BEST BET: ASYLUM STREET SPANKERS
By Barry Gilbert
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
February
15, 2007
9 p.m. Feb. 16 and 17 at Off Broadway, 3511 Lemp Avenue. $12 in advance, $15 at the door for each show. 314-773-3363 or www.offbroadwaystl.com.
Still crazy after a dozen years, the Asylum Street Spankers has turned its wit and whimsy against children. Well, not really against, but the acoustic Southern Gothic old-timey jazz, swing folk, punk and "hick-hop" band is touring behind its new family-oriented CD, "Mommy Says No!" Founders Christina Mars and Wammo and the rest of the band - "asylum" really has nothing to to with any institution - have put together an absolutely delightful collection of songs to which anybody who has been a parent or child can relate. The titles tell the tale: "Training Wheel Rag," "You Only Love Me for My Lunchbox," "When I Grow Up," "Mommy Says No" and, of course, "Don't Turn Out the Light." Kurt Cobain's "Sliver" and Harry Nilsson's "Think About Your Troubles" fit seamlessly with the Spanker originals.