Ted Drozdowski’s Scissormen were riveting at Darwin’s Saturday Feb. 13
Saturday night at Darwin’s Ted Drozdowski was performing with his Scissormen, Sean Szwick and Pete Pulkrabek. Our friends George and Betty were sitting at the table next to us. About an hour into the show, Betty came and leaned into to me between songs. “I’ve been looking at you off and on but you were so entranced with Ted you never even noticed.””I’m sorry,” I said but she replied, “No, that’s a good thing!”
And indeed I was riveted watching Ted but you have to pay constant attention or you’ll miss something. In fact, you might not even know where he is. While Scott and Pete keep the steady rhythm going on guitar and drum on stage, Drozdowski may be on his knees on the floor, somewhere in the crowd, using the side of a chair to play slide guitar, standing on a table, lying on a table, or who knows what. He’s completely unpredictable except that you know he won’t be still and you know the music will be amazing no matter where he is.
Ted is a musicologist with an encyclopedic knowledge of the blues who intersperses his performances with bit of information about blues performers of the past, even when doing original tunes like “The River” or when he and the Scissormen do a very original take on a classic like “When the Levee Breaks,” which,a s he points out, was originally done by Memphis Minnie.
It was a wild and wildly entertaining night as Drozdowski played guitar exceedingly well on his back or on a chair or while using the napkin holder to play slide, or playing the diddly bo, the one-stringed guitar from which Bo Diddly got his name. Ted has a bo he made out of a beautiful 60’s Epiphone guitar that had a broken neck and could no longer be properly tuned. and another one made out of a crawfish pot. They go to show that a very simple instrument can both be fun and create a great sound.
It was perfect music for Darwin’s and the blues-savvy and enthusiastic Darwin’s crowd, but no matter where you get the chance to see Te Drozdowski and his Scissormen, grab it. You will be entranced and riveted, too!
