THE MARXIST BROTHERS

A SPLENDID ORCHESTRA

Is in town, but has not been engaged.

ALSO, A DEN OF FEROCIOUS WILD BEASTS

Will be on exhibition in the next Block.

MAGNIFICENT FIREWORKS

Were in contemplation for this occasion,

but the idea has been abandoned.

A GRAND TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION

May be expected; in fact, the public are privileged

to expect whatever they please.

The doors open at seven. The Trouble starts at 8.  (from Mark Twain, describing his speaking engagement. )

The MB's are (redoubtable, all of 'em) ANDY COHEN, blues scholar, road squaller, Memphis-to-the-Yukon driver and unaffiliated sociologist of all things traditional, MARK ROSS, Greenwich Village folk scene veteran, collaborator with U. Utah Phillips, folk and labor historian, and CHICO SCHWALL, multi-instrumentalist, song wrangler and all around trouble maker. Last time we were all in one place we played fiddle-banjo-guitar (etc.) ensemble music and decided to

share it the next time it occurred. Well, it's happening. We can charm your ears, rock your square dance and fan the flames of discontent all at once. With a phalanx of fiddles guitars, banjos and g-d knows what-all, three singers and a collective repertoire that even surprises one another, we're ready to update the sound of the North Carolina-to-New Lost City Ramblers for the era of Yellow Alert. And yes, we have each played a few gigs in our life.

Andy Cohen lives in Memphis when he's not in his car. He plays a lot of guitar and a little of a few other things, and takes the whole Southeast, Chesapeake to Texas, as his source: fiddle tunes and blues, work songs and medicine show routines, tearjerkers and playparties,  ballads and yodels.

With a working repertoire of close to 500 songs, Mark Ross runs the gamut of American Roots Music from hobo ballads & train songs, blues, western swing, mountain ballads, fiddle tunes, raucous banjo melodies, early jazz to the works of contemporary songwriters.  

 

Folksinger, Multi-instrumentalist and songpoet Chico Schwall believes there IS enough to go around and we CAN figure out how to make it work. He has sung at labor rallies, played in pit bands, designed folk music camps for kids, burned up the road with Northwest Touring Theatre and Young Audiences, released three CDs of (mostly) original music and played for countless contra dances. He teaches "Everything with Strings" at the Shedd Institute in Eugene and plays with the Low Tide Drifters and the Axes of Evil String Quartet.