I've been meaning to post about a concert of sorts that I went to a few weeks ago. It was the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players at the George Eastman House.

The Trachtenburgs, two parents and their daughter who write songs about slides purchased from estate sales, describe themselves as an "indie-vaudeville conceptual art-rock pop band" and they're not far off the mark. It's tough to even know where to begin to describe the act, except to say that they are vastly entertaining. They're certainly unlike anything I've ever seen. The draw is not so much the music as the stories told by the collections of slides and the interplay of the family onstage.

Jason, the husband, father, and bandleader prattles on between songs like your typical brainy, acerbic, neurotic computer science major might. ("You don't think that joke's funny? I'd laugh at it. Really. I would. I'd laugh my ass off. And then I'd get up and run to back of the theater and buy some merchandise. Definitely.")

But with 10-year-old daughter Rachel on drums and vocals, the Trachtenburgs add an even more entertaining element to their show. As Jason says, "Having our 10-year-old daughter playing drums isn't exploitation. It's just our reality." And putting a 10-year-old on stage is a fascinating reality to behold. For instance, Rachel would stop a couple of bars into a song, wave her father over, and whisper, "Dad, I want to play the new song. When do we get to play the new song?" Or when she broke a drum muter by playing with it:

"Psst. Dad! I need a new one." (waves muter)
"What? You busted another one! Those are expensive.... I don't think you should get another one."
"But, Dad!" (pouts)
"Oh, okay." (trudges over to guitar case)
"No, Jason. Tough love." (mom Tina from her perch behind the slide projector in the back of the auditorium)
"I think we should do 'tough love' tomorrow."

Highlight: I'm not sure. Besides the watching the family interplay, I like the "6-song rock opera" based on slides from a 1978 McDonald's internal marketing seminar which included the song "Let's Not Have the Same Weight in 1978--Let's Have More".

This isn't something I would recommend for everyone. But if you're looking for something fun and unique, I'd recommend The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. No staging or posturing, just a refreshingly real glimpse into one kooky family's unusual artistic world.