The Day I Fell for Klezmer Music

ShanWow, Hi-C and I were treated to a lovely dinner courtesy of SlowHands tonight (my first Yorkshire puddings! No really pudding!). This served as great fuel for a few hours of swallow-report editing. After our impressively productive evening (the report isn't due until Nov 30th!) everyone but the cook headed to the Tranzac to see ShanWow's husband (Byron Birdman) play. He is 1/5th of an ensemble, "The Last Birdmen", that play Klezmer music. The place was small and the atmosphere great and I discovered a new favourite kind of music.

First reason it was great: it was the perfect combination of instruments. No vocals needed just an accordion (Byron), drums, bass, clarinet and violin. The drummer was fascinating to watch as he seemed to find a new sound from each drum and cymbal every time he used it. His drums were littered with various metal objects, some of which he would pick up partway into a song, tap once and then place on the ground not to be used again. But that note needed to be there.

It has been a musical weekend for me. Friday night the lovely Beth* invited me to see The Morning Benders at the Mod Club. Instead of saying no because I didn't know them and I'm cheap (there, I said it. I wasn't fooling anyone) I said yes because it sounded fun. It was fun! Before the show I had listened to the album about 4 times and nothing felt like it stuck with me so my hopes weren't especially high. But I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of their show and the talent of the band. Their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" was swoon-worthy (including bubbles. From the ceiling!). After the concert we chatted in a cafe in Little Italy. They sold my red velvet cupcake to someone else after selling it to me so they upgraded me to a whole slice. I love a deal! Red Velvet is worth it for the icing.

*She already did all the work re-capping this concert so read it here!