Folk and Frenzy at the Den

Old Hat - photo by Alison Cartwright

The second act of the night is Old Hat, and what can one say? Two men and two women take the stage and proceed to give us songs divined from their spiritual leader W. Alan Yankovic (who has a blog, and unconfirmed connection to the musical parodist of similar name).

Songs in Friday night’s set included “Dominic the Donkey,” “Uncle Pat’s Pig Roast,” and “Fucking Morphine,” which was described as “the song about the time we took drugs and nothing happened.” They take breaks in between songs to auction off a macabre painting, and end up taking a collection from the audience – twice, because they weren’t satisfied with the results of the first go-around.

All this, and the music itself was fun, spectacularly entertaining, and very often witty. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen someone play the acoustic bass with intensity, but that is what Old Hat’s bassist Preston Spurlock did. Besides being a talented musician, his violent outbursts with and towards this usually-docile instrument were perhaps the most entertaining part of the show. I don’t know if his rage-fueled bass-playing was part of the act, or just part of an artist’s passion in the moment – I don’t care, it was fucking fun.

These musicians (the others are Dibson Hoffweiler on guitar, Deenah Vollmer on mandolin, and Fran Agnone on drums) smile out the side of their mouths throughout the set, as though they’re getting away with something. Indeed, at one point Hoffweiler – their sort-of lead man – remarked that they must be doing something wrong, because not nearly enough people had walked out yet.

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http://www.newyorker.com/arts/events/above/2009/12/07/091207goab_GOAT_above

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VARIETY SHOW TELETHON BASH

The Debutante Hour, a lively female vocal trio whose members play the accordion, the cello, and the drums, needs money to record a new album, so they’re putting on a show, with performances by other bands, jugglers, puppeteers, opera singers, and comedians. (The roster includes Jonathan Wood Vincent, the Wowz, Phoebe Kreutz, Old Hat, Kung Fu Crime Wave, Rachel Feinstein, Michael Richter, Victor Varnado, Herb Scher, Marti Newland, Sweet Soubrette, Grits and Harmony, and the Orange Teardrops.) Donations will be accepted on twenty old—allegedly Soviet—rotary phones, and there will be a silent auction for such prizes as a private show in the winner’s living room, cupcakes baked by the Debutantes, and a canoe trip with the group down the Gowanus Canal. (Ukrainian National Home, 140 Second Ave., between St. Marks Pl. and 9th St. 212-529-6287. Dec. 5 at 7.)

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