“Library Mafia”
Anthony Silano
(Pass Out)
Anthony Silano is the latest Hawaii resident/stand-up comic to step forward with an album of material recorded during performances at a local comedy club. Some of his observations are unique experiences. Others are more general.
Silano shares a unique experience with a sketch about being new to the islands and thinking that the world “haole” was the way people in Hawaii pronounced “hello.” When someone driving by yelled the word at him, he’d yell it back at them. He admits being confused when he thought someone had yelled “Stupid hello” at him.
Several other stories draw on his Italian-American ethnicity.
Among the general bits is one about the time he asked his wife if she would like him to do something romantic. She said yes, and told him to clean the bathroom.
Silano makes effective use of characterization and a “trigger word” with a longer story about being contacted by the spokesman for an Eastern European mail-order bride website. It isn’t long before the word “hello” spoken in a faux Eastern European accent becomes a trigger for laughter regardless of context.
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“The Heavy Crown”
Pimpbot
(Pass Out)
Pimpbot has been playing a high-energy blend of ska, punk, rock and reggae since 2001. They’ve recorded several albums over the years, but this one is a milestone. It’s the first one they’ve recorded with a woman in the group — Cathy Lagrimas (trumpet/keyboards/percussion/vocals) joins her husband, Eric Lagrimas (drums/tenor sax), Fernando Pacheco (lead vocals/trombone), Tom Coleman (guitars/backing vocals) and Rylan “Big Sexy” Lee (bass) on a fresh collection of original music.
The group’s sense of humor is heard vividly in “Hipster” as they comment on some of the fashion-conscious posers they encounter on the local club scene “wearing a scarf at 90 degrees, plaid shirt and skinny jeans.” The guys hark back to their early days with two songs about their favorite alcoholic beverages and cover several other timeless subjects. “Long Days” speaks for people who are stuck in boring 8-to-5 office jobs; “Hold Me Close” kicks up the energy level with a mosh pit love song; and the final number, “Don’t Waste My Time,” is a defiant anthem of dismissal delivered as classic mosh pit music.
Its been four years since the last Pimpbot album. “The Heavy Crown” shows they’re as strong as ever.
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“Rough Jazz”
The Action Guys with the Aaron Aranita Big Band
(Sugartown)
Aaron Aranita’s new album is an imaginative showcase for his talents as a musician and songwriter. A small army of talented musicians — most notably Russian jazz great Valery Ponomarev — back him in various configurations. The vocalists also represent diverse backgrounds: Miles Lee; A-list “tribute artist” Gerry Moore; Society of Seven alumnus Alfredo Romero; and multitalented Michael Chock of the Top 40 nightclub band Greenwood.
Aranita wrote all the songs. Some are vintage 1940s big-band swing or mid-1960s soul music; others are bossa nova. Most are humorous in ways reminiscent of Don Tiki’s take on exotica or the way the Royal Crown Revue revived big-band music for “swing dancers” in the 1990s.
“Luau Lips” sounds like a classic hapa haole song, but the lyrics describe a hula dancer with a “sumo stance,” intimidating tattoos and combat boots. The titles of others — “Kung Food Fight,” “Mood Swing,” “Beboparoni” and “I’m in the Mood for Food” — likewise signal the whimsical comic content within.
The lyrics are generally comical, and sometimes anachronistic, but the musical arrangements are tight. Aranita and his musicians swing, rock and sway from start to finish.
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