Tom Waits Translates

Billy's Band performing at the 2008 Rochester International Jazz Festival
Billy’s Band performing at the 2008 Rochester International Jazz Festival

We were in line early for Billy’s Band at Max’s. Someone came by offering Chap Stick courtesy of Toyota and then free Vitamin water. It said “no sodium” but it tasted salty. Must have been the “natural flavoring”.

Billy’s Band looked like a bunch of hobos. In fact they were hard to photograph because they all huddled in circle like bums around a barrel of burning trash. The Saint Petersburg quartet sounded like Tom Waits but they sang Russian. Most of the material was Tom Waits’ too. Tom Waits is good so Billy’s Band was good. The guitar player looked like Abbie Hoffman or a miniature Armand Schaubroeck from the House of Guitars. The bass player worked the room with his broken English and they were very entertaining.

I’ve added some more photos from the Jazz Fest here. Click on 2008 Club Pass.

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