The thing that makes Chandler Travis one of the archetypal showmen and performers of our age is not only his outlandish, swaggering humor. That’s the hook, I think… that’s what people mention and remember, the hysterically funny, outrageous wisecracks.
What really ropes you in is the awesomely courageous and gentle way he explores human emotion. All his many love songs are at the heart of it all meditations on this theme – not sentimental wishy-washy fantasies of imaginary happiness, but site specific stories of two way streets, cul-de-sacs and dead ends. It’s honest in confronting the tragic aspects, as well as the delirious joys, of falling in, out of and sideways in love.
Here he brings his quartet – naturally named Three-0 – to Saratoga Springs’ legendary Caffe Lena last Friday night. Opener was the master of solo electric guitar and sheer stream-of-consciousness poetic intensity Pete LaBonne.
NOTE: The Chandler Travis Three-O returns to Nippertown for a show the Ale House in Troy at 8pm on Saturday, June 16. Mark your calendar now…
If the name Chandler Travis means anything to you, it means a combination of dazzling musicianship and fearless merry-making – in his many incarnations, the man has developed a fiercely loyal cult following… and with good reason. Sage-like and impish at the same time, he explores the terrains of love and life’s absurdities with rowdiness, tenderness and a sardonic faith in humanity that never wavers. Plus he makes a habit of wandering around in the audience, mid-song, which creates an aura that’s hard to describe: we’re witnesses and co-conspirators in something that feels magical.
Last Saturday, he brought his Chandler Travis Three-O traveling road show to Troy for an afternoon stop at the River Street Beat Shop followed by an evening performance at the Ale House.
Video of this audience participation number from our performance at Berklee Performance Center on August 2, 2010. “Fruit Bat Fun” is featured on our latest album “Chandler Travis Philharmonic BLOWS!”
Video from our performance at Berklee Performance Center on August 2, 2010. “Daisies” is featured on our upcoming album, “Chandler Travis Philharmonic BLOWS!”
Chandler Travis Philharmonic – “The Day the Casuals Went to Sweden”, live at the Lizard Lounge, Cambridge, MA on February 23, 2011.
Our good friend Paul Cirincione shot this video of the Philharmonic performing this song from our latest album, “Chandler Travis Philharmonic BLOWS!“. It features a particularly nice solo from saxophonist Berke McKelvey and a rare appearance on piano by Dinty Child.
Excerpts from “Softly in the Night”, “I’m Chandler’s Butterfly”, and “Mid-morning in Moscow” from our performance at The Ocean County Library in Bayville, NJ on May 16 2008:
It is often difficult for fans to say just what attracts them to Travis’ music. But attract them it does! As the composer of “a few hundred” songs, Travis offers a wide array of musical moods at each show, allowing every fan to enter and engage in their own way. — Matthew Robinson, DirtyWaterNews
