Combustible Edison soothed the nerves and tickled the

eardrums of a couple hundred Northamton, MA swingers at their Iron Horse gig

Friday (Oct. 25). They didn't emphasize style over substance, but they

certainly weren't about to sacrifice style--of which they had more than you

could shake a swizzle stick at. Dressed in matching velvet smoking jackets and

pants, and, naturally, their trademark black turtle neck shirts The

Millionaire, Nicholas Cudahy, Mr. Peter Dixon and Aaron Oppenheimer were joined

by the lovely chanteuse Miss Lily Banquette who showed off her figure in a long

flowing gold evening gown. It's hard to believe that this band was led by

two-thirds of a group I first heard of ten years ago when they opened for the

Butthole Surfers during their Rembrandt Pussyhorse tour. It's been over a

decade since Michael "The Millionaire" Cudahy and Liz "Miss Lily Banquette" Cox

began the folk-psychedelic oriented group Christmas who wrote songs about

Pee-Wee Herman and Tommy the Truck. They've obviously "matured" quite a bit,

having been reborn as the love child of Henry Mancini and Julie London who

happened to pick Esquivel to be the group's godfather.

Opening with the

suave stylings of Les Baxter's "Quiet Village" (the first of many covers played

throughout the night), Miss Lily Banquette alternately played the melodica and

sensuously danced in front of her band mates. She proved that she was no mere

chanteuse, but a multi-talented instrumentalist who played drums at least half

the night as well as congas, vibes and a myriad of other percussion devices.

After "Summer Samba" The Millionaire told the crowd in his best Las Vegas tone,

"You all look like a great crowd. You make us feel good. This crowd is full of

winners." With that he led the band into "The Checkered Flag," a song featuring

the beautiful soprano of Miss Lily from their latest Sub Pop long-player,

Schizophonic...

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