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The tradition continues. Once a year, Seattle juggernaut Zony Mash takes up residency in Seattle's OK Hotel, home to some historic moments in the Zony Mash legacy. This year, the band convened during a week full of turmoil for the American people. Those seeking solace and escape found themselves down on Seattle's waterfront for the "Fifth Annual" (though, I only count 3 previous to this one. Can I get a recount, please?) Zony Mash + Guests Week.
The 4 night stand started off on Election night with the first of 2 Zony Mash straight up shows in lounge. Both pleased the faithful immensely. The first night highlights were a swiftly played Withdrawal Symptoms, Meet the Zony Mash, a superlative Sex Fiend, and a nice long With the Space on Top. Guitarist Tim Young was his typical ferocious self, adding a lot of energy to the whole night. The second night in the lounge started with a great first set with some nice song choices, including John Zorn's Party Girl and Triggerfingers. The show ended with a nice 1-2 punch of Meet the Zony Mash > Snake Bite, 2 great songs that must have been separated at birth.
The next 2 nights found the band accompanied by old friends in various combinations. Thursday featured a set of Zony Mash with, keyboardist and primary songwriter, Wayne Horvitz's old band, Pigpen, blasting through mostly Pigpen material. V as in Victim was a crowd favorite. The second set featured Zony Mash plus the Zony Mash horn section, with Dave Carter on trumpet and coronet, Briggan Krauss on alto sax, Steve Moore on trombone, and Skerik on tenor and baritone saxes. The horn set was a nice warm-up for the throw-down that occurred the next night.
With the question of our nation's leader still in question, the legions arrived en masse, for the final night of the run. First up was a set of improvisations, with Zony Mash as the back bone. Andy Roth on drums, Keith Lowe on bass, Tim Young on guitar, and Wayne on B3 and Nord Lead, were the core group. Like clockwork (literally,) a guest or two would appear from the wings and join the band, while 1 or 2 would leave. The guests included the horn section and Seattle violin/viola virtuoso Eyvind Kang. The group started off slowly and patiently, before exploding into some very intense moments. Andy and Keith held down the session expertly, Andy especially, while treating us to some of the most outrageous drum solos I've heard from him. The dynamics of the whole set were terrific, and benefited greatly from the timed rotation of musicians. When a new guest would join, the jam inevitably changed to fit the new guest.
After the 50 minute first set and a nice short set break, the crowd was ready for their last dose of Zony Mash for a month. The second was action packed, for sure, with the horns adding heavy doses of excitement to Zony Mash classics, such as Meet the Zony Mash and one of the best Let's Get Mashed these ears have ever heard. Sometime after midnight, the band broke into an impromptu version of Happy Birthday for birthday boy, Tim Young, who besides passing around the tequila bottle, also proclaimed, "this is so beautiful." Very true. Eyvind Kang joined in on the action late in the set. And the run came to a thrilling close for the only encore of the whole run, a nicely played Slide By with all the guests.
Another historical run is the books. And for 4 nights, we were able to forget all about the Presidential woes.
Look out on the West Coast for a run with Sex Mob in December!
Jon Epstein
Zony Mash Fan Extraordinaire
Go See Live Music!
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