Every Monday, start your week off right with live music at Rumba Café and your bank account will thank you. The show runs for free, compliments of New Pollution and The Andy Shaw Band. Mondays have gotten a bad rap. For one thing, none of the anti-Monday songs should be allowed to play prior-to or post Monday, especially “Maniac Monday.” They really just bring us down, reminding us that there is another Monday around the corner. Rumba Café on Summit must have been feeling the same way because now Rumba Mondays are stocked full of entertainment.
Mark Rhodes, of New Pollution, explains that Marvelous Mondays began “when Jason Quicksall’s ‘Cowtown Round’ moved their show to Wednesday’s. I called Todd, the owner, and since Andy Shaw and I had been talking about sharing an evening. Occasionally we will have a national act in and take the night off.”
Up until now, many local bars and gathering spots have Monday reserved for open-mic poetry, comedy or karaoke. With no songs left to cover and no fresh, new material to share, head to Rumba for the night and let the men from The Andy Shaw Band and New Pollution entertain you back to sanity. They even have a positive, jump start name for it— Marvelous Mondays. If you cannot make it thrrough the day without hearing some live poetry, Rumba has that group prior to the music.
The Andy Shaw Band:
Andy Shaw- Guitar and lead vocals
Chris Shaw- Drums and backup vocals
Jim Shaw- Keyboards
Matt Paetsch-Bass
John Libertore- Guitar
Eric Zielinski- Guitar
Yep, you read that right there: three Shaw men in ASB. In the past, many family bands have been fairly cheesy and eaten up by hungry little girls that catapult a group into a multi-million dollar product. Still, there is the White Stripes who are anything but cheesy. There is Sly and the Family Stone, Jackson 5, Dixie Chicks, Jonas Brothers. It would seem in a family band the fight/make-up/get-over-it game would be second nature, so it chances for survival must be higher. It seems as though occasionally characters collide thus resulting in dissolution. As a laid back as the Shaw family appears, it is hard to see a lot of fighting taken place. every time I see the Shaw men playing together somewhere in the back of my head, I hear Sly singing “it’s a family affair.”
ASB emote themselves as a “reggae” band but I can’t help but put them in the rock-reggae genre. The powerful voice of Andy has been compared on more than one occasion to local, new to celebrityville Josh Krajeck. Yet I find Andy’s solo sound, portrayed a sweet balance of a mellow hippy to the hardness of a hammer. The raspy, earthy sound ASB display is enticing.
Andy Shaw describes that they “have a group of steady people that come in after 11:30. It’s hard to have and similarity in the show because every show is unique. Some days we have five of us here playing or three or four. Some people come and sit in and we like that. We don’t want our Monday show to be like our weekend show. We want it to be something different and challenging. It’s a Monday hang-out but we don’t treat the music that way“ 
Playlist
Falling Faster
Rain
Pomp and Pride (toots and the mai-tais)
What if I am Wrong
Let it out Let it go
Gimme a Little Bit More
To mix it up, both bands switch back and forth to start the show and display their individual music skills, which keeps the show fresh and not monotonous. Since November ASB and New Pollution took on the Monday night slot.
Chris Shaw feels “playing at Rumba is awesome because it’s a local bar and people in the neighborhood hang out here. It’s free which is awesome. We like the bartenders and it’s just a nice chill vibe. It’s small so it’s kind of an intimate venue. I come on Sundays for ‘Hoo Doo’ there is always good music here.
Still nursing that Comfest hangover? Come to Rumba and the live music will make it all better. In the future, Andy Shaw Band will continue putting out fundamentally good, fervent music. They will accomplish this all the while laying the ground work for other bands success and music enthusiast pleasure. One thing to remember is all of these shows will not be free on a Monday at the Dope Rumba Café where they keep it all in the family forever. So hightail your cowtown tail to Rumba for a laid-back and chill evening, just don’t forget to tip the bartenders.
Peace
*Thanks to Tom Wickstrom for the great pictures.
