Tuesday evening in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood the legendary Crocodile Cafe hosted ska masters The Slackers from NYC. This time they were minus two members (Jay Nugent, guitar and Glen Pine, trombone) due to illness or injury, so Jesse Wagner from the Aggrolites saved the day stepping in as a replacement with only one week’s notice. The fact that Jesse had only a week to learn the band’s songs was not evident. He fit right in and obviously enjoyed being on stage with this band as much as they enjoyed him being there.
About half way through their set Jesse broke a guitar string. While he went off stage to replace it, keyboardist/vocalist Vic Ruggiero told a long drawn out and very corny joke. But the guitar string was quickly replaced and the band lit into my favorite Slackers’ song, “Watch This.” This was followed by Sarah and then Jesse took over on lead vocals for Country Man’s Fiddle and got the audience to sing along to, Go with the music, the reggae, reggae music. It was a beautiful moment.
Vic asked the audience who should do a solo, Jesse or Dave (Hilllyard) the sax player. They settled for both with Jesse going first followed by Dave blowing some very sexy sax, inspiring Vic to call him Romantic Dave. Such a description after that could not have been more apt.
Vic switched to guitar for a few songs while Jesse took the mic and sang lead, edging as close to the edge of the stage as possible to goad the audience into singing along.
When he performed the song Old Dog, Jesse, Dave and bassist Marcus Geard often performed choreographed sways while Vic sang and added several dog howls while sitting behind his keyboard. Dave took over on lead vocals for “Fool” while Vic played a mean harmonica with one hand and plunked the keys of his organ with the other.
“Stop That Train” brought a beautiful duet between Jesse and Vic, their perfectly matched voices harmonizing and alternating. After Dave again played a burning hot sax, Vic got the audience to shout, “Disco Dave! Disco Dave!”
When the band returned for an encore Vic took over on guitar again and strutted back and forth across the stage a few times like he was Chuck Berry. I understand why Vic is the band’s mouth piece for most their shows. He exudes charm and looks like a classic New York Italian.
For the finale Dave jumped off stage and blew his sax amid the crowd while Vic dueled with a manic harmonica. Drummer Ara Babajian kept the rock steady beat.
My only complaint was the lighting. The band was consistently bathed in dark blue lights that made them difficult to see on the stage, let alone take decent pictures as the club didn’t allow flash photography. But the band put on an outstanding show despite the obstacles of two members down and the club was packed solid for a Tuesday night.
Warming up the crowd (as if the probably 100 degrees inside the club wasn’t warm enough) was Seattle’s Georgetown Orbits.
Bridgid Roney looked sporting with her newly bobbed hair, tight knit dress, her pink nylons and black Doc Martens. Her voice was crystal and succulent as always. Mike Ayer (who also plays in Natalie Wouldn’t) is the ever barefoot trombonist. He also managed to bounce about the stage when not blowing his horn, which was an amazing fete considering this band is now eight members strong. GTOs played a smooth, romantic ska and got several people dancing despite the stifling heat inside the club.
The rest of Georgetown Orbits are, Orion Anderson – Guitar | Cale Wilcox – Bass, David “Ozzie” Giles – Organ, |Steve Howell – Drums, Sean Jensen (also from Natalie Wouldn’t)- Saxophone and Adam Bruno – Trumpet.
– All photos property of Holly Homan, all rights reserved.
