Hey! I Like Bedlam Too...

 I recall once when my son Morgan was in college I paid him a visit at his place and as we sat talking his music played from a laptop. It was a nice evening enhanced by the vibe of good tunes and I was proud my son had such great taste. I asked about where he was hearing and acquiring his music and he said, "I ripped it all from your cds." Well I do have an extensive library of records and cds and sometimes I forget what's in it. One thing for sure, my soon to be four year old grandson Ezra is not going to let me forget that I have a copy of Bedlam Ballroom by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. 

If you don't know the Zippers they are a band formed back in 1993 and combine 1930s swing with a weird old America carnival atmosphere and older musical forms such as blues, gypsy jazz and klezmer. The band is led by Jimbo Mathus and has had some on and off periods but a reconstituted combo has been back releasing new music since 2016. We saw the Zippers with Scott, Ellen, Suzi and Charlie on New Years Eve 2016/2017 in New Orleans. Me and Cathy have also seen Jimbo on his own twice. He's a national treasure. 

Bedlam Ballroom opens with Gene Krupa style drumming. It's a heavy swinging jungle beat with thudding toms that gives away to a bossa nova swing. It's nice we have the drum set in this room as Ezra can work on his feel for that kind of riff. When the singing starts he then begins lip syncing the words like he was in Milli Vanilli. The brilliant neon colors of the cd cover are an eye catcher for him and he's had Cathy make a couple of copies to go. 

Reviews of this cd were a bit lukewarm when it came out and the band broke up afterwards but we only care about what we think and me and Ezra think this album was good. 

Also playing on Bedlam Ballroom was violinist Andrew Bird. Jimbo and Andrew have out a new release as a duo and I will be watching for tour dates. 

So one of these days Ezra will be all grown up and I'll be a feeble old man and I'll marvel that he listens to great music. Music is a seed planted that continues to grow.