Eagle to Squirrel Variety Hour
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Music
Press
Eagle to Squirrel Variety Hour has brought its raucous blend of experimental music, unique poetry and sensuous dance to Cincy Fringe for a second year. Having won a 2008 Music CEA for Best Electronic/Experimental music, the group offers audiences a wide-ranging, eclectic performance.
Cinema Fantastique is an exploration of Hollywood movies and includes almost completely new material. The concept fixes the performance to a degree and allows the discursive group to frame material in a more coherent and theatrical manner.
Boom Boom is the leader. He possesses a voice which moves from a gravelly bass to a clear, edgy tenor. But the cardinal element of his presentation is the passion with which he presents the sometimes political, sometimes hysterical content of his poetry. Keys is the electronic keyboard and saxophone player. The hot keyboards and the cool, melodic sax are integral contributions to the band’s rather funky mix.
The theme of the show really gets under way with a take on Goldfinger (and several other Bondian themes), replete with Eagle to Squirrel dancers Robyn and Mel, each ensconced in a golden, swirling tent-like cloth. They add a strong visual element to the media mix, and their belly-dancing is articulate and sensuous. This was followed by a tribute to pop icons Cheech and Chong by ever-surprising rap artist Typhoid Benny.
Boom Boom’s sensitivity and stage presence is especially in evidence in his tribute to Christopher Walken, with material coming from Walken’s alleged Twitter feed. Boom Boom wails “Christopher Walken is tellin’ me” with an all-out intensity that sells this whimsical number. The combination of his articulation and tonal quality seals the package.
Several other film-related numbers could easily be cited as highlights of this offbeat and exuberant evening. The performance is witty, wise, energetic and largely appealing to the opening night audience.
Performed at Mr. Pitiful's through June 6. See performance dates and preview here. - CityBeat - Cincinnati
Eagle to Squirrel
(Cincinnati) Electronic/Experimental/Hip Hop
Veering wildly from poetry slam to Hip Hop jam to Electronic blip fest to Dance beat craziness to Jazz disrhythmia, The Eagle to Squirrel Variety Hour offers up something for everyone. Gape slackjawed at the band’s Klezmer tribute to Pulp Fiction and Dick Dale on “Miserlou.” Be amazed that anyone but you knows dialogue from Buckaroo Banzai. Check out the bachelor-pad-in-space homage to Alien. Weird doesn’t get any better than Eagle to Squirrel.
Dig: They Might Be Giants collaborating with Gorillaz on a tribute to every cool movie ever made.
Subway Bar and Lounge
Friday, Sept. 25, 10:00 - CityBeat - Cincinnati
• Eagle to Squirrel – Werk
Eagle to Squirrel is one of the more unique acts you’ll find in Cincinnati. Also going by the fitting name The Eagle to Squirrel Variety Hour, the eclectic performance art/spoken word/ Electronic/Jazz/ Hip Hop/Soul/Dance squad’s CD Werk is an enticing sonic stew that brings to mind an ADD-afflicted Beck on a multimedia art bender. (MB) - CityBeat
Discography
LP- Werk
Songs from Werk can be heard streaming from time to time online @ WVQC - Radio Free Queen City
Photos
Bio
Eagle to Squirrel Variety Hour (E2S) is the result of years of artistic fission and fusion. Blending electronica, jazz, hip-hop, spoken word, and performance art, E2S integrates whatever they feel into whatever evolves. Shows are a little bit political and a little bit funny; nothing is sacred and no genre is off the table for E2S. Performances at Fringe Festival 08-09, MidPoint Music Festival 08-09, TMoA: Taft with a Twist, and PNC MidPoint's Indie Summer have drawn comparisons to Danger Mouse, Beck, T.S. Eliot, Wayne Shorter, and Patti Smith. E2S was nominated for a 2008 CEA for Best Electronic/Experimental
BIO:
Boom Boom:
Boom Boom in the carbon-based form is really more of a state of mind than a figure that possesses qualities that could be determined
human. Waiting for the moment when the Robots show up and the commencement of the ultimate battle between good and evil, Boom Boom bides his time in the fringe of society known as Eagle to Squirrel. Sleeping in his washing machine as to feel closer to the enemy, the influences on this metaphysical presence are legion: Jackie Wilson, Jack Kerouac, Chuck Berry, Charles Bukowski, and the immortal James Brown, etc. Bordering on the compulsive, when it is late at night and no one is around, if you listen closely you can hear the call of the Boom Boom.
Keys:
Keys is the second nephew of Steve Jobs' little brother, Billy Jobs. In high school, he failed wood shop but managed to eke out a C+ in metal shop. His band teacher gave him a B. After making a mild killing in 1999 trading in the emerging vintage drum machine market, he sold out and went into digital recording. To all appearances, he has not looked back once. Then he unknowingly joined Eagle to Squirrel. He now lives for his great Danes, which he breeds and shows on a regular basis.
JamBot & HotPocket: (the Eagle to Squirrel Dancers)
Not only are the E2S Dancers the purported illegitimate fraternal twins born to two members of a famous Russian ballet company and former Tilt-A-Whirl operators at Coney Island, they also previously worked the "Let's Get Straight" kiosk at the Mall of the Americas before quitting to embark on a pan-continental road trip. It was in Deerfield, Michigan that Boom Boom and Keys happened upon them, a huddled mass of fringe and sequins, selling $5 mix tapes out of the back of a broken down Caprice Classic. Before they reached the train station in Findlay, Ohio, a pact was signed and the artistes formerly known as Monette and Bianca were transformed into the Eagle to Squirrel Dancers JamBot and HotPocket.
Typhoid Bennie:
Born to a seventh generation white supremacist male prostitute and a black Nobel Prize winning botanist, T.B. is famous for giving away the ending to Citizen Kane. Rosebud. Thinks Panic at the Disco should have kept the "!" in their name. Loves porn but porn hates him. And, oh yeah, he's an emcee
The Eagle to Squirrel Variety Hour is movement. It is a call sign, a proclamation.
It is the end of a statement. EtSVH is the relationship between various elements.... with swords
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