stolen sweets, so tasty!

Live music, I LOVE YOU!!! Last night Bec, Martina and I went to the CD release party for The Stolen Sweets. Let me begin by saying that it was terrifically fun. Once we got to the theater, we noticed that there were some women in really fantastic dresses. These turned out to be mostly the Yowzas who carried around cigarette boxes full of CDs and other merchandise during the show so if you had to have your CD right then, you could do so. It was a really happy, high energy crowd, in no small part because a lot of the audience members seemed to be friends or family of the band. In any case, it was not a bad crowd to be in. (although the EXTREMELY TALL man in front of me did not engender any tender feelings)

The Stolen Sweets play hot vocal jazz from the 30's and I've always liked this era and type of music. It just sounds so warm and round and human. Maybe it's the guitar, or the stand up bass, or the harmonies, or some other inexplicable thing that just makes me happy. Whatever it is, The Stolen Sweets have it! Unlike some groups doing music from the past, this doesn't sound gimmicky or an attempt to jump on some trend. This band clearly loves the music they are playing. They're a six-piece group, with three female singers, two guitar players (one of whom also sings the guy songs), and a bass player. For this performance they were joined for certain songs by a drummer, a violinist, and a cello player. The album (Shuffle Off To Buffalo) sounds great, but I think they sounded even better live. They performed all of the songs on the album, in order. With added patter, which you just don't get on a CD! Once they got going, some people started dancing in the front. Poor hippie girl dancer. She was all by herself for a while, doing her unique hybrid of the hula and the robot dance (right in front of the video camera, I might add). Soon she was joined by the hippie boy dancer, who was more of a stand in place groover. But shortly after that several couples came up and started swing dancing. (the hippie dancers attempted dancing together briefly, but it was clearly not where their respective dancing muses resided.) My favorite couple was the woman in the striped shirt and the man with a baby strapped to his chest. Way to get the kid involved with music early on! (the baby seemed perfectly content, by the way.)

You may be familiar with characters like Minnie the Moocher and Smokey Joe, but do you know The Sentimental Gentleman from Georgia? What about Charlie Two-Step? These and other characters (like Sweet Lorraine) all appear. The Stolen Sweets are working with songs that had been performed by The Boswell Sisters (who I have since learned recorded songs intended for men to sing. Saucy!) Some of them were familiar to me (Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea), and some of them I'd never even heard of (When I Take My Sugar to Tea, etc.). In any case, if you like that sound, do check out their CD and make it to the next show if you can! You won't be sorry.

The opening act was 3 Leg Torso, and they were also fun! (5 piece -- violin, accordion, bass, and TWO very busy percussionists) I'm hoping Martina writes them up, because she plays the violin AND bought one of their CD's, so I'm sure she can put it all together better than I can.