Naked & Shameless
2:00pm | With the many options being offered up this Halloween weekend here is yet another little known one you might consider scheduling into your Día de los Muertos festivities. This Saturday Max’s Steiner will host the 7th Annual Murder Ballad Show at 2500 E. Anaheim with a start time of 8pm.
The self described drunkabilly duo, Naked & Shameless, which consists of Buck F. Naked and Dave Shameless will be one of 3 bands performing the event. The duo seem to have a penchant for playing these holiday specific shows, including White Trash Xmas at the Double Down in Las Vegas 5 of the last 7 years, and the 7th Annual Liver Olympics on St. Patrick’s day.
The L.A. based band say they have a particular love of the latitude afforded on Halloween and enjoy exploring the dark side of things on that Holiday, as they will this weekend during their 7th Annual Murder Ballad Show.
Buck F. Naked, who married his life long love, beer, last summer in a ceremony at which Kyle Gass of Tenacious D provided the music, describes his band as a Drunkabilly act always in search of Good Times & Strange Salvation.
“Our Samhain set doesn’t focus so much on our heroic strolls, asinine rants and rollicking drinking anthems but instead specifically includes Roots Americana & Exotica, a creepy tongue firmly placed in a rotting cheek”, he says. “Women & children will be spitted & roasted. Fellas will be kicked in the face with hobnailed hobgoblined boots. Then we’ll all hug it out in the name of Murder!”
“Think of Mojo Nixon, or Lux Interior doing show tunes” he continues. “Or duets by Elvis and Shane MacGowan, or countrified Ween. Naked & Shameless are also known for interactivity in their live show – they encourage high-spirited participation.”
The location of the 7th Annual Murder Ballad Show, Max’s Steiner, is as much a character in this show as the bands topping the bill. The namesake bar was once owned by Hollywood film composer Max Steiner who provided original music for classic movies like Casablanca, King Kong and Gone With The Wind.
“I’m a noir junkie and very familiar with Max Steiner’s work… but the coin didn’t drop that it might be the same Max Steiner until I was watching Mildred Pierce a couple of months ago…”, said Dave.
Buck adds that, “The original King Kong is something of a Murder Ballad itself.”
And just what is it that constitutes a murder ballad?
“Kate McGarrigle, Canadian folk star and mother of Rufus Wainwright, said that all Murder Ballads are the same. They’re always about someone getting a young girl pregnant and then killing her for it.” Buck says. “And while there is great truth in this statement, and we will tackle at least one of these numbers on Saturday, Murder Ballads stem from something primal in the American psyche and have long held a place in Roots, Americana and Country music. There’s a fascination with crimes of passion and oblique references to killing. If there is a theme of killing or death or sometimes just Evil, it will get some kind of treatment at the Murder Ballad Show.”
In between sets by the bands, Joe Howells, actor and member of the Alive Theatre, will be in murderous character reading from Famous Killers For Early Learners, the children’s book by notoriously shy local author Thomas Wasper. The book will also be on sale during the show.
The other bands filling out the bill are The Blob, a South Bay punk rock outfit and “ORIGINATORS OF HORROR PUNK/ EST. 1995”, The Spooky.
7th Annual Murder Ballad Show will begin at 8pm on Saturday, October 29th. There is a $5.00 cover.
Max’s Steiner is located at 2500 E. Anaheim at the corner of Anaheim and Stanley Avenue.