Costume Party at Brewskis!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Acoustic punk Halloween fun at Brewskis Saturday, October 26

Utah’s most entertaining acoustic punk bands Juana Ghani and Salt Lake Whalefishers celebrate Hallowe’en at Brewskis on Saturday the 26^th of October.

Ogden, Utah –  Utah’s number 1 acoustic Gypsy punk band Juana Ghani is joining forces with the comedic folk punk duo Salt Lake Whalefishers and sponsor Only In Ogden to bring the most exciting and fun-filled Hallowe’en party in town to Brewskis (244 Historic 25^th Street) on Saturday, October 26.  With live music, dancing, on-the-spot art and a costume contest to end all costume contests, it promises to be a night of insanely fantastic Gypsy folk punk mayhem and madness.

Eclectic Gypsy punks Juana Ghani (www.juanaghani.com) are known for their always titillating live shows and songs that are full of “semi-nightmarish fantasies of violence, revenge, desire and struggle” (Savannah Turk, City Weekly) and music that is “full of love, death, sex, grief, passion and vodka.”(Oliver Arditi, LiveUnsigned) Their live shows not only bring fabulously infectious original music, but often include the area’s most amazing belly dancers and performance artists. Juana Ghani’s featured dancers for this amazing night of Hallowe’en fun are Stefanie Harrington, Heather Gardner, Jennifer Payton, LaNae Surerus, Marlene Dayton, Tatum Ramos, and Katie Fernbach.

Armed with a tenor banjo, acoustic guitar, and two drum machines in a brief case mounted on a cymbal stand, folk punk duo Salt Lake Whalefishers (http://www.saltlakewhalefishers.com) bring a healthy taste of irreverence and hilarious hooliganism to their live performances.  Always clever and unabashed, the Whalefishers’ ridiculous lyrics and rhythmic melodies give even the horribly uncoordinated a need to dance.

Alisi Makaafi (http://www.facebook.com/ArtByAlisi) is a Salt Lake City based artist.  Throughout the night, she will be painting live, creating a unique piece of art that expresses the energy of the night in one beautiful masterpiece.

Costumes are encouraged.  Prizes will be given to the best and most creative costumes, thanks to sponsor Only In Ogden, so let your spooky imagination fly.

Brewskis is located at 244 Historic 25th Street in Ogden, Utah.  Tickets are $5 at the door, ladies get in free.  Music begins at 10:00 p.m.  Must be 21-years or older to attend.  

The Story Behind the Song: WHAT DID I KNOW?

(post by Leisl)

For years, Brian and I have kept a notebook ready for writing down different phrases that come to mind or that we overhear or that we read.  We have pages and pages of disjointed phrases!  Back in 2010, before we even had this wonderful group of musicians assembled, Brian had written this wonderfully happy piece of music that reminded me very much of the times I spent as a child on the harbors and beaches of LaMaddalena, but it needed words.  As a challenge, we decided to see if I could tie a bunch of these mismatched phrases together into some sort of story for a song.  It worked out fabulously!  (We were even able to use a phrase our youngest uttered one summer morning: "I love the smell of Saturdays!")  The chorus proved to be a bit more challenging for me.  We had spent quite some time trying to make some of these phrases work, but no luck.  It wasn't until I was so frustrated by the effort and felt a headache coming on that I threw up my hands and announced, "What do I know?  I can't even see right now.  The sun is shining in my eyes & it hurts."  "That's it!" Brian declared, "That's your chorus!  Now sing it."




What Did I Know?

I’m waiting for the snow to fall
And wondering if it really will
This time
I’m waiting quietly
For something exciting
But all I really know is that
Another life has been born
And I’m one step closer,
Two steps closer now to being
Not so far behind

What did I know?
I couldn’t see at all
The sun was shining in my eyes

I love the smell of Saturday
When everything is not what it seems
Frustrating bits of time
Where everybody is alive
I’m dancing like the flame
Of a candle in jar
Where everybody is alive
Everybody is, but the patient

What did I know?
I couldn’t see at all
The sun was shining in my eyes

I wonder every day
That somebody else is wondering with me
He just sort of mumbled
Then shook my hand and walked away
I feel like a hermit
In my own mind
This is a place
Where even evergreens
Even evergreens know their season

What did I know?
I couldn’t see at all
The sun was shining in my eyes

The Story Behind the Song: BREATHING

With so many people asking about the stories behind our songs, I’ve been thinking about sharing them on this blog for quite some time.  Today, the Harvest Moon, seems like a good time start.  These posts will most likely be sporadic, but over time we will share the stories of our songs – the meanings behind them, how they came to be, what inspired them.  

BREATHING – The story behind the song.

On September 19, 2003, Brian lost his best friend in a car accident.  Marnie Gilbert was a vibrant young mother and an incredibly strong and loving woman who touched many lives.  She lives on in hearts of her children and the memories of those who were lucky enough to know and love her.  Brian wrote this song for her.  It describes the accident from three different viewpoints, almost simultaneously.

BREATHING 

(lyrics by Brian Bonell, music by Brian and Leisl Bonell)

The truck how it rolled as it tried to swerve
Fear in her eyes as the whole world turned upside down
Her mind went blank as it all spun all around
The crash and the bang,
Glass shattering
Now lay quiet and still as the chaos ensued
The whole confused scene that was desperate indeed
She laid there and she looked,
As her as her eyes took in
There was breathing.

Off in the distance, the siren’s song started.
It trickled and tumbled and cleared out the haze.
People were standing, and then there was screaming,
the wailing was coming from deep down inside of her
Blood on the ground,
Glass all around
But, why was her truck sitting there upside down?
She looked to the left and was frightened to see
Was she breathing?

Crashing and crumbling and speeding and tumbling and turning and crashing and spinning and fumbling and skidding and yelling and cursing and sliding and turning and turning and turning and spinning

They picked up the scene and took her from me
As the sun in the sky had just finished setting
This whole scattered dream, wasn’t real, could it be?
Mixed with the blood and death and ruin
We only just left to go get some food
We were hungry and it, was late in the evening
This simplest of tasks had just taken her life
She’s not breathing

Off in the distance, the siren’s song started
It trickled and tumbled and cleared out the haze.
People were standing, and then there was screaming,
the wailing was coming from deep down inside of her
Blood on the ground,
Glass all around
But, why was her truck sitting there upside down?
She looked to the left and was frightened to see
She stopped breathing.

June fun comin' at ya!

We are really looking forward to an amazing summer of singing, playing, dancing and just having a great fun time!  We've got quite a few shows coming up and really look forward to seeing everybody there!

First up in June - on the 8th - we'll be bringing the party to the Ogden Arts Festival.  This is always an amazingly fun time.  We'll be hitting the stage at 5pm, right after our good friends Hectic Hobo, and will close the event with a Gypsy punk bash that is guaranteed to get you up on your feet and dancing.  This is a family friendly event, so grab the kidlettes and come on out! 

Then, on June 15 we'll be hitting The Woodshed in Salt Lake City with our new friends Bombshell Academy and Ten Dervishes for a night of jam, Gypsy punk & power ska under the stars!  It will be a full on party of excitement and insanity, danced by fire and beauty!  This is only for those who are 21 or older. 

And on June 22 we return to the steps of the City-County Building for the Utah Arts Festival.  We'll start making music at 7pm.  As always, we will have the area's most intoxicatingly beautiful and talented belly dancers with us.  This is another family friendly event, so bring everybody!  And let your little ones dance!

Party time at Brewskis

Pizza, beer, friends, and great music.  Life just doesn't get much better than that!  And this past Saturday we were lucky enough to have just that.

photo by Todd Cole

We had such an amazingly fun time playing a show at Brewskis in Ogden with our good friends FOLK HOGAN.  We were surrounded the whole night be wonderful friends and fans who have become like family to us, and we met many more fabulous new friends that we are so looking forward to seeing at future shows.  "Mayhem" just doesn't even begin to describe the fun!

 

 FOLK HOGAN photo by Todd Cole

 

Juana Ghani photo by To E McKinley

It's a musical poster! Click it!

Name Your Own Price!

Short, quick, and to the point:

NAME YOUR OWN PRICE on bandcamp to download our album "Shall We Live Forever"!  Woohoohoo!  What are you waiting for?  Go get it!  Then start dancing!  You know you wanna!

Click here --->>> http://juanaghani.bandcamp.com/album/shall-we-live-forever