Live at Village Days! RoShamBo!

It is Friday, Greendale.  Do you have big plans?  Cancel them.  I got something better for you.

.  New to Village Days?  Think Mardi Gras, but without earning beads the hard way.  Think Carnival – Rio, not Shoe.  Think Summerfest - without that bothersome Great Lake.  Village Days, baby!  Let’s party.

The Greendale Entertainment Association is kicking thing off – as they always do – in perfect form.  There is a reason that perfectly awesome band on the GEA Village Days Entertainment Stage seems perfectly at home. It is RoShamBo and if you cut them, they bleed Panther blood.

First, the name.  “RoShamBo” - as all you peeps from the inner G-dale hood know - is ‘Rock, Scissors, Paper’.  It was the hand game the band was using when they were working on their name.

I connected with Carver Smith – RoShamBo’s drummer, singer and proud member of Greendale’s Class of ’87.  (“Carver Smith” – Really - could parents Fran and Irv Smith come up with a better rock name?)

To get you warmed up for tonight’s concert, here is a little ‘Q&A’ with Carver:

Vick’s Picks: Carver, give me a run down on the Greendalers we will see on stage tonight.

Carver Smith: Ethan Bach -  ’89 Greendale grad and went to UW-Madison.  Joy (Palisoc) Bach is an ’88 Greendale grad and went to UW-Madison, Paul Mikna grew up in Greendale but went to Marquette High School and for unknown reason went to a college other than UW-Madison.

Vick’s Picks:  There is another university other than UW-Madison?  Huh. Round out the RoShamBo roster for me.

Carver Smith: Steve Litzau, bass player, is a current Greendale resident - “R section”. We also have Sean Berry and Josh Wilson.  They went to…

Vick’s Picks: Someplace other than Greendale.  Charity cases, no doubt. Say, you are all good looking guys, but Joy Bach is easily the hottest member of the band. However – and this is a small point -  “Ode to Joy” is Beethoven, not Bach. But honestly, Ethan out punted his coverage when he landed Joy, right?

Carver Smith: {no response}

Vick’s Picks: All right Carver, give me the band’s history in 150 words or less.  Ready? Go!

Carver Smith: The band actually started almost exactly 20 years ago to the day as a joke.  I learned the drums in a few weeks and added some other college buddies with the goal to play my college graduation party.  Next thing we know, we have a full band, and were playing at the Union Terrace in Madison in front of over 1,000 people.  We called ourselves “Harsh Reality” given I was going into the “real world” of work.   Six months into my new job, we decided we had to keep it going, added a bunch of Greendale friends and started playing as “The Potentials”.   We have played Summerfest a few times now as well as other local festivals and parties.  May of 2010 we played for the Greendale Education Foundation dinner.  It’s great to give back to Greendale as we all still have strong ties and great memories of growing up there.

Vick’s Picks: Nice try, buddy – but that was 151 words. So… What will we hear tonight?

Carver Smith: Pop and R&B spanning the 60’s to today.  Given we all “grew up” in the 80’s, we currently still have a large weighting of songs from that era.

Vick’s Picks:  I am counting on some Human League. Carver, you obviously have the gift of musical talent.  Does it run in the family?  What will it take to get Fran (Carver’s mom) up on stage, belting out “Proud Mary?”

Carver Smith: While Fran is a great tennis player and artist, she would not make Mary very proud behind a microphone.  Now my dad, Irv Smith, will belt out “Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey” or “When the Saints” any chance he can get!

Vick’s Picks: Let’s hope that chance does not come up for a while.  Thanks, Carver.  And tonight, remember to fling a drum stick my way.

Run, don’t walk, to the Municipal Parking Lot on Parking Street. You will not be able to miss the big GEA Tent.  RoShamBo plays tonight from 7:00 to 11:00 at Greendale’s Village Days.  To save you money on a program, here is the band and their positions:

Carver Smith – drums, vocals

Ethan Bach – guitar, saxophone, lead vocals

Joy Bach – lead vocals and rhythm

Steve Litzau – Bass, vocals

Paul Mikna – keyboard, vocals

Josh Wilson – guitar, keyboard, vocals

Sean Berry – Guitar, lead vocals

Fridays are always good.  Village Days with RoShamBo guarantees this Friday will be great.