Anyone who made it out to the Pub & Grill at Santa Fe Brewing Company Sunday night (1/17) truly got a treat—New Orleans’ Cowboy Mouth played its first Santa Fe-area show and didn’t disappoint. The band is touring the country on its 14th (!) annual Mardi Gras tour, but from the sheer volume of energy packed into every show, one would think they’re fresh on the scene and still beyond-psyched to actually be playing real live gigs. But no, these people who love what they do so freaking much.

There are a lot of musicians who should take a cue from the Fred LeBlanc School of Crowd-Pleasing. Seriously, this dude is a force of nature. He’s both the frontman and the drummer, and between talking to individual people in the crowd, specializing in call-and-response bits and exuding a unique brand of over-the-top, almost terrifying enthusiasm, he can get even the most uptight wanker in the crowd to let loose and “go insane on the count of three.” (I couldn’t believe that every time Fred urged the audience to “go insane” at the end of a countdown, everyone actually did—it never got old. Ten or 12 times in and everyone would still jump up and down and scream and go totally nuts when he told them to.)

Below the jump, check out some videos I was able to capture before I caught the bug, put the damn camera away and started dancing.

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Extra Rock:

If you don’t go to the Santa Fe Brewing Co. on Friday to see the Thermals, this is just a small sample of the fun you’ll miss:

Seriously, go.

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Extra Rich:

Check out the web version of this week’s cover story. It’s got these cool spreadsheets so you can see, in part, how I tried to track down Santa Fe’s wealthiest residents.

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Extra Gloom:

US Rep. Ben Ray Luján’s press rep emails along the Santa Fe Congressman’s gloom, which didn’t make it into our pre-Zozobra gloom survey.

It is, “The health insurance status quo.”

Really?

The 2bers CD Release Party

8 pm
Friday, Aug.  14

$5

The Pub & Grill at Santa Fe Brewing Company
37 Fire Place
424-9637

When I first heard of Albuquerque hip-hop duo the 2bers, I was in the audience of New Mexico CultureNet’s Poetry Jam at the Lensic on May 7. “Oh, jeez,” I thought. “Skinny white boys rapping in New Mexico? Awesome.” Psh. I geared up to snooze my way through their set.

But when they performed, I was taken completely by surprise. They were awesome. It was just the two of them and a CD player (they threw the gig together quickly and didn’t even have time to get their usual backup, The One Foundation Band, together), but they brought the Lensic down with heartfelt hip-hop.

After they finished performing and the house lights came on for intermission, I wanted to tell them what a great job they’d done, but they were absolutely swamped with high school kids asking for autographs. I was about 10 years too old to blend in with the little horde, so I hung back and decided I’d talk to them the next chance I got.

The next chance I got came when they emailed me about the release party for Nine Years Later. 9YL is a 2bers project that features one 2ber (1ber?), Bles Infinite (aka Luke Hale), in particular. I was able to sit down with the guys one Wednesday evening at Corazon to catch up with them about the album, their nine years together, and the relationship that Eph Sharpe (aka Collin Troy) calls “beyond bromance.”

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If you’ve ever met the guys from D Numbers you know that not only are they all pretty handsome fellas but they’re also really, really quirky. It’s for this very reason that their shows are so much fun. When the guys released their last album, Lightparade, they threw a killer bash down at The Pub & Grill at Santa Fe Brewing Company and spent nearly as much time taking pictures from the stage while they played as they did actually rocking the jams.

Well, the boys have been hard at work recording a new album, and when I say hard at work I’m talking 15 hour days here, but all that time recording makes it hard to, you know, make money to actually get the album out there. Since this is the very same band that you, Santa Fe, voted Best Experimental Band in SFR’s 2008 Best of Santa Fe poll it’s your delightful duty to help out. Who would have thought doing a good deed would be so much fun. (8 pm Friday, March 13. $5-however many dollars above that you have to spare! The Pub & Grill at Santa Fe Brewing Company, 35 Fire Place, 424-9637)

Oh, but lets get back to the handsome thing for a moment. Like I said, these guys are damn good musicians and they’re also really cute. I dare you to not have a crush on at least one, if not all three of them. Tonight, while the boys fundraise, your dreams of getting a D Numbers smooch may just come true. Their Magical Fundraiser has a kissing booth and word on the street is that Paul Feathericci, Brian Mayhall and Ben Wright will be manning the booth for a short time (sadly, a couple of these cute guys also have super cute girlfriends so this might be your only chance to lock lips with future rock stars). The great thing about hot people though is that their friends are also pretty hot, so there’s a good chance that someone will be in that booth that you’ll want to kiss. Bring chapstick!

If that’s not your kind of sweet though, have no fear. A cake walk, Twister and games are on hand to keep you busy and local DJs Toast and Miss Ginger spin sets that will keep the floor hopping.

Brave the weather, seriously people, just drive carefully, and get down to The Pub & Grill at Santa Fe Brewing Company. Tonight is the night to support local music from one of YOUR favorite bands.

See you there!