You can find equal helpings of attitude, black outfits, music and booze at pretty much any Chicago club. But Vinyl has added a new element on Wednesday nights: humor.
Up on the second floor, in a room about 15 feet too long to be perfect for watching entertainment, pianist and performance artist Richard Knight teams with renowned jazz vocalist Kirsten Gustafson and a pleasing samba band to present “Samba Bamba . . . a weekly musical re-creation of the night Karen Carpenter sang with Sergio Mendes” (even though nobody seems quite sure when that was, exactly).
Knight, a talented composer and pianist whose characterization of club singer Dick O’Day was a must-see for musical masochists, steers clear of the keyboards this time out to create Monty Mattachine, a well-intentioned but slightly slimey emcee with a vaguely South American/Bulgarian accent, a W. Clement Stone mustache and a black velvet tuxedo jacket with a questionable history.
Swaying constantly to a samba beat, arms flailing and digits dancing like a hand model running amok, Mattachine and his personal valet Lindo McCartney (Victor Salvo) serve as Gustafson’s backup vocalists.
Slipping in sexual references throughout, Mattachine at one point growls (in an accent reminiscent of Martin Short’s “Father of the Bride” caterer) that “Av’ryting bod ees gud far yew toonat.”
He also imagines, after Gustafson’s steamy samba rendition of a Karen Carpenter song, that “Ah know Karen ees op dayer, watching, ond makking loov weeth Jimi Hendrix av’ry day.”
Keyboardist Scott Stevenson, percussionist Alejo Poveda, bassist Randy Henry and drummer Tim Mulvenna create such danceable samba-esque (or mambo-esque or cha-cha-esque or whatever-esque) music that the closet-sized dance floor fills quickly with inspired clubbies in inspired couplings, even occasionally including Mattachine himself and “Goostie,” whose character is a distant cousin of Yma Sumac.
Occasionally so moved by the band’s renditions of songs by Nirvana, Stevie Wonder, Santana and Suzanne Vega (and, of course, the Carpenters), Monty, Goostie and Lindo occasionally are compelled to leave the stage themselves and join in the throbbing and sensuous samba rhythms pulsing through . . . well, anyway, it’s contagious.
If you’d rather just listen to music, have a drink and do your Attitude Thing, you can hang in the back half of the room, where it’s impossible to see the stage anyway. Otherwise, up close and personal is the choice if you want to see the band, hear Gustafson’s smooth vocals (and watch her remarkable hair), and catch Knight before he morphs into his next character.
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“Samba Bamba” is presented Wednesdays at Vinyl, 1615 N. Clybourn Ave. Phone 312-587-8469.
![Four years into cannabis legalization in Illinois, celebrations of the April 20 informal weed holiday known as 420 are getting bigger and more widespread. Named for the time of day a group of friends met to get high, 420 has become a chance for marijuana users to publicly share a previously illegal drug and the counter-cultural atmosphere surrounding it. The main event in downtown Chicago likely will be the second annual 420 Sesh Fest, at Green Rose Dispensary. The party will include live music, a magic show, carnival games, food trucks, pop ups, and product discounts. It also will feature Grammy-nominated […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-l-Illinois-marijuana_175925141.jpg?w=546 "Four years into cannabis legalization in Illinois, celebrations of the April 20 informal weed holiday known as 420 are getting bigger and more widespread. Named for the time of day a group of friends met to get high, 420 has become a chance for marijuana users to publicly share a previously illegal drug and the counter-cultural atmosphere surrounding it. The main event in downtown Chicago likely will be the second annual 420 Sesh Fest, at Green Rose Dispensary. The party will include live music, a magic show, carnival games, food trucks, pop ups, and product discounts. It also will feature Grammy-nominated […]")