For their thesis project as a grad student at Illinois State University, composer and multi-instrumentalist Joe Sandy wrote a musical with pals from the Sweet Nothings, a Twin City band specializing in early 20th century jazz and swing.
Sandy graduated earlier this month, having successfully defended their thesis — and then some.
“Normally people don’t perform their thesis project,” they said. “Most composition people, they’ll do like a symphony or a huge band thing, and there’s no time to give it to a band to rehearse.”
Not so for Sandy, who wrote The Satyr’s Last Lament in close collaboration with the Sweet Nothings. The Ren Faire-meets-hot-club-jazz musical adds woodwind quintet to the band’s typical instrumentation: vocals, django guitar, accordion, trumpet, sousaphone and percussionist Eric Knutilla’s homemade “trash kit” comprised of old coffee cans, a washboard, kick pedal on a wooden box and his custom “kazoovuzela.”
“It’s a kazoo and a vuvuzela,” Knutilla said. “I invented it.”
“I knew whatever I write I want to play with my friends, so I wrote it for my friends,” Sandy said. “What I wrote was very simple guitar parts because I know Trenton (Perry) can play something way better. I can just say, here are some chords on the page, you know what to do. Drum parts, again, no one’s notated for trash kit before.”
The Sweet Nothings performed The Satyr's Last Lament in April at ISU, and wanted to take another stab at it with a public performance concluding at the Bistro Friday night. Weather permitting, this one-of-a-kind musical starts at the McLean County Museum of history with the Sweet Nothings playing and acting, then capping the night with a set of their usual standards.
Audience members are encouraged to dress up in Ren Faire-inspired attire, cast as unwitting “villagers” and gifted kazoos to accompany the band.
The Satyr’s Last Lament isn’t the happiest of musicals. It’s a cautionary tale about people in a thriving village that meet a wayward stranger who tempts them into indulging in their ample supply of food and wine.
“They partied it up all summer long until they didn’t prepare any food, they didn’t save anything,” Sandy said. “Winter comes. No one’s there to help. And the stranger offers to save them.”
The trade-off is essentially performing murder for hire.
“The stranger says, all right, follow me out of town, I’ll take you away,” Sandy said. “As they go, the stranger turns them all into goats and slaughters them and eats them.”
It’s not exactly a happy ending, but Sandy said The Satyr’s Last Lament is, above all, about community.
“Don’t come expecting to leave with joy in your heart, but it’s certainly a fun show — and you get a kazoo.”
The Satyr's Last Lament begins at 9 p.m. Friday outside the McLean County Museum of History in downtown Bloomington, before proceeding to the nearby Bistro. There is no cover charge. For more details, visit the Sweet Nothings’ Facebook page.
