Bucket of Honey

Bucket of Honey, the third group to play, infuses elements of funk, hip-hop, and rock with vibrant vocals stringing them alltogether. The duo is Nate Bogopolsky singing and playing guitar and Annie Jantzer singing and playing the flute. They both bring a lot to the table, and their effort is impressive considering they are only two people. - SSG.com

Let’s be honest folks, you REALLY haven’t lived until you’ve experienced Bucket of Honey. It’s not just anyone who can cover some of the 90's most remembered rap songs acoustically, while a white girl is rapping, and then playin’ some flute. WTH!?! Read the sentence again, your eyes do not deceive you. Bucket of Honey is what you get when you pair ridiculously talented musicians with a serious sense of humor. So in honor of Coolio‘s birthday, Bucket of Honey are throwing down and getting down at Solo Bar. - SSG.com

The inaugural performance from the Seattle chapter of the Bushwick Book Club brought local musicians together to celebrate the characters and stories from Kurt Vonnegut's 'Slaughterhouse-Five'.

We have something a little different this week, in the form of The Bushwick Book Club (Seattle). The Seattle designation is an important one, because the original Bushwick Book Club is straight out of Brooklyn. It’s an idea that is simple in concept, if not in execution. The original started with Susan Hwang hosting a night of reading and music at Goodbye Blue Monday. Put simply, local musicians come together to perform original songs based on the book of the month.

Now that idea has inspired a west coast chapter of the club. Hosted by Geoff Larson, a nice collection of Seattle’s musical talent came together last month to celebrate Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. Thanks to the magic of the internet, those songs are now available for everyone to hear. If you’ve read the book, there is a lot of fun to be had in the songs. The artists hit on a wide range of themes and images, running the gamut from the comedy of one little Tralfamadorian hand clapping its approval, to the more serious ideas about war. It was an impressive night of music that also raised money for the Seattle Public Library Foundation. You can see all of the songs on the Bushwick youtube page. Here are my two favorite performances to get you started.

First up, Bucket of Honey with “Tralfamadore”. The chorus is so good that after I saw the show it was stuck in my head for a week. Bonus trivia: Annie, from Bucket Of Honey, played Penny in the Seattle version of Dr. Horrible.



And second, “That Ain’t Bad” from Andrew J Nunez. It’s the second song in this video, starting at 5:30. Such a clever use of a small, but important, part of Billy’s adventure.



If you like those, check out the rest of the songs over on the Bushwick youtube page. Next up for the club, The Princess Bride.
- Cliqueclack

Last night, a group of local musicians performed songs in response to The Princess Bride. Paul wasn't kidding about Bushwick Book Club being a good time. I'm also hesitant to talk it up because it's lovely just as it is, and I'll be sad if it gets so popular that it doesn't feel like it did last night: like all your funniest and most creative friends are having a party/show in someone's basement. The set list, drawn from a hat at the beginning of the show, turned out to be perfect, alternating between different kinds of music and not torturing performers with a now-I-have-to-follow-that-guy moment. The sweet and serious songs were as enjoyable as the funny ones, the musicians seemed to be loving it as much as the audience, and moods were high all around.


The sheer breadth of styles and interpretations and commentary was probably the best part. There was Inigo-inspired Spanish guitar, a costumed Humperdinck doing spoken word, a song with a bird whistle solo in the middle, more than one truly excellent woman on piano, a belted-out chorus of “Aaaaaas youuuu wiiiiish,” and some spectacular duets—an acoustic guitar and upright bass duo with a charming love song, and a blindingly awesome rap battle between the man in black and Vizzini, (sample lyric: “Ha! You only think that!/You bested my giant, so clearly I can't drink that”). You can probably find the acts on YouTube, but it's not really the same. Next time, just be there. They'll be doing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Just like any book club, you should try to actually read the book beforehand, but if you can't, you can always be the lady who drinks a bottle of red wine and spends the whole time complaining about her kids. I mean, no, don't actually do that. But you can still be a drunk lady and just enjoy the show.

So thanks, Bushwick Book Club, for making me love my city with your totally joyful and deliciously nerdy music-making, and reminding us of all the incredible talent wandering around the city (or crap-driving, or falling down, or calling in sick because, aaaaack, snow!) on this winter day.
- The Stranger

Oh you've never heard of the Bushwick Book Club? That's not going to last. If the jam packed inaugural performance at the Can Can on Sunday is a sign of things to come, everybody's going to be talking about the musical literary hybrid in no time.

The idea, which drops on us from the city of all good things, Brooklyn, is a simple one: get a bunch of talented musicians to all read the same book and then write a song or two about it. Then perform the songs in front of your booziest well-read friends and you've got yourself the outline for a perfect evening.

For the Seattle chapter's first 'meeting' they chose Slaughterhouse-Five, the classic Kurt Vonnegut novel about time, war, free will and aliens. A good choice, as most people have read the book (or at least like to pretend they have) and it is ripe with universal themes that translate well to song. Like, for instance, being trapped by aliens in a human zoo with a B-list porn star.

Approximately 11 different acts took turn on the stage, performing one or two songs as soloists or duets. Some were quite funny, others were immensely sad. Of note was Bucket of Honey, a good-time duo who's performance made us feel like we were at a school assembly about the bombing of Dresden, if we went to school in an episode of Pete and Pete. We also enjoyed Tai Shan, who's solo performance on the piano was one of the saddest songs our little heart has ever heard. All, however, were shining in their own regard.

Also we enjoyed the delicious and well-made dirty martinis poured by the fine people behind the bar. The dark underground warmth of the Can Can is the perfect venue for such an evening, what with its draping curtains and unmistakable afterglow of all the sexy sexiness that is their usual fair. Because everyone knows that there is nothing hotter than literacy. Except maybe philanthropy, a base covered by their donation of the evening's cover charge to the Seattle Public Library.

It took us a while to track it down, because normally the PR folks are blasting event times and dates like Tokyo billboards, but next on the queue is The Princess Bride, scheduled for Sunday, November 21. Back at the Can Can, still at 9pm.

In the mean time, bust out that library card, go pick up (and read) the next book and save up for your bar tab. It's a page in your calendar worth dog-earing.
- Seattlest