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* "these are halcyon times...."

I'd like to be able to tell you that if you tuned into The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on Wednesday night, you could see the Drunk Stuntmen perform.

That isn't quite the case, but it's not far off. The Northampton, Massachusetts, band -- which I wrote about at length in ND #44 (March-April 2003) -- won't be listed as appearing on Leno's show, but two of its members, Steve Sanderson and Freddy Freedom, will be in the band accompanying the Young At Heart Chorus, an ensemble of senior citizens who sing rock 'n' roll songs and are the subject of a new Fox Searchlight documentary film.

The Stuntmen teamed up with Young At Heart (which is also based in Northampton) a few years ago; the two groups toured together and even made a live-performance DVD (which Barry Mazor reviewed in his Film At 11 column in ND #73). When I interviewed them in 2003, the Stuntmen seemed a singular bunch -- a band of southern-rockers somehow geographically misplaced in Massachusetts, but more importantly, possessing a charm and spirit that made them stand out from the bar-band pack. That they ended up backing a choral group of seniors only underscored the degree to which they stood apart.

They also have their own new album, titled State Fair, due out on May 20. So if you miss them with Young At Heart on Leno Wednesday night -- or Thursday during the morning/daytime hours (depending on where you live) on Ellen Degeneres' show -- check out their record.

Posted by peter on April 15, 2008 2:28 PM | Permalink