Thursday, August 10, 2006

Starline Rhythm Boys | Christ Church Pocket Park | Aug 10th

I really need to start carrying a camera with me all the time. You never know when someone is going to bring the crazy.

Today, it's was some nutty lady screaming at the Starline Rhythm Boys during their lunchtime show. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Montpelier Downtown Community Association sponsors a series of outdoor concerts during the summer called the Brown Bag Series. All of the shows are in the pocket park next to Christ Church. Normally the shows are a bunch of folkies. So, I don't pay the shows much attention. However, today, my friend I was meeting for lunch is a fan of Starline Rhythm Boys and their brand of rockabilly and country/western. So, we decided to grab some hot dogs and listen to the band in the park.

About 3/4 of the way into their their hour long set is when the fun started. As they finished one of their songs, some old lady in her pajamas and no shoes comes storming across the pocket park. She gets to about ten feet of the band and lets them have it. "TURN IT DOWN! I LIVE FOUR BLOCKS AWAY AND YOU ARE MAKING MY WHOLE BUILDING SHAKE. STOOOOPPPP IT!"

I just start laughing. Few towns have such a collection of kooks like Montpelier. The lady then turns around and starts heading out of the park mumbling to herself and waving her arms. The band looked at each other, conferenced for a few seconds and launched into Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire". Hilarious. Great choice.

Now, it was loud in the park but not that loud. I was able to talk to my friend next to me without much problem and my hearing sucks. If the lady truly lived four blocks away, she must have been living in the meadows or up in the Liberty Street area. I can't imagine that the volume of the show was rattling anything in either of their shows. Could she have heard it? Probably. Rattling the building? Like I said, she was kind of nutty.

That's why I need to carry a camera with me more often. This post would be so much better with photos of the lady screaming at the band and waving her arms. Jeb Wallace-Brodeur, the photographer from the Times-Argus, was there shooting the show. So, hopefully, he has a few pictures of the incident but I doubt they'll print those in the paper.

By the way, next Thursday, the Brown Bag Series will feature Hollywood Farm; whoever the hell they are.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hollywood Farm are, by all accounts, a funk-jazz-jam band. I know — pretty rare 'round here.

I love the guys in Starline, but I haven't heard from them since Paula Routly (one of my bosses) reported on their playing Rich Tarrant rallies.

Flatlander said...

If the old lady didn't like the Starline Rhythm Boys, she'll be quite fired up when that funk/jazz/jam starts rattling her cranium.

I hope SRB are getting a big payday from Tarrant. The guy has been a boon to the caterers in the state as he continues to host these free dinners. He's going to lose badly but at least he spurred the economy in a small way.

If they are playing Tarrantfests without getting paid, they are fools for multiple reasons.