Audio-Visuals

ASYLUM STREET SPANKERS: SIDESHOW FEZ
Directed by JP Riedie
(Spanks-a-Lot/Buffalo)
Austin's beloved acoustic genre-fuckers the Asylum Street Spankers have made a lot of great studio records, but the best way to hear them is live, onstage, where it's not so much a concert as a variety show. The hard-touring band has probably played your town at least once, but in case it hasn't and ain't gonna, we have Sideshow Fez, a DVD that covers a show in Portland, Oregon. (There's also a brief cinema verité documentary on the band's tour of Japan.) Fortunately filmed before the ailing Stanley Smith retired from active duty, the flick features one of the strongest lineups in the collective's ever-shifting history, with Smith, guitarist Nevada Newman, fiddler/dobroist Korey Simeone, bassist PB Shane, drummer Paul Schlicting and mandolinist Garret Broeshe joining stalwarts Wammo and Christina Marrs. The program covers pretty much ever era of the Spankers' decade-long history, from old blues and rags ("Some of These Days," "St. James Infirmary," "Walkin' and Whistlin' Blues") to old-time takes on more modern tunes (a delightful take on the B-52's' "Dance This Mess Around"). The majority of the program consists of the usual assortment of originals, nicely balancing Marrs' soulful love songs like "Breathin'" and "No Song Sad Enough" (which will hopefully find its way to standard status someday) and Wammo's clever satire ("Tripping Over You," "Winning the War On Drugs"). Other highlights include clarinetist/guitarist Smith's warm "Blade of Grass," Marrs' beautiful singing saw instrumental "The Minor Waltz" and a perfectly Spankerized version of "Hick Hop," Wammo's solo conflation of white trash country rock and gangsta rap. The band even gamely runs through that old Muppets chestnut "Mah Na Mah Na." The musicianship is often stunning; Nevada is a clean, tasteful picker and Wammo has improved mightily as both a singer and a harmonica player. (I kinda miss the washboard, though.) The Spankers have their messages hidden amongst the goodtime tuneage—many of which are made explicit by ill-advised post-production text that distract more than it informs—but the band's greatest goal is to have fun and let the audience have fun along with them, and at that there's probably nobody better. If you never get a chance to see Spanker madness in person, you owe it to yourself to let your living room become ground zero for Sideshow Fez. Michael Toland [buy it]