The Shore Lobsters are that trio which formed to play postgame shindigs at flying disk tournaments in which the band’s members hurled and spun, added a slew of members for a special gig last month.
The line-up included two more guitarists, a keyboardist, two harmonica players, a ukulele player, two tambourine virtuosi and assorted roadies.
As of Tuesday, the band reverted to a threesome. “Musical differences” are being cited for the split.
It was a ruse, actually. The flying disk team had been invited to an international tourney, but couldn’t afford to go. So they strung together a variety of small grants and bequests so they could make their match.
The band was formed under an arts enrichment grant bestowed by the college on the hill’s ethnomusicology department. The institution was fully aware of the impromptu, second-priority nature of the ensemble they were funding, they simply set conditions. The disk tossers all had to attend a special class on music appreciation and three supervised rehearsals. They had to learn a composition by a student composer and perform it at the tournament to an audience of at least 20 people. And they had to submit a group report on their musical voyage. Especially sweet: the college even provided the group’s musical instruments.
All conditions were met, especially the concert one. When the organizers of the Wam Hau Tournament, on a small Caribbean island, caught wind of the intriguing travel fund, they invited the ShoreLobs to perform at the opening ceremonies, before a crowd of thousands. It’s thought to be one of the largest crowds ever to see a live performance of a neo-classical student composition in the history of the college. (When I ran that stat by one of the students, Jean Bluté, he replied “It’s not like they ever invite us to play at the football games.”)
The scheme is unlikely to be epeated, but the band’s performance of “Disk Variations” has been recorded for posterity. While none of the new members wanted to officially join the musical wing of the team—only in the rarefied sport of disk-tossing could membership in a jam-rock band be considered “too much work”—it’ll be hard to stop them jumping up at post-game jams now that they know a few pan-flute licks.
Tonight: Pizzings and Tumblefun (not as fun as they sound) at the Bullfinch… The Cranberry Building and The Fieldstons at Hamilton’s, playing the tunes you know so well… D’ollaire’s is dark. The date was being held for some former superstar, who still apparently likes to screw over clubs at the last minute…