The other day all I could remember was the sound of one of the little thirty second musical transitions, and when I finally got up and looked on the NPR site to find out what it was, I ran across the name of Max Raabe. One link led to another and I found myself utterly charmed by his lounge-lizard approach to the dance music of the 20s and 30s. Then I found out he was coming to the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, courtesy of SF Jazz.
Apparently Raabe and his orchestra, coming off of a highly successful run at Carnegie Hall, have wider fan base than I knew, because the gorgeous Art Deco Paramount was filled to the rafter with ardent fans.
The Palaster's appeal is in the utterly tight, thoroughly serious approach to comedy. The band looks immaculate and plays even better, evincing the sound of a bygone era of Weimar, Germany that occasionally makes someone like me -- who grew up steeped in 1930s Hollywood stereotypes --wonder if someplace in an alley jack-booted thugs are kicking a victim to death.
Raabe himself is a dry and witty front man, a study in leisured boredom as he croons through delightful tunes such as "My Gorilla has a Villa in a Zoo," as well as Brechtian favorites from "Mahagonny" and "Three Penny Opera."
By the time he got round to the band's perennial favorite encore number, an austerely rendered cover of Britney Spears' "Oops I Did It Again," they had the crowd in the palm of their hands... and wondering when they'll be back again.
Program Notes.
The Palaster's appeal is in the utterly tight, thoroughly serious approach to comedy. The band looks immaculate and plays even better, evincing the sound of a bygone era of Weimar, Germany that occasionally makes someone like me -- who grew up steeped in 1930s Hollywood stereotypes --wonder if someplace in an alley jack-booted thugs are kicking a victim to death.
Raabe himself is a dry and witty front man, a study in leisured boredom as he croons through delightful tunes such as "My Gorilla has a Villa in a Zoo," as well as Brechtian favorites from "Mahagonny" and "Three Penny Opera."
By the time he got round to the band's perennial favorite encore number, an austerely rendered cover of Britney Spears' "Oops I Did It Again," they had the crowd in the palm of their hands... and wondering when they'll be back again.
Program Notes.
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