Batter up

I popped down to Irene's to see the debut performance of Shanker and Romps. Shanker is Patrick Shanks of a bunch of bands like The Knurlings, Holy Hell, Glads, Casey Comeau and The Half-Milers and The Solid Senders. Romps is Rebecca Comeau, sister of Casey. They hit the stage in matching polka dots, red neckerchiefs and red shoes (Chucks and pumps, respectively). While Patrick kicked out some crunchy, tremeloed sounds on his double cutaway goldtop Yamaha Judy, Rebecca kept the beat and sang Buck Owens. The songs were about wonderful pals, bike-riding, holey socks and pancakes. Crunchy and cute.
Krista L.L. Muir and Shane Watt were up next. Krista is best known for her alter-ego Lederhosen Lucil, but has turned in her synthesizer for a ukulele (she also had an Omnichord with her). I confess, I prefer strings to electronics, and I like her and Watt's singer-songwriter stuff quite a bit.