June 8, 2023 8p
Nov 5, 2022
Feb 22, 2023
As the railyard bled into dark warehouses, the stranger found
himself alone. Street after street he walked with night taking
control of his senses until his ears perked at the music of sirens.
The dulcet tones of violin, bass, and the female voice spiraled
through the darkness from the sole source of warmth in sight.
Helplessly drawn in, he found the last lit trailer in camp that
seemed to have sprung forth from another time, and there--in the
form of three women--was both the past and the future in one.
He introduced himself as Sam Random and explained that his path
and his name were inextricably linked. Sensing a kindred spirit,
they proffered their names: Marielle de Rocca-Serra held the violin,
Stacy McMichael propped up the bass fiddle, and it was Candace
Washburn's voice that had beckoned him. As Sam sat at their fire
and opened up his tattered guitar case, another man, his elder,
stepped forth from the darkness having been drawn in from afar.
Armed too with a guitar, he announced himself as Kevin Rush and
sat with no concern as to whether he'd been invited - simply knowing
he was home. Fueled by coffee black as the night they found themselves
in and so dark it could have been wartime, they played through
'til the sun began painting the eastern horizon red.
Winding their caravan through the windiest of cities, lePercolateur
has spent the time since this fateful night sweeping in to transport
concert-goers to a time where music was a liberating and cathartic
respite from persecution-- where the frenetic energy of struggling
to simply 'be' coalesced with the unbridled spirit of gypsy music
and burgeoned into swing dancing. The troupe transforms the Green Mill,
Andy's Jazz Club, Untitled, Jazz Showcase, Winter's Jazz Club and Katerina's
into sold-out Parisian dance halls circa 1937 on a monthly basis.
Their high-energy sideshow has made "Percolateers" of attendees
of the Chicago World Music Festival, Lakeview Art Festival, Glen Ellyn Jazz Festival, Deer Park
Jazz Festival, Jazz Institute of Chicago's Jazz Tours,
Hard Rock Cafe Chicago, All Souls Jazz Festival,
City Winery, Mayne Stage, Martyrs, Schubas, Midwest Gypsy Jazz Festival,
Chopin Theatre, the Chicago Cultural Center's "Music Without
Borders" series, and University of Chicago and Purdue University's Swing Dances. They were
Featured Artists in the Windy City Lindy
Exchange, during which they flaunted their uncanny ability to
seamlessly fuse two different eras via their reinterpretations
of modern pop through the medium of hipster gypsy jazz. Along
the way, these temporally displaced merry-makers were victorious at
the Chicago Bluegrass and Blues Festival's "Last Banjo Standing"
contest.
lePercolateur released their debut
album "Pop Manouche" in March 2013, and thus became
the latest band to join the Chicago Sessions record label. With the addition
of violinist Felipe Tobar & guitarists Chris Siebold / Mason Jiller to the mix
-audience members are sure to wake from this dreamlike daze
wondering in which year they find themselves... wishing it was
what their senses told them.
CARAVAN-BEYONCE: MayneStage2
Bad Crazy Day: MayneStage2
PBS Full Concert
DANCING IN THE KITCHEN: MayneStage