MARCH 8-14, 2018 FACEBOOK.COM/WHATZUPFTWAYNE // WWW.WHATZUP.COM // FACEBOOK.COM/WHATZUPFTWAYNE SPRING SAXOPHONESALE ----------------------Feature • Gypsy Bandit -------------------- UNBELIEVABLE PRICES ON SAXOPHONES! Working to Stand Out By Michele DeVinney The band is quickly establishing itself in a fairly crowded field of local music performers, one which is Some bands are born from a group of friends who packed with veteran favorites and new bands which UP are looking to play together in some configuration. join the fray every day. Johnson thinks it’s more im- Others are formed when someone has an idea, a con- portant all the time to find a unique way to bring peo- cept, so compelling that they can’t wait to take it to a ple into the fold. TO % stage. The latter is decidedly how Gypsy Bandit came “I think the local music scene is going through a to be just about a year ago. Kirk Johnson, a longtime transitional time, and not just here but all over – and music veteran, started putting together his idea for a rightly so. The competition for live music is over- new band last April, a fairly ambitious approach he whelming because great music is just a click away OFF felt he could put into action. on your phone or hand-held devices. Shows like The “I put a concept together in April, and it was Voice and American Idol have upped the ante too.” SELECT SAXOPHONES the original concept for the band,” says Johnson. “I Standing out in the crowd is the best way to com- 60 grew up going to concerts at the Coliseum, bands like pete in that environment, and that’s where Johnson’s Mötley Crüe, Kiss, Rush. It was a show, it was a per- original concept for the band comes into play. formance. I wanted to see if I could take the concert “When I pay money to see a band at the Memorial concept of those bands and move it to a smaller venue Coliseum, I want to see some action. I want a perfor- here in town. Something that would feature great mu- mance that’s a little dangerous. If I go to a local club, sic, great vocals, and a real show. Performance art.” I want to see more than four people cemented in place Johnson is now joined by Rob Thunder on bass while the front guy is glued to the microphone stand. I and vocals, Rich Davis and Steve Kerns on lead and want to see a real performance. I want some physical- rhythm guitars and Trent Bowers on drums and vocals. ity. You can turn on a radio if you just want to hear FINANCING It has taken him some time to come to that lineup, but a song. If I’m paying a cover charge to see a band, I it seems to be a good fit all around. want to see something inspiring.” AVAILABLE “I had two original partners when this began, and In putting together the lineup for Gypsy Bandit, they aren’t there anymore. I was the sole operator Johnson wanted to see that same energy and enthusi- ASK FOR DETAILS! when they left, so the lineup has changed, but we’ve asm from everyone, not just from his performance on kept that same theme.” lead vocals. He also wanted to put together a setlist The other band members, like Johnson, have a that reflected that same energy. wealth of experience from various places in northern “What we play on any given night is 100 percent Indiana, primarily the Fort Wayne and South Bend audience-driven,” says Johnson. “We have about 150 areas. While they juggle commitments with Gypsy songs that we play right now, and we can do anything Bandit and other bands, there was precious little time from classic rock to country, but if someone says ‘I’d to get their feet wet before the first time they played really like to hear some blues,’ most of us have been live. playing for 20 or 30 years at this point and can give the “Our first gig was also our third practice, but we audience what they want to hear.” started playing a lot right away. Sometimes it can take With options from 80s rock to funk, Johnson says years to get to the point that we did last year. Between Gypsy Bandit can play Guns N Roses one minute $ April and December, we played 36 shows, and we and Tom Jones the next. He expects they’ll be adding 495 have more than 40 already scheduled for this year. And more songs by Aerosmith, Queen and Sammy Hagar STUDENT SAXOPHONESAS LOW AS we’ll keep adding to that number. In some ways we’re in the months to come as well. But while pleasing the best kept secret in Fort Wayne, but we’re also the their audience is a top priority, Johnson says giving hardest working band in local show business.” back to the community is also important to the band. Johnson says that Gypsy Bandit define them- In June they’ll participate in the Ride for Robbie bene- selves as a “rock band. Period.” They focus on audi- fit event at Fort Wayne Harley-Davidson, and Johnson ence-pleasing music performed in an energetic style says they’ve already been involved in other charity that exceeds the sometimes tight quarters in which endeavors in their short history together. Still shy of they play. They’re serious musicians who don’t take their first anniversary, Gypsy Bandit are ready to take themselves too seriously. on the music scene in northern Indiana and beyond. 3710 Hobson Road MynettMusic.com “We like to take some songs and personalize “Since we formed in April, we’ve played every them, make them our own,” says Johnson. “If we’re weekend, and many weekends we’re double booked. Fort Wayne, IN (260) 482-5533 not enjoying what we’re doing, then what’s the point If you want to know where to catch us, just check out of doing it? We’re not making a ton of money so we our website. We’ll have plenty of shows coming up better be having fun.” this year.” 2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- www.whatzup.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- March 8, 2018 whatzup Volume 22, Number 29 IPFW/Shruti Indian Performance Series Presents ou can probably tell from a quick perusal of this week’s edition of your favorite arts and entertainment weekly that things are beginning to heat up here in The Fort. The weather may not be fully cooperating Yjust yet, but your dance card should start getting filled up real soon – what, with concert announcements for TRF and the soon-to-be-opened Clyde Theatre already on the books and more on the way. If you’re intent on keeping up with it all (and if not, why would you be here?) Featuring the Bamboo Flute, Sitar, Mridangam and Tabla you’ve come to exactly the right place. Whether you’re holding newsprint or a mobile device in your hand, or sitting at your PC, we’ve got everything there is to do in one convenient place. Given print’s limitations, there’s a lot more of everything online, but you’re gonna be okay either way. Speaking of online, we strongly encourage you to check out our musiConnect feature at whatzup.com, especially if you’re a musician or a band booker. And if your art leans more towards painting or ceramics or similar fine arts, look anyway – in just a few days we’ll be offering you the same sort of features, but tailored to artists. And if you haven’t downloaded the whatzupFW app yet, well get on that too. It’s free, and it’s so easy to use and convenient to use that even your parents will love it. That said, go have some fun, won’t you. Just remember to tell ’em who sent you. Please. And thank you. inside the issue • features FLIX ................................................. 16 Oscars Stress Inclusivity SCREENTIME ................................. 16 GYPSY BANDIT ...........................................2 Oscar Talk Begins for Black Panther Working to Stand Out CURTAIN CALL ................................ 18 MATT SZLACHETKA ...................................4 Hamlet Songwriter on the Cusp DIRECTOR’S NOTES ....................... 18 The Glass Menagerie Saturday, Mar. 24, 2018 7:30 p.m. • columns & reviews Auer Performance Hall • calendars DINING OUT .......................................6 Expand your horizons during an evening filled with Shorty’s Steakhouse LIVE MUSIC & COMEDY ....................8 classical Indian music that will transport you to the SPINS ................................................7 MUSIC/ON THE ROAD .................... 12 Jeff Rosenstock, The Soft Moon, Sons of Apollo, ROAD TRIPZ ................................... 15 beauty that is India. This magnificent performance Montgomery Gentry THINGS TO DO ............................... 17 features some of India’s most illustrious musicians: BACKTRACKS ...................................7 STAGE & DANCE ............................ 19 UFO, Force It (1975) Shashank Subramanyam, bamboo flute; Purbayan ART & ARTIFACTS .......................... 18 OUT AND ABOUT ...............................8 Chatterjee, sitar; Parupalli Phalgun, mridangam; and The Clyde’s Already Adding Shows Cover by Brandon Jordan ROAD NOTEZ .................................. 12 Matt Szlachetka photo on page 4 by Paul Moore Anubrata Chatterjee, tabla. Membership Makes The Difference TICKETS ON SALE NOW! • Job Referrals • Offering incall • Experienced Negotiators and outcalls • Insurance Admission • Serving men • Contract Protection and women Students with Current School ID Are Free Fort Wayne • 18 Years of $10 for All Others Musicians Association Experience ipfw.edu/tickets Call Bruce Graham for 260-481-6555 more information NOW HIRING MEN & WOMEN 260-420-4446 248 872-3585 AFM Local 58 www.borderdownbabes.com www.fwma.us [email protected] March 8, 2018 ------------------------------------------------------------------ www.whatzup.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------3