Translucent Ham Sandwich Band

Bio:

.. .. .. Video chat rooms at Ustream All Photos by: Ron Brazil

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Members:

Musicians and Artists Vary Night to Night:

Drums/Ringleader: Evan Stone

More Drums: Kevin Kanner, Ramon Banda; Nick D'Virgilio; Larry Salzman (Perc)

Keys: John Kirby; Matt Politano; Aaron Arntz; Josh Nelson; Joe Bagg; Leonard Thompson;Mahesh Balasooriya; Dhiren Panniker; John Graney;

Guitar: Dave Wood; Matthew Von Doran; Marcel Camargo; Andrew Synowiec, Brett Farkas; Andy Waddell; Noah Giblin; Dave Murdy;

Bass: Brian Allen; Dan Lutz; Erik Kertes; Sam Minae; Brian Chapman; Bryant Simpson; Larry Antonino;Jeff Littleton; Adam Levy; Edwin Livingston; Doug Lunn; Hamilton Price;

Horns: Tom Catenzaro; Jason Hunter; Matt Otto; John Noreyko; Andrew Carney; Adam Schroeder; Josh Welchez; Bolt Spillman; Danny Levin, Josh Aguiar, David Moyer;Leo Chelyapov; Doug Webb; Aeb; Dave Goldberg;Jimmy Roberts; Martin Sullivan; Jeff Elwood; Joeseph McGuire;

Vocalists: Miss Trey; Jerry Quickley; Preston Smith; Sara Gazarek; Chris Valenti; Jason Feddy;

Poets: Alabaster Rhumb; John Gardiner;Brandon Kinner

Magicians: Farrell Dillon; Jeff Martin; Christopher Yates; Sean Carbone; Michael Battle; Danny Moreno; Farrah Siegel

Jugglers: Bill Parks; Christopher Yates; Olga Karavaeva; Pat Connor;David Kaplin

Belly Dancers: Tamara; Ivania; Mirage Belly Dancing Duo; Sahera; Louchia;

Spinning Poi/Hula Hoops- Chawn

Burlesque Dancers- G.G.; Emily;

Models- Kira; Sheena Marie; Movie Created by Travis Flournoy



Singing Waitress on Rollerskates: Andrea Calderwood;Mandy;

Painter: Christie Roberts

Photographer: Ron Brazil

Sounds Like:

A Heaping Helping Of Translucent Ham by Gary Schwind (writer), April 15, 2008, published in BrooWaha, Los Angeles, Ca. USA

An interview with Evan Stone and a review of a Translucent Ham Sandwich Band performance at Steamers in Fullerton.

Translucent Ham Sandwich Band is a multifaceted group from Orange County. The band incorporates improvisational music, video, a juggler, a belly dancer, a magician, poets, and a mentalist in a show that can only be called a sensory smorgasbord. This feature is in two parts: an interview with the man behind THSB, and a review of the band's performance at Steamers in Fullerton on 10 April.

G.S. What is the story behind the name Translucent Ham Sandwich Band?

E.S. That is the kind of question that you know you are always going to be asked and then regret coming up with a name that nobody can forget but needs to ask how you got it. Well…it was a reference from the Ken Burns Baseball Documentary. There was a story about a writer from a major newspaper who reviewed the introduction of stadium fare and wasn’t all too pleased that they were selling what he called “Translucent Ham Sandwiches.” I thought that was a pretty unique thing to say couple with the fact that I do not eat pork and highly suggest that people stop eating the so called “other white meat.” Pigs are filthy animals who eat their own stool and as the saying goes, “You are what you eat.” Hey, I didn’t make it up…I’m just taking the advice, you know? So, everyone should get on the THSB bus and we can all take a field trip to the local slaughterhouse and see how these animals are cared for. What say you?

G.S.How did this project start?

E.S. It started out as a desire to perform free music and be forward-thinking in the ever-expanding field of, dare I say, jazz music. I am not going to hide from the jazz word, for all the purists and non-purists alike…And I do mean that in both the jazz world and the Rock/Funk/Pop/Alternative/(Ad nauseam) world as well. We play “Music” in this band and people can label it if they so desire, but I think it would be best to simply listen to it rather than trying to justify how it is going to fit into a neat little box so we can package it up and shelve it next to miscellaneous/other.

It is Music, period. It is not jazz, not rock, not funk, not disco, not hip-hop, not reggae, not ska, not punk, not emo, not metal, not classical, not world, not thrash, not blues, not Chinese traditional melodramatic screamo either. It is simply Music.

Perhaps I feel so strongly about this because it seems to fit into my ideology of blending all into one. It is a common theme of mine, and one I enjoy very much…Oneness.

That being said…I do use jazz musicians in this group because they are the freaks who know how to improvise well. Being that the music for this group is 100% purely improvisational, it makes sense that I use musicians who are adept and who can improvise for an hour straight. It takes a certain kind of individual who is willing to bare all in front of an audience and risk everything in the moment unprepared. I like to hang out with these kind of beings.

The other entertainers in the show, (Magicians, Jugglers, Belly Dancers, Burlesque, Poets, Artists, etc.) are there to help us complete the show with their highly tuned skills in their individual areas of expertise.

G.S. What do you tell someone who asks what your music sounds like?

E.S. Lots of sharps and flats… and some naturals thrown in there for safe keeping. Sometimes, all at once!

G.S. What sort of response do you get from clubs when you contact them about performing?

E.S. So far I have been very lucky and they have all contacted me to come perform. Our first show was at The Mint in Los Angeles, and then word spread quickly around town about it. The Translucent Ham Sandwich is a very intriguing act and one that is sending out a very important message. Stay tuned people…

G.S. What sort of response do you get from the audience?

E.S. I think for first-timers, it is a bit of a shock to the system. There is a lot to take in. There is the movie aspect, which is a main focal point in the show. Then there are the entertainers around the room that apply pressure to your ability to maintain steady focus who are doing magic and juggling and roller skating and dancing etc., all while a 9 piece band is playing their hearts out trying to get you to pay attention to them because they are needy and desperately want your love and adoration.

This creates quite an atmosphere for all involved. It leaves you with a feeling of over flowing powerlessness and an over-stimulated sense of fullness coupled with bewilderment and short term enlightenment. It’s an all-inclusive sort of deal.

G.S. What would you be doing if you weren’t making music?

E.S. I would be running for President of the United States. If I can manage a 20 piece band, I can run this country no problem.

Review of Translucent ham Sandwich Band at Steamers in Fullerton

On the one hand, mere words are insufficient to describe a performance of Translucent Ham Sandwich Band. On the other hand, it is a chance to describe a unique experience.

When I arrived at Steamers, the stage was set up with a projection screen, two drum kits, a piano, two electronic keyboards and some other miscellany. The projection screen had an image of a ham sandwich and the words "Translucent Ham Sandwich Band - let's go."

The show began with a spoken word piece accompanied by three members of the band. After that, a comedian/mentalist took the stage. He did some jokes, some audience participation card tricks, and a trick in which he spoke to a member of the audience about her pets and finished by guessing correctly the pet's name.

And then came the musical performance which is best summarized with the phrase, "And now for something completely different." The band members were dressed in monk's robes, except for the magician, who was dressed more like the preacher from Poltergeist. Evan Stone gave the signal to start the video, which was really more like a slide show, edited in a sort of rapid-fire MTV style. The band began to play a funky jazz similar to Miles Davis's Live - Evil while Evan spoke into a disconnected analog phone.

It did not take long to realize that a lot was going on in this show. It was a feast for the senses between the music, the magician at the front of the stage, and the woman offstage painting to the music. (The finished painting was a blue background with white chem-trails and the words "One Nation Under Sedation" in white letters.) Meanwhile the mentalist made his way through the audience, doing some more card tricks. But wait, there's more! About midway through the first half of the show, a juggler stood to the side of the stage. He later moved from juggling to balloon art. Also about midway through the first half of the show, a belly dancer made her way through the audience.

The music itself which is completely improvised, ranged from jazz and funk to reggae and Dixieland. It was a tremendous soundtrack for all the art that went on. The whole show was also an excellent example of the Buddhist tenet of impermanence. I will take a moment to politely disagree with Mr. Stone on one point. He said that the video is "a main focal point" of the show. For me, there was so much other stuff going on, I hardly paid any attention to the video. That being said, Translucent Ham Sandwich Band puts on a show unlike any I have ever seen. And to think that I saw it in quiet, conservative, plain Orange County.

Gary Schwind

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Grobaty: Indescribably delicious HAMMING IT UP Article Launched: 04/22/2008 09:54:12 PM PDT

Evan Stone, who heads up the Translucent Ham Sandwich Band, does not like to pigeonhole the sort of music his band performs, which is fine with us because we wouldn't know how to pigeonhole it if he begged us to go ahead and do it.

We'd be tempted to call it jazz, because we don't understand it, therefore we fear it, therefore it must be jazz. But, logic and all other forms of pigeonholing aside, there's so much more to the Translucent Ham Sandwich Band that the music sometimes may seem just about as incidental as the music that's playing in your dentist's office, or in the car that just passed you in the opposite direction with whoever's manning the sound system twisting the station selector knob frantically.

How much attention are you going to spend, after all, to the whiskings and thumpings of a pair of percussionists behind the noodlings and toots of trombonists and trumpeters and saxophonists, and the twangings of guitarists and tinkling of keyboards when, also fighting for the part of your brain that is given over to entertainments, are burlesque dancers stripping down to pasties to provide an undulating screen upon which is shown various chaotic and disturbing images, plus a magician, a juggler keeping five balls in the air at a time, plus all around you are other Sandwichers: screamers, mind-tricksters, roaming photographers, a rollerskating waitress, a visual artist and "a poet who says bad words"?

These descriptions don't do it justice.

We might as well be banging the keyboard with a garden rake. Check it out yourself as it all comes tumbling into town when the however-many-piece band/outfit returns to the swanky lounge of diPiazza's Restaurant at about 10:30 Thursday night.

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TRANSLUCENT HAM SANDWICH BAND LIVE @ STEAMERS JAZZ CLUB 318 Commonwealth Downtown Fullerton Thursday, Jan. 31st @ 8PM

Evan Stone and his Translucent Ham Sandwich Band... a mouthful to say the least.

Q. What would one come to expect at a Translucent Ham Sandwich show?

A. One would come to expect the completely unexpected. This circus type fiasco comes equipped with a full length original feature film which the band performs to as well as an onslaught of a dozen musicians (with Stone at the helm on his drum throne), belly dancers, magicians, poets and jugglers. Special guest artists are featured throughout the performance, all of which is TOTALLY IMPROVISED.

To call it mere performance art would be sadly missing the mark. This is an experience, a total experience which one has to be present for in order to fully receive the profound and long lasting effects.

The all-inclusive original motion picture which the band performs along to, includes just about everything from the creation of the universe, to religion, politics, sex, human consumption, pop culture, love and death.

All the while, the juggling Rabbi and Magi the magician are dazzling you with their well honed crafts amidst the compelling presence of the sultry and provocative belly dancers gyrations.

As if this wasn't enough to pique your interest, an insanely voluptuous mystery woman appears onstage and begins to lure you into her innermost private sanctum as she shares with you all of her secretive thoughts and desires which develop from a moody whisper to a blood curdling scream.

The music you ask? How does it sound? The Translucent Ham Sandwich sound is a culmination of all musical genres over the past 100 years. It does not have any prejudice or preference. It goes where it wants to go. It turns over every rock and seed and seeks out every individuals fantasy. It is a smorgasbord of sound, eclectic and absurd. It is fresh and newsworthy, borrowed and bluesy It is the sound of NOW.

The Translucent Ham Sandwich Band is here to deliver a message...and a sandwich, so come get it.

- Michael Shea