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Under the auspices of the Boston Pop Underground (although not, in fact, underground), we are treated tonight to an evening with Mike Viola and a rotating cast of his friends. Mike's got some seriously high-quality friends. He is also a complete goofball. This is good; I like goofballs. His band is The Candy Butchers, whom I've never seen before, and most or all of the other current Candy Butchers are here tonight, but it's not possible to figure out who exactly is in the band, since people rarely stay on stage for more than a song or two at a time. When I come in, Meghan Toohey is playing a short set. I'm told that I've arrived during her first song, and that I've already missed a short set from Scott Janovitz. I'm used to hearing these songs as So and So's songs, so it's an interesting change to hear them solo. It points out two facts: The So and So's are a great band, and I really miss the orchestration and backing vocals; and Meghan is incredible, and her voice and stage presence are enough to sweep me away in the music. After about half a dozen songs, Mike Viola comes onstage with a drummer/backing vocalist, and they do a couple of what I assume are Candy Butchers songs, shortly joined by another guitarist/vocalist and eventually a bassist. They're pretty great, catchy and goofy with gorgeous harmonies. Then the evening starts to mutate into a crazed, anarchic stew of silliness and musical genius, as a revolving cast of characters rotates on and off stage for a series of wacky covers. The first several seem planned, but eventually they are considering audience requests: they'll hear a song title, look around, someone will step up to play the bass, someone else will figure out the chords on piano, and before long they're half-assing their way through the song and it sounds bizarrely good. This whole section is hilarious, and some of the stuff that they seem to have more or less prepared is stellar. John Powhida is involved, and knowing that, if you know J.Po, you will believe me when I tell you that their "Take On Me" cover (yes, A-Ha!) is a high point! There's also a lot of Paul McCartney, and a lot of improvisation, good humor, and general hilarity. It's only because they're all so talented that they can get away with this, but they are, and they do.
