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The Wyldwood
presents a show like no other
Tom Banjo
with Ethan Azarian and friends
Non Commercial Homemade Folk & Country
The Anti-TV Show
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Music at 7:00 PM
(note the early start time!)
Suggested Contribution $10
This is a truly rare opportunity at the Wyldwood.
We aren't even sure how to promote this because it defies all the usual descriptors. Let's try this:
Tom Banjo is Tom Azarian. He lives in Vermont and comes to Austin once or twice a year to visit his son, Ethan. (Ethan has played the Wyldwood twice.) While in town, Tom and Ethan perform together to standing room only crowds at coffee houses like the Cactus Cafe and Cafe Caffeine.
Tom Banjo is both a visual and musical artist. He combines these two gifts to create what he calls his Anti-TV show - also called the Cranky Show. The Anti-TV is a large homemade box with a crank on it. The crank turns a roll of paper (butcher paper) onto which Tom has painted the story of a song (a folk song). While a volunteer turns the crank, Tom, Ethan and friends play their banjos and guitars and sing the folk song. It doesn't take but a few minutes of this before you completely forget what a simple device you are looking at and what a simple song you are listening to - because instead you are beginning to hear the story in the song. You hear the story like you used to hear stories when they were told to you at bedtime or around a campfire.
Tom Banjo is a historical music figure. Through the early 50's, 60's and 70's he was known as the best banjo player in the New England area. Like other non-commercial musicians, he hung around colleges playing alongside everyone else who was doing the same thing. He impressed the college kids enough that they christened him with the moniker Tom Banjo and he impressed his musical pals enough that eventually he turned up in the Grateful Dead song, "Mountains of the Moon." The lyrics of the song ask "Tom, where did you go?" Now, we know the answer.
Tom Banjo is a musical historian. We first saw Tom play at the Cactus Cafe a few years ago and as he introduced his songs, he made it a point to explain where each song came from. He played a ballad from the time of the American Revolution and one from the Civil War; he played a song taken from his Armenian heritage; and he played a classic murder ballad that included, as they all did at that time in history, a talking Minor bird, who witnessed the murder. Tom wasn't trying to teach us - he was just introducing his songs before he played them, but I learned more about folk music that night than I could have thought possible.
If you're interested in seeing a cranky show before you come to see the cranky show, check out these sights, but I feel compelled to advise you that the experience does not translate wholly onto little screen. You really need the Anti-TV machine. So come to the show.
myspace.com/thecrankyshow
youtube.com/watch?v=6680Z8pTZsc
arts.ucsc.edu/GDead/aGDL/moon.html
Here is a link of Jerry Garcia chatting with Hugh Hefner about the hippie scene and then singing "Mountains of the Moon"
See you at the show!
WYLDWOOD NEWS
Tom Banjo will be the last show of this season. We scheduled the show so late in the year to accomodate Tom's travel plans, but having a show in November means you should bundle up. Don't worry, it won't be that cold, but dress in layers anyway and bring a blanket to bundle up in. Winter's coming. If the weather gets too cold outside to keep the banjo in tune, then we'll light a fire in the fireplace and move the show indoors. It'll be cozy but you're guaranteed a seat up close. We're also going to start the show an hour earlier - it'll be warmer that way. So the show starts at 7:00 PM
What a surprise our last show turned out to be! For those of you who haven't heard, our beloved Shinyribs, aka Kevin Russel of the world famous Gourds, was down with the flu and couldn't perform. We didn't want to cancel the show altogether so we took a chance and called Dustin Welch whom we have been talking to about a show next season. Dustin happened to be free that night but his band was spread all over the map and couldn't get to our house in time for the show. So Dustin suggested he invite his father, Kevin Welch to join him on stage. So there it was, father and son, singing some of each of their songs. The night was chilly and the moon didn't come out until the second set, but there was enough light and warmth emanating from the stage to keep us happy.
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