Last night I went to see Our Band at Barbès (bar-bez’). My original plan was to have dinner at Mile End Deli, the shopping at Trader Joe’s then the show. I left the house late and the train was slow. I ended up going straight to Barbès and got there just a few minutes before showtime. I still got to sit in the seat I always sit in, the front row all the way to the left. It’s not my first choice of seat. I’d prefer to be even further to the left at the table against the wall but even when I got there early I can never get it. Last night it was taken by coats.
The core of Our Band is the duo of Sasha Papernik and Justin Poindexter. You see Sasha’s name and want to say pay-per-nik. You want to but don’t; it’s papp-er-nik. If you look at Justin’s name and think, “the love child of Justin Bieber and Buster Poindexter” and admit it, learn to not admit it.
I know Justin from Silver City Bound, formerly The Amigos, formerly, The Tres Amigos. Sasha is Justin’s wife. I met her at an Amigos show, loved talking to her, and on the basis of that went to see her perform, and loved what I heard. Justin is a virtuoso on the guitar and Sasha on the piano. I have seen Justin back Sasha, and I think I’ve seen Sasha back Justin, but this is the first time I’ve seen them as equal partners in Our Band. Their solo music is not similar, Justin does his conservatory take on Americana. Sasha’s roots are in Russian music, the Great American Songbook, and especially where they come together, Irving Berlin. Bringing them together could be a disaster. It’s not, it’s more than the sum of the parts. It’s right in my sweet spot. They don’t have “a sound.” They fit their sound to the song. They started with something I’ve never heard from either of them, an Everly Brothers cover done with Everly Brothers style harmony. Out of left field for both of them and they knocked it over the Green Monster.
Before I go any further I have to correct an image you have in your head. You’re seeing Justin on guitar and Sasha on piano. If you have been to Barbès you’re seeing her on the Barbès piano. That’s because I neglected to tell you that Justin is Satan, the corrupter of musicians’ souls. He’s in two bands with brilliant pianists, Sasha and Sam Reider from Silver City Bound. When they play with Justin, they both primarily play, the accordion. Sasha did do some songs on the piano, and she’s as brilliant on the accordion, or as it’s sometimes known, Satan’s keyboard, as on the piano. Have I mentioned that my first instrument was the accordion? I just love accordion and banjo jokes. Sasha has a brand-new accordion, it’s color reversed, the natural keys are black and the sharps/flats are white. I’ve seen harpsichords like that but not any other instrument. It’s a great look. Is it terrible that I’ve been looking forward to writing the accordion jokes?
Over the course of an hour they played a huge variety of music, the aforementioned Everly Brothers, Irving Berlin, American Traditional, and originals. I wish I could remember the rest. There was a beautiful love song. There was a “love” song that belongs on Twin Peaks. There was a sing-along. There was even one in Polish. There wasn’t one that I didn’t love. I cannot wait till their album comes out, perhaps in early summer. I started trying to convince them to come to NERFA.
I arrived later than I wanted to but I still beat Sasha there. She walked in, walked up to the microphone, and picked up her accordion. One thing accordions have going for them is that they don’t have to be tuned. Something looked odd as Sasha put the accordion on and turned around. The accordion was at a strange angle. She didn’t show it anywhere else but I wondered if she were pregnant. When she walked to the piano I saw that she was. I’m so glad she said something as the rule is you never ask a woman if she’s pregnant, no matter how obvious it looks. They already have a daughter, that might make NERFA difficult but I hope they do go. Everyone needs to know and book them.
I have never seen a pregnant woman play accordion. You can picture that it would be awkward. It’s also a perfect comedic situation. Playing the accordion puts a lot of pressure on your kid, both before and after it’s born. The poor kid will judge the outside world by the sound of the accordion and not want to come out. If playing Mozart to your unborn child makes it more intelligent what will an accordion do? Has child services been notified? I’d feel bad but even Sasha couldn’t resist joking about it.
Slavic Soul Party was on next. I have heard great things about them and if I had eaten before-hand I might have stayed, but I haven’t. Poutine was beckoning to me and the Mile End was just a short train-ride away. It’s hard for me to not go there when I’m in Brooklyn and it’s convenient. I just found out that they have Montreal bagels. I’ll have to remember to get one to go next time I’m there. I’m not going to not order poutine.
It’s hard to beat a night with Sasha & Justin and poutine. I tied a bow around it by having a hot chocolate with marshmallows when I got home. Put a circle around last night, it was a great one.
Here’s today’s rundown of what Amazon thought I should listen to while writing this.
- All of You – Miles Davis and John Coltrane
- Impressions (Take 3) – John Coltrane
- Wild One – I’m With Her
- Had Me a Girl – Tom Waits
- I Don’t Want to Go Downtown – Gillian Welch
- The Green Fields of America – The Chieftains/Kevin Conneff
- Weary from the Waitin’ – The Wailin’ Jennys
- Joni Mitchell – I Think I Understand
- Willy of Winsbury (Child 100) – Anaïs Mitchell & Jefferson Hamer
- Birmingham Sunday – Rhiannon Giddens
- Both Sides Now – Herbie Hancock
- Girl of My Dreams – Charles Mingus
- Slow Blues – John Coltrane
- The Theme – Miles Davis & John Coltrane
- Frank’s Song – Tom Waits
- Dark Turn of Mind – Gillian Welch
- Valse Romantique. L.79 – Aldo Ciccilini – Debussey
Wise Madness 