Washboard Jungle

Last updated

Washboard Jungle is a four-man group that combines elements of folk music, classic rock, comedy, dance, and performance art. [1] The members include Bob Goldberg (keyboards, accordion, bulbul tarang, percussion, vocals), Henry Hample (banjo, fiddle, mandolin, ukulele, percussion, vocals), McPaul Smith (bass guitar, jug, percussion, vocals), and Stuart Cameron Vance (guitars, kazoo, percussion, vocals). They took their name from the movie Blackboard Jungle. [2]

Contents

The group was founded in New York City in 1989 by Henry Hample, [3] the son of noted humorist Stuart Hample. [4] [5] Often referred to as a "post-modern jug band," [6] [7] they've used up to 40 musical instruments and household utensils in their live shows, [8] including washboards, spoons, bongos, pennywhistle, melodica, a potato masher, a carrot grater, a toy hammer, a vacuum cleaner, water glasses, and digital samplers. [9] [10] [11] [12] They reinterpret traditional folk songs, and the songs of other artists ranging from Hoagy Carmichael to Pink Floyd, but also write original songs in a comic vein. [1]

The group has a longstanding relationship with the New York experimental performance space Dixon Place, [13] [14] [15] [16] and has performed at other New York theatrical and music venues, [17] including regular appearances in the "No Shame" series at the Public Theater. [18] [19] They have also toured to festivals, colleges, and other venues from Maine to North Carolina. They sometimes perform for children, [8] [20] [21] [22] and they continue to receive airplay on kids' radio programs. [23] [24] They officially disbanded in 1994 but have reunited several times since. [25]

A poster advertising the band is visible briefly during a scene in the 1993 film Manhattan Murder Mystery, behind Woody Allen's character.

Discography

Related Research Articles

Washboard (musical instrument)

The washboard and frottoir are used as a percussion instrument, employing the ribbed metal surface of the cleaning device as a rhythm instrument. As traditionally used in jazz, zydeco, skiffle, jug band, and old-time music, the washboard remained in its wooden frame and is played primarily by tapping, but also scraping the washboard with thimbles. Often the washboard has additional traps, such as a wood block, a cowbell, and even small cymbals. Conversely, the frottoir dispenses with the frame and consists simply of the metal ribbing hung around the neck. It is played primarily with spoon handles or bottle openers in a combination of strumming, scratching, tapping and rolling. The frottoir or vest frottoir is played as a stroked percussion instrument, often in a band with a drummer, while the washboard generally is a replacement for drums. In Zydeco bands, the frottoir is usually played with bottle openers, to make a louder sound. It tends to play counter-rhythms to the drummer. In a jug band, the washboard can also be stroked with a single whisk broom and functions as the drums for the band, playing only on the back-beat for most songs, a substitute for a snare drum. In a four-beat measure, the washboard will stroke on the 2-beat and the 4-beat. Its best sound is achieved using a single steel-wire snare-brush or whisk broom. However, in a jazz setting, the washboard can also be played with thimbles on all fingers, tapping out much more complex rhythms, as in The Washboard Rhythm Kings, a full-sized band, and Newman Taylor Baker.

War (American band)

War is an American funk-rock band from Long Beach, California, known for several hit songs . Formed in 1969, War is a musical crossover band that fuses elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae. Their album The World Is a Ghetto was Billboard's best-selling album of 1973. The band transcended racial and cultural barriers with a multi-ethnic line-up. War was subject to many line-up changes over the course of its existence, leaving member Leroy "Lonnie" Jordan as the only original member in the current line-up; four other members created a new group called the Lowrider Band.

Meredith Monk American composer

Meredith Jane Monk is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer.

Use Your Illusion Tour

The Use Your Illusion Tour was a concert tour by American rock band Guns N' Roses which ran from January 20, 1991 to July 17, 1993. It was not only the band's longest tour, but one of the longest concert tours in rock history, consisting of 194 shows in 27 countries. It was also a source of much infamy for the band, due to riots, late starts, cancellations and outspoken rantings by Axl Rose.

Unsane (band)

Unsane was an American noise rock trio that was formed in New York City in 1988. Its music touches on elements of hardcore punk and metal. The writer Patrick Kennedy wrote, "While developing the blueprint for noise-metal bands to follow, Unsane cut a remarkable swath through underground music, inspiring a devoted, cult-like following around the world."

Maná

Maná is a Mexican rock band from Guadalajara, Jalisco. Maná is considered one of the best-selling Latin music artists with over 25 million records sold worldwide. The group's current line-up consists of vocalist/guitarist Fher Olvera, drummer Alex González, guitarist Sergio Vallín and bassist Juan Calleros. Maná has earned four Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammy Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards Latin America, six Premios Juventud awards, nineteen Billboard Latin Music Awards and fifteen Premios Lo Nuestro awards.

Memphis Jug Band

The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group active from the mid-1920s to the late 1950s. The band featured harmonica, kazoo, fiddle and mandolin or banjolin, backed by guitar, piano, washboard, washtub bass and jug. They played slow blues, pop songs, humorous songs and upbeat dance numbers with jazz and string band flavors. The band made the first commercial recordings in Memphis, Tennessee, and recorded more sides than any other prewar jug band.

The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, also known as Soapbox Circus or Matchbox, were an Australian jug band formed in 1969. It centred on Mic Conway on lead vocals, washboard and ukulele; and his brother, Jim Conway, on harmonica, kazoo and vocals. They issued four studio albums, Smoke Dreams, Wangaratta Wahine, Australia and Slightly Troppo (1978), before they disbanded in September 1980. The Conway brothers reformed the group in 2010 as Captain Matchbox Reignited and disbanded again two years later.

Blotto was an American rock band from Albany, New York, United States, known for mixing music and humor. They formed in 1978 out of the Star Spangled Washboard Band, a comedy jug band whom the New York Times described as "reminiscent of collision between the Earl Scruggs Review and the Three Stooges." Blotto's music combined new wave and soul/R&B, but with comedic themes. It began as a pick-up band in Saratoga Springs at a club then known as 17 Maple Ave., with three Washboard Band alumni, plus a drummer and a bassist. They were joined by Blanche Blotto, who contributed vocals and keyboards and inspired the band's drumhead lady logo. They began to amass a following and played in the New York City area at clubs such as The Ritz, SNAFU, Eighty-Eight, and My Father's Place. DJ Vin Scelsa of WNEW-FM picked up on their initial recording of "I Wanna Be A Lifeguard," which soon became the theme song of the Jones Beach Lifeguards. Their songs were played on the Dr. Demento Show, and they appeared on television's Uncle Floyd Show. They toured frequently and were popular primarily in the northeastern United States, especially among college students.

Combustible Edison, founded in the early 1990s in Providence, Rhode Island, was one of several lounge music acts that led a brief resurgence of interest in the genre during the mid-1990s.

Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls Private, secondary school in Hewlett Bay Park, NY

Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls is a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school, a college preparatory high school for grades 9-12, located in Hewlett Bay Park in Nassau County, New York, United States.

Alex Acuña Peruvian musician

Alejandro Neciosup Acuña, known professionally as Alex Acuña, is a Peruvian-American drummer and percussionist.

The Woodbox Gang is a band formerly based in Herod, Illinois, then out of Makanda, Illinois. They play an eclectic, unique style of bluegrass music labeled by some as "insurgent Americana," "jug-punk," "y'allternative," and "funk-a-billy;" though they prefer the terms "caustic acoustic" and "trashcan Americana".

Possum Dixon

Possum Dixon was an American rock band, which existed between 1989 and 1999. Fronted by singer-songwriter and bassist Rob Zabrecky, the group's neo-new wave pop and post punk style first appeared among a string of early independently released 7 inch singles and on their self-titled debut on Interscope Records in 1993. Zabrecky's lyrical content often described love lost and slacker life in Los Angeles.

<i>So Many Roads (1965–1995)</i> Box set by the Grateful Dead

So Many Roads (1965–1995) is a five-disc box set by the Grateful Dead. Primarily consisting of concert recordings from different periods of the band's history, it also contains several songs recorded in the studio. All but one of the tracks were previously unreleased. The album was released on November 7, 1999. It was certified a gold record by the RIAA on April 12, 2000.

Zack Hample American baseball collector

Zachary Ben Hample is an American baseball collector. He claims that he has collected more than 11,000 baseballs from major league stadiums in North America, including Alex Rodriguez's 3,000th career hit and Mike Trout's first career home run.

Stoo Hample author

Stuart E. Hample, also known as Stoo Hample, was an American children's book author, performer, playwright and cartoonist who sometimes used the pseudonyms Joe Marthen and Turner Brown, Jr. He is best known for the books Children's Letters to God and The Silly Book, and the comic strip Inside Woody Allen. He was the father of Zack Hample.

William Lynch Jr. American politician and political consultant

William "Bill" Lynch Jr. was an American politician and political consultant, advising politicians from the Democratic Party. He was a prominent political figure in New York politics, especially within the African-American community. In 1999, Lynch founded the political consulting firm Bill Lynch Associates, LLC (BLA), where he served as chairman from its founding until his death.

Naglfar (band) Swedish melodic black metal band

Naglfar is a Swedish melodic black metal band formed in 1992. The group was formed by Jens Rydén and Kristoffer Olivius, originally under the name Uninterred.

References

  1. 1 2 Jan Stuart, review of Washboard Jungle in "Bad Clean Fun" at HERE Arts Center, New York Newsday, Feb. 21, 1994
  2. ↑ Tim Coffey, "The Boys in the Jug Band," Washington Blade, Nov. 8, 1991
  3. ↑ Joshua Lowe, "Washboards at DC Arts Center," Baltimore Alternative, November 1991
  4. ↑ Dale Anderson, "Dreams Grow Up," Buffalo News, Oct. 19, 1990
  5. ↑ Bruce Weber (2010-09-24). "Stuart E. Hample, Humorist and Cartoonist, Dies at 84". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  6. ↑ Wayne Robins, "Extremes From Punk to 'Purple,'" New York Newsday, Feb. 1, 1991
  7. ↑ Paul E. Comeau, "The Wash Cycle" CD review, Dirty Linen, December 1994/January 1995
  8. 1 2 Erin St. John Kelly (1994-02-06). "Playing in the Neighborhood". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  9. ↑ Chuck Cuminale, "Gabba Gabba," Rochester City Newspaper, March 14, 1991
  10. ↑ Eve Zibart, "It's a Jungle Out There," Washington Post, June 26, 1992
  11. ↑ Blake Green, "Heads Up: Washboard Jungle," New York Newsday, Feb. 15, 1994
  12. ↑ "Surfacing," New York Times, March 6, 1994
  13. ↑ Wif Stenger, "Cement Mixer," New York Press, Sept. 15, 1989
  14. ↑ John Hammond, review of "Bad Neighbors: The Soap Opera" at Dixon Place, New York Native, Oct. 29, 1990
  15. ↑ Robert Makin, "Washboard Jungle," East Coast Rocker, March 6, 1991
  16. ↑ Jennifer Dunning (1993-12-03). "Critics' Choices; Dance: On a Shoestring". New York Times. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  17. ↑ "Last Chance: Best of All Washable Worlds". New York Times. 1992-10-02. Retrieved 2012-06-18.
  18. ↑ "'Chowder' Time," New York Daily News, Nov. 30, 1992
  19. ↑ Susan Shapiro, "Tryout Puts the Rest to 'Shame,'" New York Post, Dec. 10, 1992
  20. ↑ "Stuff for Kids," New York Daily News, Feb. 20, 1993
  21. ↑ Lowell, Jessica (19 May 1994). "Andy's Gearing Up for Summer Season". The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  22. ↑ "Washboard Jungle Benefit Concert at Andy's Summer Playhouse". The Telegraph. 20 May 1993. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  23. ↑ "WXPN Playlist for 04-09-2012" . Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  24. ↑ "Knock on Wood Episode 33: Manias". WGXC. 2011-10-21. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  25. ↑ "A Washboard Jungle Reunion Concert". Dixon Place. 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.