Shaggy Sing

Tuesday night, two hirsute men did sets at The Great Hall. Dressed in a Canadian tuxedo, Spencer Burton gave us a mix of americana/country tunes. He spent almost as much time talking to the audience as singing, probably because he hasn't been off his farm in 3 months. Luckily, his stories were interesting and told with an engaging humour. I actually found his "children" songs, written for his kids, to be the most fun. Along with his gregariousness and laid-back personality, he would make a great children entertainer like Fred Penner (another hairy troubadour) if he toned down all the cursing.

Ben Caplan is even more magnificently bearded than Burton, with an out-sized stage presence. This East-Coaster loves Eastern European/klemzer-esque music full of wordy stories and images. His 4-piece touring band was joined tonight on a few songs by two local musicians. Along with Caplan, they have been working some sort of theatre/musical act to debut later this year. So the audience was treated to 2 numbers from this show. Caplan has always exuded a manic preacher vibe, but on one of the theatrical piece he actually segued into an extended fire-and-brimstone sermon. I wouldn't have been surprised if someone had become filled with the Holy Spirit and collapsed.