A hundred years ago, showmen selling patent medicines traveled the country, convincing the public through a bit of song and dance and earnest exhortation that a few drops of their dodgy concoctions would put a spring in the step and a smile on the face.
Setting up his one-man-band kit atop a rickety wooden table and an old suitcase Friday at the Empty Bottle, the solo entertainer known as the Lonesome Organist echoed those long-gone medicine men–except that the magic cure he offered had everything to do with the restorative power of music and nothing to do with dodgy concoctions.
Once he ensconced himself behind his musical gear–a drum kit (complete with an upside-down teakettle), a guitar, a couple of keyboards and a combination microphone-harmonica setup–the Organist launched into a musical journey that compressed gospel, country, rock and ominous film soundtracks into one swooping roller-coaster ride.
Squawks, squeaks and yelps came from the echo-laden microphone and harmonica; blazing one-handed riffs shot out from the guitar; and fun house melodies spewed from the keyboards, creating a head-spinning melange. After playing a short, gentle, guitar-only ditty, he would launch into a blistering Black Sabbath riff or a swirling, carnival-esque, spaghetti-western soundtrack.
If the Addams family met up with a circus full of disco-metal-roots-rock fanatics and they all decided to create the score for a European film noir, the result might sound something like what the Lonesome Organist produced Friday night.
Though the show was thoroughly entertaining, its only drawback was that few musical ideas got explored for any length of time. Everything flashed by just a little too quickly.
I especially wished the Lonesome Organist had made his finale a bit longer. Those who say showmanship is dead haven’t seen this enterprising young man put on tap shoes–one of which has a tambourine attached–and play a steel drum while tapping out a percolating rhythm with his feet.
Like the rest of his show, it was utterly charming, thoroughly entertaining, most impressive and over too soon.
