At our January program, we?re betting you won?t be able to sit still. The Hot Seats are aptly named. This Richmond-based high-energy quintet gets everybody moving.
The Hot Seats play stringband music with simple intentions: to continue the role of traditional musician as entertainer and commentator. Think Homer and Jethro, The Skillet Lickers, Woody Guthrie, Gus Cannon, Phil Ochs, Uncle Dave Macon, even Frank Zappa ? these are pools from which The Hot Seats draw. So they seek out obscure classics to resurrect, and they write original music, both delivered in their hard-to-classify style(s). There?s also a satirical bent that?s been known to raise an eyebrow or two at their more outrageous musical suggestions. The band loves diversity. They trade virtuoso solos and deliver tight bluegrass riffs while driving full-tilt with a rock?n? roll attitude -- then flash back into old-time form, with ragtime bounce and jugband cool. Add some eastern melodies, a dip or two into klezmer tradition, and haul it all into the 21st century with a great big sense of irreverent humor. Mix together an Appalachian favorite, a song about the price of gas, a Brahms dance tune, a jugband blues, a freylakh, and a couple of cockeyed originals ? those are all part of their CD Retreat to Camp Candy Temptation Island.
Once known as Special Ed & the Shortbus, the band consists of Josh Bearman (mandolin, bass & vocals), Ben Belcher (banjo, bass & vocals), Ed Brogan (guitar & vocals), Graham DeZarn (3rd-generation fiddler), and Jake Sellers (percussion & bass).
Do you like medicine-show theatrics? Or skiffle? The Fugs? Kazoo solos? Acoustic mayhem? Then come see the Hot Seats at 8 pm on Saturday, January 22, 2011, at the Washington Ethical Society Auditorium, 7750 16th St., NW, Washington, DC 20012. General admission is $15, free for FSGW members. And don?t forget to bring your dancing shoes and your funnybone.
