The String Sillies are the latest in a “string” of (ahem) corny-concerto ensembles that blend mod-pop with class opuses. Nothing new in that, but some use this as an opportunity to let their long hair down, and others just pin it higher up.
Pretty obvious by their name what the String Sillies do. They twirl their instrument and cover candy-rock tunes and eat cheese sprayed from a can while they play.
What we guess is remarkable about this ensemble is that they don’t play very well. They play poorly enough for non-classical lovers to really notice that fact. The devil-may-care, self-deprecating attitude is a cliche in club-classical circles, but we hadn’t noticed before now that there are generally high performance standards involved. Even when The String Sillies do a four-chord rock cover there’s something off about it, a lack of understanding, and even with this light material they’re missing notes.
These are trained musicians, we’re told—all music majors at the college on the hill.
Is this what conductors are for? We never knew before. Do conductors provide oomph and tone and harmony? Do they foment a shared purpose?
We’d like to see The String Sillies with a conductor. It’d unify them. It’d also give them a target for their cheese.
Tonight: George Streetsign at the Bullfinch, all new set…

Italian restaurants which host live bands on weekends really shouldn’t leave the candles on the tables when those bands turn out to be boring.
A lot of folks who otherwise wouldn’t consider Consigliane’s Cuisine as a club destination went there anyway Friday night because Joe Knox of The Hard Knoxes was drumming. He’d suggested beforehand that this was a whole other side of him, and so it was—a laidback jazz standards revue. It would’ve been OK if the guitarist booked for the gig hadn’t bagged last-minute, and if the substitute knew anything besides Volume One of the American Song Fakebook. A couple of numbers had to be done twicer, to fill out the night,.
The food was yummy, however, and the house red was fruity. When we were done with those things, we started on the candles. Three tables were occupied with fans o’Joe, so after we’d held a wax-sculpture contest, there was a covert, under-the-table wax-pellet-pelting battle.
Tonight: Four Faultless Felons at the Bullfinch… College band The Poet and the Lunatics at Hamilton’s… Come to Think of It’s “The Turkey and the Turk” tour at D’ollaire’s…