The Joe Iconis Rock and Roll Jamboree
January 08, 2008
By David Finkle
Songwriter, performer, and potty mouth Joe Iconis knows how astonishingly talented he is. You could say he's building on his surname and won't rest until he an Icon is. Were all right with the world, that day wouldn't be far off. But all isn't necessarily right with the world, and so it may take a while for him to break through to the really big big time. In the meanwhile, early adopters can get the drop on him by stampeding to see the loose-jointed 11-person contingent he's rounded up as The Joe Iconis Rock and Roll Jamboree for a four-show Laurie Beechman Theater stop.
The result — entirely in the service of singing 16 of Iconis' rousing songs — looks something like the Grand Ole Opry stage might have if Joe Cocker's 1970 Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour had invaded. The singers frequently pick up kazoo or washboard or spoons to supplement musicians Jared Weiss, Brent Stranathan, Ian Kagey, and hot-licks electric guitarist Matt Hinkley.
Those singers, of whom Iconis says, "Not one has ever been in Wicked," are a gifted and jubilant lot — although given the nature of showbiz, they may not be an aggregate that long endures. Katrina Dideriksen, whose wail is likely heard in Hackensack when she gives it full rein, makes the most of a torch song called "Lisa" (meant for a man, but why not a woman?) and then gives her emotions a tug on a lament Iconis tags "Almost There." In it, she declares, "All I want is respect from you." On "Albuquerque Anyway," Lance Rubin delightfully plays a 9-year-old who's hurt that a friend is moving away. Jason "SweetTooth" Williams goes to town on tangy-sweet "Honey." Rubin, Williams, and Hinkley lead the gang on "The Whiskey Song," an instant classic if ever there was one.
Iconis' rousingly arranged repertoire is rock 'n' roll-oriented, yes, but other influences shout out from it. He seems to be a closet show-tune fellow (and told one of his too many stories about a Don't Tell Mama piano-bar visit) and even includes "Plants Make Wonderful Pets," a ditty he's run up for a TheatreworksUSA children's show. It could be said he's something of a heterosexual William Finn, for he's partial to songs that every so often head in different yet oh so inevitable directions.
His lyrics are certainly ear-catching. One song starts out with "Before I met you, mermaids were singing in the trees." Another — which seems to be ironic but could unfold before many irony-deficient audiences — dispenses the advice to "throw out your baby and murder your friends." This one, on which Iconis bangs the piano as if he were honking a car horn, also suggests that a young fellow should learn to "exploit everybody who helps you." Yes, Iconis is the same award-winning tunesmith who with Robert Maddock wrote Lorinda Lisitza's irresistible and hard-hitting show Triumphant Baby.
Let's leave it that 2008 can't turn out to be a bad year if it starts with such spangled promise.
Presented by and at the Laurie Beechman Theater,
407 W. 42nd St., NYC.
Jan. 5-19. Remaining performances: Sun., Jan. 13, 6 p.m.; Sat., Jan. 19, 9:30 p.m.
(212) 695-6909
David Finkle - Backstage.com (Jan 8, 2008)