Modern Man delivers smiles, funny songs
Download printable PDF tearsheet 61KB, published May 29, 2003, The Patriot Ledger
The beautiful thing about the world today is that there never is a lack of things you can make fun of. Enter Modern Man, a trio of veteran male entertainers, who see the world a bit differently than the rest of us and recognize that it’s all fodder for song.
New Yorkers George Wurzbach, David Buskin and Rob Carlson provide the kind of lunacy and hilarity in song that makes your face hurt from laughing too hard.
On their second CD, "Modern Immaturity" (Inverted Turtle Records, www.modernman3.com or 203-366-3277), they show that "funny" crosses genres, as they play songs from folk to bluegrass to jazz and more. One moment they are the Beach Boys singing an anthem to couch potatodom in "Channel Surfin’" or Leon Redbone groaning about the "Worst Dominatrix in L.A."
Carlson, in a phone interview, said the group prides itself on the variety in its sound. "One of these days we’re going to do a cowboy song," he joked.
He said many of the songs performed by the group got their genesis from the social and political commentary and ideas of "Ramblin’ Bob," a character who sounded like Bob Dylan that Carlson wrote and portrayed for years on the radio.
"Ramblin Bob has rambled off into the sunset," Carlson said, noting that he hasn’t had a radio show in years. "It was a Dylanesque kind of character so I didn’t have to worry about tunes too much."
But with Buskin and Wurzbach, the songwriting gelled. Buskin, an award-winning jingle writer known for his performances as a solo act and as guitarist and singer with violinist Robin Batteau, has had music recorded by Judy Collins, Tom Rush and others. Wurzbach, who plays keyboards, has been known for his dry sense of humor and songwriting since winning the New Folk Award at the Kerrville (Texas) Folk Festival in 1995.
"George often contributes the one brilliant idea," Carlson noted.
Three years ago, long before the vaunted film "A Mighty Wind" parodied folk music, Modern Man was singing their own Kingston Trio-style takeoff, called "Like A River," included on this CD.
"We all sat around and got silly," Carlson said about the song, adding that they unsuccessfully submitted it for inclusion in the film.
In other songs on the CD, they regale the anonymity of Internet dating ("Virtual Circle of Hell") and chow down on roadkill cuisine in "Bumper Huntin’," explaining how Tennessee’s laws permit taking home what you hit, "from your grill to your grill and it’s all free."
Individually, the group members play to their strengths. Carlson mimics Dylan in the very meaningless parody "Very Little Like A Train," invoking the nasally chorus, "Oh, I don’t know what I mean, babe, but I mean it a lot." Buskin belies his upbringing and the irony that he chose a profession that involves sleeping outside in "Jews Don’t Camp." And Wurzbach, who can crack up anyone with just a look, keeps a straight face as he sings of the origins of the human race in "We’re Martians."
- Stephen A. Ide
The Patriot Ledger