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October 04, 1991 - Image 66

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1991-10-04

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

ENTERTAINMENT

Right:
Neal Okin and his horn.

Center:
Captain Dave makes it
happen on stage.

Left:
Rama Kolesnikow on
keyboard.

Hard Edgecil.

LESLEY PEARL

Jewish News Intern

C

aptain Dave and the
Psychedelic Lounge
Cats are living proof
that pop culture and too
many organ renditions of
"Hava Nagilah" can have
permanent effects.
The Ann Arbor-based
band, consisting of Mike
Joffe, Dave Renneker, Rama
Kolesnikow, Dave Murray,
Dave Stollard, Tom Byrne,
David Horowitz and Neal
Okin, has been gracing Aim
Arbor, East Lansing, Grand
Rapids, Kalamazoo and
Toledo stages for almost two
years with its covers of "The
Love Boat Theme", parodies
of "The Girl From Ipanema"
— changed to "The Girl
From Ypsilanti" — and their
original "Free James
Brown" and "Fat Albert's
Neighborhood."
Dressed in crushed-velvet
smoking jackets and slicked-
back locks, the Psychedelic
Lounge Cats croon funked-
up, tripped-out, '90s-style
lounge tunes — complete
with light show, smoke and
bubble machines — while

.

66

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1991

These psychedelic cats blast
a hard rock screech at the
songs of the past.

Captain Dave boogies
upstage in polyester and
platform shoes. Unlike their
swooning predecessors, Cap-
tain Dave and the
Psychedelic Loungecats get
the audience out of its gin
gimlet swaying stupor and
onto the floor to dance and
drip sweat.
However, these University
of Michigan and Eastern
Michigan University
students and graduates
weren't always martini-
carrying musicians. The
bunch didn't get groovy un-
til rummaging through the
music collection of the
Bursley Hall Library at the
University of Michigan.
"We found albums by Bert
Camfert, the Walter
Wanderly Trio — Brazil's
number one organist — and
the original 'Girl From
Ipanema' ," said Mr. Joffe,
the band's rhythm guitar
player. "It was so cheesy,
but it gave us "That Happy

Feeling," just like the name
of the album by the Walter
Wanderly Trio.
"These were lounge stan-
dards we heard at weddings
and bar mitzvahs. My
mother used to clean the
house to this music," Mr.
Joffe said.
Soon Mr. Joffe and pals
were scouring record stores,

"You just can't
resist dancing to

Macho Man,"

Mike Joffe

picking up nostalgia from
the 1940s and 1950s in addi-
tion to 1970s classic disco
and funk by the Village Peo-
ple and K.C. and the Sun-
shine Band.
With the exception of
keyboard player Mr.
Koleskinow, the Psychadelic
Lounge Cats were musical
novices — jamming the

"Dukes of Hazzard Theme
Song" in the dorm. After a
bit of practice and a bit of
luck, the band landed some
parties, and in the winter of
1988 was billed as an open-
ing act at Bookies in Detroit.
Unsure of what to expect
from the audience, Captain
Dave and the Psychedelic
Lounge Cats soon realized
people were paying to see
them, so they could do pretty
much whatever they wanted
— including adding a light
show, smoke machine and
movies — within limits.
However, when Jimmy the
Meat Dancer joined the en-
tourage, Rick's American
Cafe in Ann Arbor pulled
the plug on the band — lit-
erally.
Dressed in a steak skirt
and sausage necklace,
Jimmy became a bit of an in-
stitution, later spawning the
popular creamed corn
dancers. All friends of the
band, the dancers are rarely

seen on stage anymore due
to the local controversy.
"We always seem to meet
people who want to get in-
volved in what we're doing,"
Mr. Koleskinow said of his
food friends.
Mr. Joffe attributes much
of that interest to the
nostalgia the band taps into.
As children of a careful era,
growing up knowledgeable
about AIDS and drug abuse,
the carelessness of the 1970s
can be appealing, he said.
"We encourage safe swing-
ing," Mr. Joffe said. "Plus,
everyone likes to disco.
Nostalgia is about what you
remember from childhood.
And you just can't resist
dancing to 'Macho Man.' "
With plans to move to the
West Coast, specifically San
Francisco, Captain Dave and
the Psychedelic Lounge Cats
will be entertaining locally
at least through October.
They hope their originality
and humor —differentiating
them from typical four-piece
college bands — will be the
key to their success.
"This is the best job
imaginable, especially since
none of us are ready to enter
the real world," Mr.
Koleskinow said.



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