Cherry Poppin Daddies / Vagabond Opera / Bad Mitten Orchestra

by Hiroko Minami
Hey, everybody! We're going back to the good old days. What? You don't know about the good old days? Don't worry. Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Vagabond Opera and Bad Mitten Orchestre will take you there. All you have to do is give your body to their music -- swing, jazz, cabaret!
KRVM welcomes the Cherry Poppin' Daddies back to swing the WOW Hall on Saturday, November 22. In only my second year here, I'm lucky to get to know this Eugenean band with such a controversial history. The name of Cherry Poppin' Daddies itself is provocative. I learned a lot of hidden meanings from "cherry," "pop" and "daddies." Phew, I'm overwhelmed by the profoundness of English. I never would have imagined what the name really meant from the photos in which band members wear suits and ties.
Cherry Poppin' Daddies was formed as early as 1989. At that time, many people -- mainly feminists, I guess -- were offended. A friend of mine, who knew that Cherry Poppin' Daddies shocked people here 20 years ago, told me that the name may sound kind of cute but her opinion is not universally shared. And according to that friend of mine, the name is not meant to conjure an image of sexual abuse or incest because she understands "Daddies" as "daddios" which was popularly used in the 1950s to refer to hipsters. Unfortunately, some people didn't take it that way. Their "inappropriate" (copyrighted by Bill Clinton) -- which means racy -- name and subsequent performances may have prevented them from making the leap to major stardom. Yet, the band eventually gathered national attention with "Zoot Suit Riot".
Later on the Daddies went into an inactive period. During that slow period, while the band performed sporadically, Steve Perry, the frontman, worked on his degree in molecular biology. What a guy. And what a contrast -- molecular biology and swing music! Anyway, they came back in full swing in 2007, releasing their fifth album "Susquehanna," in 2008, and started to tour the United States.
You will never get bored listening to Cherry Poppin' Daddies because their music has a great deal of variety -- swing, rock, ska, funk and the list goes on and on. Simply put, each song of Cherry Poppin' Daddies is different! And you cannot help shaking your hips and head and every part of your body.
"Zoot Suit Riot" (I think it's a representative piece of Cherry Poppin' Daddies' swing) brought my cousin's cute little daughter to mind. This 5-year-old girl is a big fan of the vocalist of Crazy Ken Band, a Japanese band. Crazy Ken Band is a group from the late 1990s but they maintain the 1940s, 50s style of music. My cousin's daughter, Rian, loves Ken san, the vocalist. She entertains me like, "Hiroko chan, look! Ken san does like this," and acts like Ken san, singing their songs with her daddy's top hat on her head and a toy microphone in hand. Rian is so cute. Damn! I miss her so much.
OK, let's move on. Vagabond Opera -- their music also takes you back to the good old days, furthermore, to a Paris bohemian cabaret at that time, maybe. Like Cherry Poppin' Daddies, the music of Vagabond Opera never gets you bored. Look at the diversity of their work -- Paris hot jazz, gut bucket swing, tangos, Ukrainian folk-punk ballads, klezmer ... Man, what are those genres?! Vagabond Opera sings in 13 different languages including English, French, Yiddish, Russian and a language they made up that sounds like Balkan, which they call Oshtal. I sense the creative mentality of this band here. At any rate, I fell in love with the bohemian cabaret feeling of the 1920s which Vagabond Opera creates.
Eric Stern, the frontman of Vagabond Opera, is a very interesting -- or real bohemian -- guy. Even though he was trained as an opera singer, he walked away from the world of classical music which he thought was elitist. Stern ran away to Paris. After a year and a half, wandering the streets in Paris, he came back to the States and moved to Portland where he played music on street corners to earn rent. Yeah, he is a bohemian. But at the same time, he is a studious person.
Understanding the history and culture behind the music is really important to Stern. So Stern, for instance, took a couple of classes of Arabic at a university in order to play Arab percussion. I'm overwhelmed by his energy. Actually, I need some. This energy makes the music of the band colorful and passionate.
I may have emphasized the nostalgic feeling of both bands too much because that is my favorite part of their music. But fellow WOW Hall-goers, please don't take it wrong. Both Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Vagabond Opera use an antique style of music to express the timelessness of music. Yes, timelessness and borderlessness of music -- that's the theme of their music! As everyone knows, music transcends time and borders (cultures). Let's go beyond time and border in the WOW Hall -- contradiction?! -- on Nov. 22 with these bands!
Tickets are $17 in advance, $20 at the door. Doors open at 8:00 pm and showtime is 9:00. ..