Who Plays a Chair?
I did not know what to expect last night. I have known some of the people in the band for many years, but somehow never seen them play either as CaracasUnderpop or Slamballet. Well, I was impressed. When they were tuning up and Agi and Flora broke into song, the staff and I looked at each other and said, "This is gonna be gooood."

The project Slamballet was born in Caracas in 1989, after several mutations, incarnations, 1 published album and 4 others home made, finally, landed in Budapest, with a new and sexy line up: Pabloslam, founder of the project, composer, guitar player and vocals; Ágnes Staudt  in main vocals, co-writer of some of the new tracks, and also playing percussion; Flóra Mátisz, on vocals, violin and guitar; Hector Vielma on bass and Marcel Benkô on percussion. The project has always roamed in nowhere land between electronics and acoustics, but this time, is moving towards acoustics, setting them free from any electronic grid that dictates the duration and tempo of the tracks, offering a much more organic show. Eszter Polyak also joined in for a few songs, and she and Naked Woods will be playing at Treehugger Dan's next Thursday. She also did a great job as the sound technitian. Other guests included Mike Kentish and David Asztalos from the Random Chocolates. I think all the songs, both in English and Spanish were their own. The music was great, the vocals were great, and everyone had fun on and off stage.

"I know I should expect the unexpected when I go to Dan's events. What else can should I expect from a man who came to Hungary 19 years ago for two months and just stayed. Last night on paper looked ok. No great football or any other distracations so lets go and see what Dan has to offer. Yet again Dan you have surprised me. Slamballet last night were a little gem." - Tim Child

The band and a few hangers-on like myself ended up at Picasso Point, which back in the early 1990s was THE expat bar, probably the first I remember, for awhile until a few months later and somewhere else became the "in" place. After a beer, it was clear that Slamballet was not through for the night. They quickly convinced the staff at Picasso Point to let them play on their small stage. Most of the instruments had already been packed away in the car, but Pablo had his guitar, Flora had her fiddle, the girls had their voices, and Marci, well, Marci had a chair. I left at 1am, and they were still going for it.