Alpha Schoolmarm Orchestra

Friend of the program and all-around good egg Dave Flomberg was kind enough to let me come shoot his band the Alpha Schoolmarm Orchestra last night at the Mercury Cafe.  If you like ska music -- and really, if you don't you should -- check these guys out.  They're incredibly talented and about as fun as it gets.

Who says you have to wait for the headliner to start taking pictures?  Something about the guitarist for the opening reggae band mesmerized me.  Probably the combination of his blue guitar and the blue stage lights.

Who says you have to wait for the headliner to start playing to start taking pictures?  You just don't see someone in a cowboy hat tuning a cello every day.  At least, I don't.

I sadly couldn't get a shot that did my man Dave justice.  Why do you stick an instrument with a slide in the back anyway?  Someone could get hurt, especially when you've got 15 musicians crammed on a small stage.

Conductor Chad Aman also took a couple of amazing turns on the keys, but kept his baton handy.

Trumpet player Britt Alstad laying low during a number.

What's better than one trombone?  Two, of course!  And bowler hats.

Aman scans the crowd.

You can't listen to ska music and not feel happy.  Glad to see leading a ska orchestra can have the same effect.

Apparently playing cello in one does, too.

ASO did nothing to disprove my theory that every song sounds better as a ska cover, moving effortlessly from Lady Gaga to Wings to Michael Jackson to Nirvana.  Anxiously awaiting the CD release party!