Firewater- A Beautiful Mashup of Cultures

You might think I've been carried off by flying monkeys and completely forsaken this blog, but you'd be wrong. I am still and will always remain the bookishredhead. I've just been exceedingly busy of late.

I am positively impelled talk about a show I was fortunate enough to see this weekend. If you don't know about Firewater then get ready for a nearly religious experience. If you've ever felt the need to whirl like a Dervish and not look stupid in a crowd-this is the band for you. I've seen Gogol Bordello three times and Firewater would kick their ass and not apologize for it. Getting the point?

Anybody notice that some damn remarkable music is coming out of Brooklyn these days? Well-Firewater is originally from Brooklyn, and actually originally a punk band called Cop-Shoot-Cop (which happened to totally rock). But, then George Bush was elected again and the lead singer, the remarkably talented and visionary Tod A proclaimed he'd had enough of monkey boy and hit the road. I'm not 100% on the history-so don't quote me. But, I'm told he travelled from Deli, India to the Afghanistan border recording along the way. The trip produced an amazing amalgam of musical sounds from some of the best musicians of the area.

Saturday night brought Firewater to The Earl in Atlanta (sans a bass guitar which Eric seems to have left in Austin). I don't think the band thought that we were much of an audience when they first got there. A friend of mine spoke to Tod before the show and said he seemed a bit "whatever", but frankly, I would be a total butt if I was going from town to town and playing in hot, sweaty venues. I just wanted to hear the music. And BOY did we get music. The band played for nearly two hours and honestly blew us all away. I don't think any of us hadn't sweat through our clothes by the end of the night.

I can't decide who to compliment the most? It goes unspoken that Tod A was amazing. His dark, brooding lyrics and sarcastic attitude are absolutely wonderful. Did I mention he's a babe to boot? Meanwhile there is this stunning young woman named Avi Leibovitch, I think, who rocks the hell out of a trombone in a way that I didn't know was possible. Most bands travel with one drummer-but not Firewater. They have the excellent drummer, guitarist and bass player who's names I cannot seem to track down online to give them the heaps of praise they greatly deserve. Then there's Johnny Kalsi-the percussionist. All I can say is Good Lord. He absolutely brings people up off the ground. I haven't danced that much at a show in lord knows how long. Even the sullen little punk rockers behind me were dancing at the end of the show.

I have read blogs about the band before, and Tod A seems surprised that anybody bothers to come out to see them. I don't know if this is their shtick or if its real-but Mister-lemme tell you-come back to Atlanta. We'll be waiting for you.

Oh, and after all was said and done - two encores and a fantastic rendition of a personal favorite "Three Legged Dog", I looked around to see Tod A manning the t-shirt booth. Sweating as much as the rest of us were, he was absolutely charming. I even fanned him with my ever-present fan, to which he gave a kind thank you in return.

Firewater-you have a fan for life.