An Evening with Groucho

I was surprised to see a few weeks back that the Capitol Theatre was hosting an "Evening with Groucho" - a one man show by Frank Ferrante who has made a living impersonating Groucho Marx.    Groucho has been at the top of my list since about 1971 when I first saw "Night at the Opera" on the big screen my freshman year at the University of Buffalo.    Over the last 40 years I've seem all the Marx Brothers movies many times and most of them on the big screen as well as on the tube.    There are many imitators (most notably Alan Alda doing Groucho for years on MASH), but only one original, so I wasn't expecting much, but even bad Marx Brothers (At the Circus, Love Happy, The Big Store)  is better than no Marx Brothers so I wasn't going to miss this one.

First, Ferrante nails it!!!!    Second, the music was excellent - yes, excellent.   In fact the music really made the show.   Not that the one liners and ad libs were bad (I haven't laughed that much in a long time)) but more that the music was performed much like it must have been on stage back in the Vaudeville days.    Live music and dance - what a novelty in these times.

We got there about 40 minutes before the start of the show, so I could get the best seat in the house (think front row aisle) and it was not taken.   Clarie couldn't see over the front of the stage so we moved back one row, but still right on top of the action.   Ferrante actually sat a few rows behind us while Art Pierce was doing the into.   Then Ferrante starts yelling to the crowd to move down front -  interrupting Art.   I knew this was gonna be different - and good.   He then comes out of the crowd, goes on stage, and puts on the Groucho grease paint -  back to the audience - way cool to see the transformation!!!!   Then,  piano player Jim Furmston starts playing an overture of many of  the Marx Brothers tunes I was familiar with from the movies - had my foot tappin right at the start.    Right into "Captain Spaulding" which Ferrante went into with the pith helmet and did the dance routine (which was way more physical than I remember for the movie) all over the stage.    I was hooked - he was Groucho!!

Ferrante also spent a lot of time in the audience.   He came down several times to ad lib with folks, made passes at several ladies, and the poor guy in front of me was the butt of a lot of jokes (like calling for an usher to bring him coffee to keep him awake) He landed in our laps while he was harassing the spotlight crew for not keeping the light on him.    He even used Stittville, Boonville, and Marcy in his ad-libs, and had some good ones about the Rome crowd on a Sunday night.   All night long it was like that - you felt like you were part of the show with him.   It's a rare gift.

The jokes were perfect, many of the classics from the movies, and  the ad libs spot on Groucho, and the songs - wow!!!   Spaulding was good, but "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" was a show stopper.   The energy he puts out is amazing, and his eyes always seemed focus on the audience.   He dances all over the stage - hopping on and off the couch that was there as a prop.   

He also did a number I'd never seen or even heard of "A Doctor is a Mans Best Friend" that was cut from A Day at the Races.   Good, but I can see why it hit the cutting floor - it really did not fit the examination scene with Margaret Dumont.    

My favorite song from all the Marx movies is "Everyone Says I Love You" from Horse Feathers, and that came later in the first set.   He was perfect on that, and flirted with several ladies he had met in the audience while performing it.   

He and Furmston ended the first set with Furmston playing Chico's endless piano riff from  Horsefeathers, and they traded the one liners almost exactly like the movie scene. 

In the second set, Ferrante told some of the stories behind the Marx brothers - how they got their names, a little personal stuff on each, Margart Dumont, and some musical stuff - like how Harpo started playing the harp.   They were mixed in between the songs, gags, and ad-libs and the timing was perfect.  Laughed my ass off.  

Yeah, for one night I really felt like I had spent and evening with Groucho - and hated to see it end - thanks Frank!!!

Christmas Music

In about a week it will hit - non stop Christmas everywhere you turn.   Claire tells me that the stores are already decked out, so I plan not to go into any until I have no alternative.   Can't stand the Christmas commercialization.   So I won't rant about that, but instead, the good part - the music.

Yes - I like Christmas music a lot.   There is such a rich tradition of songs and tunes that is so ingrained that has come from years of listening.   Growing up in Oriskany NY, we lived right behind a restaurant, Trinkaus Manor.  The manor was a beautiful old mansion that operated as a restaurant and for years had the best Christmas light display in Upstate NY.   It was so bright my bedroom was never dark in the season.   What the Manor also did was play loud Christmas Music non-stop from dusk till about 11PM.   We had no choice but to listen in when it was lights out.    So for many of my formative years I listened to an aural barrage of Christmas songs and tunes for several hours a day from Thanksgiving until about mid-January.   At the time I hated it.

When I started playing seriously all those tunes remained in my head.   Some of the first stuff I played by ear was Christmas tunes - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, First Noel, Jolly Old St Nicholas, Joy to the World, and What Child is This.   Since I've been playing I've also been drawn into listening to acoustic covers, and Christmas music in Celtic, Old Time, Finger picking, and Cajun styling.   Can't get enough of it this time of year.   But most of all I just enjoy the heck out of playing the tunes on the mandolin and having a good time arranging them my own way.   I've done some performing of Christmas stuff and it is a blast.   People aren't used to hearing it in an acoustic setting with mandolin, bouzouki, mandola, and other acoustic instruments. 

Last year I performed accompanying a reading of the Christmas Carol and had a hand in arranging the music - one of the most enjoyable gigs I've done in a long time.  Not only was the music a blast, but my daughter Kelly did the singing and I played with three good music friends Mike Hoke, Skip Mansur, and Mike Carroll.   The recordings of our practice session were good enough to make my Ipod.

So for the next month or so I'll be driving Claire crazy playing my Christmas stuff in the music room for my own amusement.  Fun - you bet. 

Come to think of it I may have to start a Christmas Band one of these days!

Playing well with others

Just finished reading a biography of Jerry Garcia, which was pretty interesting as it was focused on the music.   One of the themes that parallels my musical experience was how certain players can give or create energy for the other players and make a group sound better.   The book gave examples of how Bruce Hornsby joined the Dead in the 90's and how his stage presence and attitude pushed the band to higher levels of play, during a period when the band was particularly flat musically.   

What did Bruce do that was so magic?   In the descriptions, it was all about in the moment communication - eye contact, smiling, being aware of the other players space, listening, and playing to compliment as well as lift the other players.  

That description woke me up a bit as it reminded me of so many musicians I have had the privilege of playing with over the years.   Its also  how I try to be when I play in any group setting.    It is such a kick to play with folks who give back and also such a lift to my playing when it comes my way.   Even better, I enjoy the giving aspect, and seeing how it affects others I play with.   I always try to compliment the folks around me, and to do what I can to make them sound better.   (Perhaps because most of my musical life has been as a bass and rhythm guitar player? - naw its deeper than that)   Even when playing the lead stuff on mandolin or banjo I find it more fun when my part is pushed a bit by a solid rhythm player who communicates and has the ability to listen and pick the spots.   

I have so many "favorite" people that I play with that to name folks would probably cause some sins of omission.    But one gal stands out because it was from playing and jamming with her that I first became aware that doing this stuff was important to my development as a musician.  That's my friend Rachel Eddy.  BTW - if you haven't heard the CD she and her husband Kristian Herner   recently finished  - "Chilly Winds" do yourself a favor and pick it up at CD Baby.  Rachel is a great singer, fiddler, and all around performer.   Kristian is one heck of an OT banjo player and also a great person to play music with.

                                  Me and Rachel summer 2010 at the Dinosaur BBQ

I can't say I've ever seen any musician who blends so well with so many different players of all levels, and who has the ability to make the players around her sound better.   She is always passing smiles and nods when she plays and lets you know when its working.  Her eye contact speaks volumes.    It's a true talent that she has, and one that I continually aspire to.

The return of a good old habit

One of my old habits (one of the few good ones anyway) was going to the library with the kids every other saturday morning and spending an hour or so letting them hang out in the stacks, while I went off and browsed.   Then we'd all bring home arms full of books - I like to borrow the limit - to keep us in good reading till the next visit.

When I was in college I used to get lost in the University Library just bopping from stack to stack and pulling books on topics that interested me.    I found great stuff that had no relation to my formal education, but some of those books played a big part in my ongoing education.   Anyway, I wanted my kids to grow up and hopefully love the library as much as I do.  I always told them that the place was ours, and we could take any book home we wanted anytime.    

When they finally got to the teenage years, this stopped, and unfortunatly I stopped too.   Habits are easy to form, and some easy to break.   Seems like its been 10 years or more since my regular Saturday visits, though I did occasionaly stop by and pick up a few books now and then.    I still read a lot, but it had shifted from books to magazines - Atlantic Monthly, Newsweek, Time, Wine Spectator, Kiplingers - and my reading became more directed not by my choice, but by the stuff that showed up in the mailbox.  

I started back a few months  ago, and have had several stacks of books visit the house.   Since I'm inclined musically,  since I started back I've read a Woody Guthrie Autobiography, a new book on the Beatles finacial situation "You Never Give me Your Money",   Townes Van Vandt's biography (what could have been),  a bio of AP Carter and Family,  a really great Louis Armstrong bio, and a whole lot of stuff that I looked at and didn't finish.   Currently, I'm plowing through a biography of Jerry Garcia "Garcia" that is interesting in that it is focused more on his musical life and not on the mess he made of himself and his friends.

One of lifes pleasures is a good book - forgot how much I missed it.   Can't wait to finish this one and see what is up there in the stacks waiting to come home next week.

Election Day

It always feels good to get out and vote on a sunny November afternoon, though the local town ballot had very few contested elections - darn shame - hate to see imcumbents so entrenched that they don't even have to put on a campaign.    The good news is that the TV ads will be gone for a short while until the 2012 cycle hits.   Not that I saw a lot, but I usually watch the AM news before starting my day, and all that was on was those darn ads.

What caught my attention this morning regarding  the TV ads was the lack of music.   In my mind, pairing an effective ad with good music is a double whammy - the connection between the song/tune and the canidate is heightend in the brain.   Good music would have made those crappy commericals a lot better.   A good tune, and there are 1000's in the public domain would have made some of those ads a lot more interesting and maybe effective.   Who knows.  But is sure feels good to vote!!