Hey y’all!

Online and phone ticket sales have ended for tonight’s show, the Austin Lounge Lizards, at The Barnstormers at 7:30 p.m. and tickets will be available at the box office after 6:00 this evening. You can read all about the Lizards here, and you can read here about the door prize one lucky audience member will win: a season ticket to ACT’s exciting, diverse and delightful 2010-2011 performance season!

Get ready to give the boys (and girl) from Texas a big New Hampshire welcome!

(And hear Dennis’s ad below.)

Every ticket holder at Saturday’s Lounge Lizards concert will have an opportunity to win a season ticket for ACT’s fabulous 2010-2011 performance season. A year of diverse and wonderful music and entertainment awaits you, from jazz and classical, to hip hop theater and world music. We’re looking forward to the singing strings of the Camerata New England Chamber Trio and the clarinets of the USAF Bay State Winds Quartet, the jazzy vocals and rhythms of Miss Tess and the Bon Ton Parade, and the jaw-dropping fast fingerpicking of the Frank Vignola Trio. Hailey Niswanger is bringing her saxophone and her whole band, and Collective Consciousness Theater will perform Aaron Jafferis‘s hip hop play Shakespeare: The Remix. And we’re working on bringing the incredible fusion sounds of Natraj and maybe another surprise or two. And don’t forget our dance party: shake off the winter blues next January with DJ Karen Williams in the Brass Heart barn! You can buy tickets to the irrepressible (see below!) Lounge Lizards here, at The Other Store in Tamworth, or by calling 603-323-8104. See you at the show!

(Happy Birthday, Linda!)

Hear the choir on May 8!

You’ll live longer if you spend an evening laughing at their wacky lyrics!

But just in case, better catch these fine harmonies while they’re in Tamworth.

Come lounge with them on May 8…

Arts Council of Tamworth is excited to bring—all the way east from Texas—the talented eclectic musical geniuses known as the Austin Lounge Lizards to the stage of The Barnstormers Theatre in Tamworth, NH, on Saturday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m. If you liked the Two Man Gentleman Band, if you liked the White Mountain Boys, you’ll love this veteran band from the big west.

“Like Zappa meeting bluegrass,” says Vintage Guitar Magazine. “Hilarious, endearing and literary,” raves Billboard. Based in Austin, as their name suggests, since 1976, the Lizards have honed their music into a wicked-funny art form. They’ve delighted audiences from Texas to Trafalgar Square with their inventive style of satirical folk, country and bluegrass. Trademarks of a Lizards song are highly literate, sharply pointed lyrics that poke fun at politics, love, religion and the culture in general. Combined with superb musicianship that features precise four- and five-part vocal harmonies and instrumental mastery, the band’s songs are as melodically infectious as they are lyrically prescient.

Given their free-ranging eclecticism and natural irreverence, it’s no surprise that the group counts among its influences Frank Zappa, George Jones, Spike Jones, Flatt & Scruggs, Tom Lehrer and Steve Goodman. Album and song titles like Creatures from the Black Lagoon, “Shallow End of the Gene Pool,” “Teenage Immigrant Welfare Mothers On Drugs,” “Jesus Loves Me (But He Can’t Stand You)” and Never an Adult Moment all point to the Lizards’ love of wordplay and topical relevance. They’re not just clever, though, they can play anything, moving in and out of diverse musical sounds with ease and flair.

The Austin Lounge Lizards are five-time award winners at the prestigious Austin Music Awards, and their version of the Irving Berlin’s “C-U-B-A” was used in the Michael Moore film Sicko. The band has been featured by NPR’s “Morning Edition” and on the radio programs “Mountain Stage” and “E-Town.” The Drugs I Need (released in 2006) is the Lizards’ 10th album and their second on the Houston-based Blue Corn Music label.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $14 for students 13 to 18 and college students with a valid ID. Kids 12 & under are free, but require a ticket reservation to guarantee a seat. Tickets are available at here, at The Other Store in Tamworth Village, or by calling 603-323-8104. More info about online ticket purchasing here will be available at the door tonight after 6:00.

This concert is made possible through the generous support of Sponsors BEAM Construction, The Brass Heart Inn, and Settlers’ Green Outlet Village, Co-sponsors Bayswater Book Co., First Allied, Highland House B & B, and Independent Color Press, Media Sponsor 93.5 WMWV | Magic 104FM, and Press Partners The Conway Daily Sun and The Mountain Ear.

Click on over to the Cabaret & Auction section of this site and take a look at the wonderful items that will be available for bid tonight! The list is almost complete and there really is something for everyone. And, as usual, the amazing Juno created that beautifully crafted part of the web site for us out of thin air and at the drop of a hat.  Thank you, Juno!

Come on down to the Brass Heart Inn at 6:30 or 7 for the 7:30 PM show. There will be brownies and cupcakes and popcorn and the bar will be open to slake your thirst. George Cleveland has threatened to learn a few cancan steps, I am considering wearing something other than jeans, we have some surprises and a lot of fun planned.

Learn more here. Tickets at the door. Come join us!

Come in from the chilly day to the warmth and light and color of the ACT Benefit Cabaret, tonight at 7:30 at The Brass Heart Inn in Chocorua, NH. Online and phone ticket sales have ended. Tickets will be available at the door from 6:30; cash bar opens at 6:30. Come drink a glass of wine with friends, be regaled by MC George Cleveland and a host of talents, and bid on delightful and delicious silent auction items. See you there!