Happy New Year! Happy New Year! They were the first moments of a new year, of a new decade in fact, and I was mildly interested. What, to me, was much more interesting than the new decade was the music being played to usher in that new decade. On one level you could say that it was traditional. After all, 'Auld Lang Syne' is the first song that comes to mind when you think of music for the new year. But when the No BS Brass Band gets their hands, or horns in this case, on a song, they truly make it their own. I'm not much of a new year's celebrator. To me it seems like just another day. What I celebrate is good music, no matter why it's played. For that reason I give thanks that No BS celebrates the turn of the new year, because it gave them inspiration to play some damn fine music, and that, to me, is worth celebrating.

Now that you've read about the end of the night, I'll fill you in on the rest of the evening. The venue was Artspace at Plant Zero, a simple gallery well hidden at the end of several winding corridors. I arrived unusually early (on time) and found myself with plenty of time to inspect the remnants of the Think Small exhibit the gallery had featured in December. Some of the works, all smaller than a three inch cube, turned out to be quite intriguing, but I had journeyed out on this dreary night for music, and despite the extremely eclectic selections of Rattan DJ, I was anxious for the first band to start playing.

As they set up, I began to realize why Fuzzy Baby dubs themselves as Richmond's two member, one man band. Both Giustino Pastino and Molly Berg had at least three or four instruments within arms reach. A tuba, clarinet, guitar, at least three different types of drums, and a set of crystal glasses were only a small portion of the tools at this band's disposal. Unfortunately the audience, though still only beginning to form, was somewhat rude and lacked the manners to shut up and listen to the music. Due to these circumstances I will have to reserve judgement on this band, but what I was able to hear warranted another listen, hopefully at a quieter venue.

The next band up, Rattlemouth, was much better suited for the environment. With a full drum kit, saxophone, and both electric bass and electric guitar they were able to quickly drown out the idle chatter of the audience with their own blend of sounds from around the world. Their music might best be described as hypnotic. And it did appear as though some of the folks filling up the dance floor were in some sort of dance trance. I noticed several bodies twisting and contorting in some sort of trippy music induced motion. As the music began to take ahold of my brain I quickly gave up any hope of conventional reporting. These are not the kind of grooves under the influence of which you can think rationally. Even going back over my recording of the night I find myself becoming lost in the rhythmic nature of the music. With Robbie Kinter and Marc Langelier forcefully driving the beat along on drums and bass, it is easy for Danny Finney's haunting saxophone to carry you away to another existence entirely. And when George Lowe takes the lead on guitar it is equally as mesmerizing. Through all of this, every song that they performed was ultimately not on Home Fed And Full Grown, the CD for which the show was a release party. This may well have been the only CD release show ever in which none of the songs from the CD were played. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was the music, and the music was intoxicating. Rattlemouth finished up shortly before midnight. Just in time for the No BS Brass Band to take the stage and salute the new decade, bringing us back around to the beginning, and end, of this article. 

Thanks very much to Charles Sugg for providing photographs.

By Editing Department, Regional Editor and Author: Robin Marschak

Robin Marschak was born and raised in Richmond, but has only recently moved back after two years in California.  He loves all types of music from Jimmy Rodgers to Daft Punk to Tower of Power and all things in between.  He is currently a student at VCU and living in Oregon Hill.  Some of his favorite artists include Old Crow Medicine Show, Mark Campbell, and Steve Earl.  Other than listening to music and writing, Robin's hobbies include eating, sleeping, and an occasional guilt induced fit of exercise.  You can follow his adventures in local music on Twitter @robinmarschak, or hear some of the non-local music that he enjoys at either last.fm/user/beerdo231 or blip.fm/beerdo.

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