Wino Vino - The Parlor, Austin TX - May 21, 2009

[from Austin TX] Austin’s own Man Man. I came specifically to see this band, whom I’d always remembered from a chance sighting at an Eastside art show years ago. And they’ve grown from a ramshackle three-man band to an organized orchestrated eight-member-band (accordion, washboard, guitar, drums, upright bass, trumpet, clarinet, and violin). A motley crue in a good way. Definitive gypsy punk with some touches of Irish bar ballads. Irresistibly danceable. Their energy and showmanship is coupled with genuine musical talent – the music was accompanied by yells, yodels and jigs from the band members. The best moments were the clarinet player tooting an upswung clarinet with left hand while pumping his right hand, the washboard solo, covering a The Bike Band song when half of the members of The Bike Band were in this band, and the accordion player calling out some scientific word to describe them playing a new song they hadn’t played before. They have the potential to be an Austin favorite for me if they don’t disband because of other interests. (Photo courtesy of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T4VZg44eFY)