LIVE: Popa Chubby & Friends @ the Falcon, 2/10/14

Review and photographs by Rudy Lu

Popa Chubby & Friends brought an eclectic mixture of blues, New Orleans rock n’ roll and the classic rock of Beatles, Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix to the Falcon to kick off their month-long Monday night residency in Marlboro.

While Popa Chubby’s lead guitar led the attack, his bandmates certainly lived up to the challenge, including the versatile jazz drummer Adam Nussbaum, veteran blues keyboard player Dave Keyes and the young Sam Smith anchoring the band on bass.

Adam Nussbaum is best known in the world of jazz, but as he revealed to me, he played rock in his school days and was heavily influenced by the jazz-to-rock drummer, the late Mitch Mitchell. Keyes shared in vocal duties, and some of his original compositions were also featured during the performance. In addition to his talents as an agile soloist, bassist Smith provided a solid anchor for a band that might have otherwise been flying off the stage.

Popa Chubby & Friends will continue their residency at the Falcon on the remaining February Mondays, including tonight (February 17) and February 24.