The Carnivaleros - a cheese fondue, a steaming plate of question marks, music for films yet to be made, beats-a-plenty, random mode changes, a delicious sauce, squeaky squeaks, skwonky skwonks, effervescent velvety panty movements, lost and found, a collared peccary melt, three floating cacti, tonal largesse, a thorn in the sock of the music industry...but mostly a band that knows how to swing, waltz and polka in the same breath.
HAPPY HOMESTEAD is mixed, mastered, printed and ready to fall into your hot little hands! It's subtitled "12 Songs on the Paradox of the Human Condition...and a Waltz". You can listen to four of the new songs here on myspace. To purchase a copy, go to cdbaby.com/carnivaleros3.
Here's a recent review from the FAME website:
I was exceedingly happy, two years ago, with this group's Lost in the Graveyard, and this one tops it, retaining the backyard BBQ feel and preserving a base sound this time impeccable in the documentation process, while evolving. I have to suspect the switch of Gary Mackender, who is The Carnivaleros when all is said and done, to sole production and engineering duties is the key, along with a co-engineering role in Chris Giambelluca. Note, please, that both are musicians and smart fellas. This, however, truly is Mackender's band, as the almost completely new roster of players attests, and the sound is as unique, delightful, sometimes hilarious, and attractive as ever.
Happy Homestead more clearly shows the strange inspissation of Jimmy Buffett, Tom Waits, and Herb Alpert—as long as you drag brassy sax in with the trumpet—in the bayou, booze, and folk-blues embodied by the Carnivaleros' music, from a number of mutant musical strains right through to the satiric, insightful, and loopy lyrics (here from the title cut):
The meek shall inherit nothin'
Long as nothin's what you're after
Hide in your happy homestead all day long
'Cause your new life as an outlaw
Will repel your inlaws
They won't overstay their welcome any more
Such sentiments sit right alongside absolutely deathless advice as well: "Doncha listen to Rush Limbaugh any mo'!," which should be inscribed over the entry to the White House. From it all, the listener extracts a more heady dose of what Mackender's all about and, as good as the last ensemble was, this one's letter perfect, more laid back and sussed, swaying in the hyacinth back alleys and magnolia trailer-park lawn lots than Lost had. Interestingly, Mackender's accordion is a good deal less pronounced than was earier the case, concentrating more fully on the organ. He even picks up a bass guitar through half the cuts.
Homestead is what Carnivaleros music really is, 110% this time, and what that is, is infectious as hell, swingin' like a gin-swozzled junebug, and as sage as a grinning ranch-hand looking toward darkening skies. Yeah, Gary flats out on the vocals every so often, but that's part and parcel of the genre, which ain't exactly operatic, y'know? And oddly enough, the occasional trait perfectly counterpoints a musical bedrock always reaching for the next beer while carrying the day in a swingin' back porch recital. Thus, when you're tired of all the cinematic, staid, proper, and approved musics in every media source blaring at you, finding yourself looking for a disc you can take your shoes off to and buddy up with, here, my friends, is precisely what you want.
Mark S. Tucker, Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange
Check out the VIDEO for DASHBOARD JESUS from HAPPY HOMESTEAD:
Here's a review for The Carnivaleros previous release, Lost In the Graveyard:
"Starting off with a coolly creepy Waits-esque ramble on mid-West oddities and homeliness, Gary Mackender and crew initiate a very interesting collective of accordion-centered instrumentals and lyrically intriguing tunes. The Carnivaleros occupy that ghostly twilight niche manned by lurking gatherings of really good musicians who keep a tight lock on neighborhood familiarity and loose professionality by capturing a Saturday Night vibe and keeping it firmly stoked. Every track seems cut straight from dives, socials, backroom jams, and jes'-plain-folks get-togethers. Elsewhere in this corner of the musical universe, there's a great longstanding (30+ years) bluesrock band, the Nighthawks, that has the trip down cold, not to mention a righteous hybrid TexMex rock-swing band, the Juke Jumpers, equally friendly. Anyone familiar with those ensembles should well know whereof I speak. The indies are probably the sole resort for such things, but they're not often enough host to this high a degree of warmth, inventiveness, and strangely attractive mutations".
Mark S. Tucker, Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange.
Bandleader and accordionist Gary Mackender has recently stepped back into the visual art world after a ten year hiatus. A new web site has been launched (olpuebloboy dot com) along with a blog page (olpuebloboy dot com/pblog).
The video below documents the final journey of a decaying organic sculpture piece that lasted a decade...1988-1998. Created by artist/musician Gary Mackender, the video features music from The Carnivaleros first CD "Step Right Up!".
I've had a few comments about the nature of using food in art perhaps being wasteful. This sculpture was part of a series of "junk food" sculptures I made in 1987-88 which were comments on the crap food being fed to us by corporations. The pizzas used in the piece were of the frozen variety that had no natural ingredients whatsoever. I also made an aquarium filled with Big Macs and had two or three swimmers floating across the surface. There was also an ammo box filled with L'il Debbie Snack Cakes. All pieces lasted about ten years, which tells ya something about the "food" used...thanks for the comment and eat your vegetables, fruit and nuts!
A busy July 4...first THE CRUMPLETONS will be at Watson Park [train park] in Lawrence from 4 - 5:30pm...then follow JOHN AND BILL to the Rapheal Hotel/Chez Lounge 325 Ward Parkway Saturday July 4, 8-12pm...will be doing our Lounge Guitar Stylings there....J
What's up?!Hope your weekend is going well.Here's a new viddie from my video channel.Come on over and comment,rate and definitely subscribe if you want to be updated whenever I post something new.Have a great weekend!! see how they run-the jim charette sound project-2009
Hello, it's me, Ruby Jane.To those who don't know me, I am a 14 year old fiddler, songwriter. I have some songs posted that are fresh out of the studio. Let me know if you like the new songs..be one of the first to hear, even before they are released!Thanks! new videos too! Ruby Jane
Indeed yes my friend. give a call 409.9826 It is possible I may play at Red Room this wednesday, you could join me and the great saw player Johnny. call first, we have not confirmed this one. peace, jc
Every time that we listen & write music... play an instrument... dance... act in a play... or work in some audio/image/video engineering process... something is healing inside...
When we share it with friends... something is healing all over...
cada vez que escuchamos o escribimos musica... tocamos un instrumento... bailamos... o trabajamos en procesos de ingenieria de audio/imagen/video.... algo se sana por dentro...
Cuando lo compartimos con amigos... algo se sana en todas partes...
El Amor puede conducir... de manera simple... todo...
Thanks for your friendship, and welcome aboard the Redline ship. Looking forward to sharing the journey ahead with you. Take Care, and thanks again. Peace, Karl
DID YOU SEE THE SUN FALL k (banks) dallesandro 1977 sorta music BMI
With Jesus up above me And the Devil down below I found myself in circles Not knowing where to go Too bad I lost direction On a rocky winding path And fell into the cluthes Of such jealousy and wrath
My heart belonged to everyone But my soul remained my own Now even if it's the fire of hell I will always have a home Past that point I'm finding My story starts to fade But I recall a poet Stealing souls was his trade
"Words come so easy But costly to get back" Said the weary poet Pulling rhymes from his sack I wish he would have stopped me As my words began to flow I told him of my deepest fears And things he'd never know "Just take what life delivers And invest it at your will" But I just looked straight through him As my soul began to spill
// "Did you see the sun fall Into the raging stream Can you help me understand Can you tell me what it means?"
I spoke into the darkness I spoke into the dawn Bartered all those memories For this dance upon the lawn When my voice was but an echo My chest an empty shell I found my soul had vanished And on my knees I fell