North of the Gate
MUSTACHE COUNTRY MUSIC: The upper Napa Valley lowdown is that everyone is raving about the Towne Dandies, a singing duo that calls itself "a voice of reason in cyberwestern entertainment."
"That means we run around wearing aluminum foil cowboy hats and sideburns and play a somewhat futuristic style of country music," said Geoff Ellsworth, a well-known artist who is the Dandies' singer and lyricist. Steve McElroy, whose day job is computer resource specialist at St. Helena High School, is the musician and composer.
With more costume changes than a busy Barbie and songs like "Mustache Country" and "Haircuts Now!"-during which onstage haircuts are given to audience volunteers-the Towne Dandies kind of defy description.
"They're like the New Yorker magazine on drugs," praised St. Helena photographer Faith Echtermeyer. "Everybody loves them from 15 to 80 because they are so intelligently funny."
Word of mouth has gotten the Dandies gigs at the Paradise Lounge in San Francisco,
shows in Sonoma and Napa, and an upcoming bash for Netscape in Mountain View.
Tomorrow, the world. If it's ready.
"These guys are pretty wacky."
- Jerry Carroll, San Francisco Chronicle
"A wall of electronic sound heralds the arrival of a costumed cross between Captain Marvel and a cyberspace warrior, cloaked in high school marching band jacket, cartoon art chaps and matching headdress, singing into a wireless head-strap microphone about the vagaries of world travel.
- L. Pierce Carson, Napa Valley Register
"Everybody loves them from 15 to 80 because they are so intelligently funny."
- Faith Echtermeyer, photographer, St. Helena