Fate? Hardly!

I do think that circumstances can come together in some rather odd ways though. About a week ago one of my partners at work was talking about a band that I should listen to, he lives in Cedar Rapids and I work there in the emergency room with him. He described the band Devotchka and said that they were sort of mellow and very good. I listened to a few you tube videos of them and thought they sounded good as well. At the same time one of our PA’s said that she had seen them four or five times live and they were excellent.

Fast forward ten days. I am wandering around downtown Des Moines on the day after St Patricks day and it is dead.

I am basically slouching towards home when I notice there are a lot of people in the third floor of a building with a trio of bars. I went upstairs to check it out, it was packed in there. “How much?” I asked and the said, “20”. Now I liked live bands, but this seemed a little expensive for cover. Then I asked, “who was playing?”, “Devotchka” ok so I shelled out $20!

Their music was surrealistically good

They played guitar, accordion, viola, tuba, and a theremin. The melodies were hauntingly beautiful and produced goosebumps many times during the concert. They whistled, played and plucked their violin, they hit the accordion like it was the newest instrument to make the musical scene.

Devotchka formed in 1997

They originally played as the background music for a burlesque show. Their breakout out CD was “SuperMelodrama” in 2000 and they have released five CD’s since. They also did the soundtrack for “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Everything is Illuminated”. They are currently on the road promoting their 2008 release “A mad and faithful telling”.

If you get a chance to see Devotchka, do it.
You will walk out of the show a different person.

Mark
My pics from Devotchka March 18, 2009

Enjoy “The Enemy Guns” by Devotchka!