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Uncle Bonsai – An Incredible Trio from Seattle

Friday, April 13, 2018 @ 7:30 pm

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Friday, April 13, 2018 @ 10:00 pm

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MSU Community Music School

"A folk-pop trio from Seattle, performs funny original songs whose exquisite musical detail and subtle needling wit attain a level of craft not often seen in pop" - NY Times

“A folk-pop trio from Seattle, performs funny original songs whose exquisite musical detail and subtle needling wit attain a level of craft not often seen in pop” – NY Times

Imagine what might happen if Tim Burton hijacked the Andrews Sisters en route to a Stephen Sondheim festival with The Beatles and Tom Lehrer in the sidecar; you’d get Seattle super-harmonizers Uncle Bonsai. 

With just three voices and an acoustic guitar, Uncle Bonsai presents an often dizzying vocal array of intricate harmony. Their songs, dark and hilarious at times, just as often delight with moments of great insight and beauty. The trio aligns itself with the under-achiever, the dejected, the outsider, the black sheep. Densely-packed lyrics fly by in a whirr at times, and take a skewed stance on topics such as first-world problems, the creation of the universe, the afterlife, and, of course, holidays with the family. 

Uncle Bonsai’s acoustic folk-pop songs are almost one-act plays or short stories, resisting strict pop, folk, or singer-songwriter categories. Their songs focus on the passing of time, the passing of genes, and the passing of pets – the truth of everything seemingly buried somewhere under the family tree.

Now in its 37th year, the group continues to perform and record new material. The group has eight recordings and, in mid-2013, released its first ever “bedtime book for grownups,” The Monster in the Closet/Go To Sleep.” This fully illustrated, reversible, hard cover book for parents, features two popular Uncle Bonsai songs, with artwork by members Arni Adler and Patrice O’Neill, and includes a recording of the songs. In September 2017, the group released its ninth cd, “The Family Feast: The Study of the Human Condition, First World Problems, and the Lasting Physiological and Psychological Effects of Eating Our Young,” with plans for CD Releae Concerts throughout the North America in Spring/Summer 2018.

“Singers Ratshin, O’Neill and Adler are pitch-perfect in their delivery of often complex harmonic arrangements. And if there were an Ella Fitzgerald Award for Exquisite Elocution in Song, they would surely get it. The trio officially bills itself as a “folk” outfit, but has none of the naiveté that label might suggest. These are nicely edgy, sour-sweet songs, written for grown-ups.” – The Seattle Times

unclebonsai.com

 

BUY TICKETS
Online ticket sales will stop at 5pm the day of the show. Any remaining tickets will be sold at the door, starting at 6:30 pm.
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Details

Date:
Friday, April 13, 2018
Time:
7:30 pm 10:00 pm
Cost:
$20 Public, $18 Fiddle Members, $5 Students. Available online or at the box office at 6:30PM.
Event Category:
Event Tags:
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Website:
http://www.unclebonsai.com

Venue

MSU Community Music School
4930 S. Hagadorn
East Lansing, MI 48823 United States

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