vocals, lead vocals on one song, guitar, mandolin); Tony Zuzulo (drums); Tink Lloyd (backing vocals, accordion, cello, percussion) ... also known as the Grand Slambovians
Set List
Slambovia - Silver Bells - Winter Wonderland - Very Happy Now - Joy to the World - Christmas Bells - Evenings Like This - Night Before Christmas ... intermission ... Grand Slambovians - Little Drummer Boy - The Christmas Song ["chestnuts roasting on an open fire"] - I Wish It Was Christmas [Sharkey lead vocal] - Northern Sea - Bike - Suddenly It's Christmas - Trans-Slambovian BiPolar Express ... encore ... Angels We Have Heard On High/Gloria
Scroll down past the videos for review; photo gallery to the right.
Videos
"Winter Wonderland":
"Evenings Like This":
"Night Before Christmas":
"Angels We Have Heard On High/Gloria":
Review
After something of an adventure getting there, Concert Going Partner and I cued up with some of our Slambovian friends inside the lobby at the First Parish Framingham Unitarian, not the church itself, but the church hall. Once the doors were opened we got a seat on the Tink side.
This is a very nice coffeehouse venue, with really good homemade baked goods and delicious coffee served at intermission. They use real mugs and plates, always a good thing for keeping trash out of the landfill, and they will give you a free refill on the coffee. The Slambovian merchandise table, ably staffed by Cindy, did a brisk business with concert goers purchasing Slambovian chocolate and coffee beans.
Click on the thumbnail to the right to see a gallery of pictures from the show. Some pictures were taken with a flash (good for closeups of the musicians) and some without the flash (good for the light show).
This is a Christmas show, make no mistake. Joziah states it's not a holiday show. Joziah and Company are not shy at all about celebrating their Roman Catholic childhoods. Joziah tells stories of his father putting a speaker outside the window in their South Philly neighborhood and entertaining the street with old-school Christmas songs. He tells stories of how as a child he felt guilty for enjoying a Christmas eve puppet show more than a program about the birth of Jesus (until Jesus himself appeared and told little Joziah he liked the puppet program better Himself!). But there's nothing heavy-handedly religious about these Slambovians. They enjoy the "Coca Cola Santa Claus" as Joziah phrased it; Tink played along by drinking a bottle of Coke on stage [no endorsement by this website is implied].
The light show, being projected onto the blank wall of the auditorium behind the band, was the best I've seen yet at a Circus concert. Images of snow falling, of Christmas ornaments and wreaths, of trees, of landscapes, of a train rollin' down the tracks (during "BiPolar Express"), of patterns reminiscent of wrapping paper, all set an enchanting mood. The band's clothes also helped with the mood. Joziah wore a festive red shirt with a tweed jacket over it that is so threadbare his elbow shows through. Tink had green tights, a knee-length dress and a long floral-patterned shift over it. Sharkey wore a jacket with a skull on the sleeve and a rose in the lapel. Tony - well Tony dressed in black, like a drummer - but he had a Merry Christmas sign hung up on his drum. The whole stage, including the bass drum, was decorated with Christmas lights and a few poinsettas.
This was a magical show in a lot of ways. Besides the lovely visuals, the set list was a winner all around. There were a few regular Slambovian songs included, but the majority were Christmas-themed. They played their nutty version of "Joy to the World," combined with the Green Acres theme song. They played their Slambovian-pirate-Christmas song "Christmas Bells." They played the quietly beautiful "Evenings Like This," the song in which singing along with the ding-dong-ding-dong section enhances everyone's dumbness, and in Slambovia it is believed that "dumbliness is next to Godliness." This is the song with the line that describes why we keep going to see this band: "Evenings like this make the pain go away." They played the utterly brilliant "Night Before Christmas," in which Joziah recites the lyrics to the famous poem accompanied by the music of a song by Cream called "Pressed Rat and Warthog." (No one else thinks of this kind of stuff.) Joziah played the bass while reciting the poem -- flawlessly. They played a rockin' "Little Drummer Boy" in which Tink played the sitar, and she was incredible. They played "Bike," a song of theirs that is centered around a Christmas gift to a young boy given in tragic circumstances. It's a rocker and winds up being a song of victory and uplift. The icing on the Christmas cookie, at least for me, was their performance of a song written by comedian Jimmy Fallon called "I Wish It Was Christmas," on which Sharkey sang lead. What a treat that was; we always knew Sharkey's voice blends perfectly with Joziah's, and now we know he's a topnotch singer in his own right.
Of course they ended the show with their mad medley of "Angels We Have Heard On High/Gloria."
The auditorium was filled to overflowing, and the coffeehouse volunteers had to put out more folding chairs along the sides. It was a very good audience, singing along happily without the need to be coaxed. Some young people took over a space along the side of the hall for dancing. Joziah apologized for not bringing a high school band to play on a few of the songs (as they sometimes do with their Christmas shows), but as much as it's always enjoyable to hear the kids perform, the Circus tonight were at their peak, elevating the audience's level of happiness and leaving a sparkling dusting of the Christmas spirit on everyone.
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