Polygraph Lounge
INTERVIEW
“We’re very serious about being ridiculous,” said Mark Stewart, part of the trio known as Polygraph Lounge.
“In the spirit of Spike Jones, who took the common musical currency of the day and re-wrote it with crazy hi-jinx, we do American pop songs and the great classic tunes in a way that combines music and mirth,” Stewart said. “If it’s fun for us, we find it fun for others.”
Polygraph Lounge, which also includes Rob Schwimmer and Melissa Fathman, began at a bar in New York City’s Lower East Side, where Schwimmer and Stewart first met because of their love for a particular Belgian ale on tap there.
“The bartender introduced us and we immediately took a shine to each other,” he said.
Both professional musicians, they coincidentally both had tunes on a compilation CD and were asked by the organizers to do something for the opening party.
“We’d been making each other laugh for months, so we worked up a 20-minute set,” he said. “We kept working on it and it became a side project for us, but at a certain point we decided to get more serious about it, find an agent and all that.”
Both Stewart and Schwimmer are members of Paul Simon’s band, and a bit of their Polygraph madness can be seen in the DVD version of Simon and Garfunkel’s recent “Concert in Central Park” when they get to cut loose at the end of “Feelin’ Groovy.”
The current repertoire includes a version of “The Nutcracker” that “asks you to re-think what the whole dance is about,” and features a vocal feat by Fathman that “always leaves folks mouths hanging wide open.”
Another favorite number is re-telling the story of “Moby Dick” with a medley of recognizable pop songs.
“It will also be ‘Nose Flute Night,’” Stewart said. “Everyone in attendance gets a nose flute free of charge, included in the price of your ticket, and the audience will become a nose flute choir.
“It is at once beautiful and hysterical,” Stewart said.
how to go
WHO: Polygraph Lounge.
WHERE: Hall Auditorium, Miami University, Oxford.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday.
COST: $14 adults, $13 senior citizens, $7 students and youth.
MORE INFO: (513) 529-3200; tickets.muohio.edu.
A version of this story originallly appeared in the Go! entertainment section of the JournalNews.
