Locust Street Taxi has been picking up wayward musicians, funny songs and trombone sounds for a good dozen years now.
So it’s high time the band released a new album and did not just one or two, but a string of three shows to promote it, Taxi guitarist Franco Bertucci feels.
Since he’s got the rest of the band in the car on this, Bertucci and company are speeding toward Taxi Fest III, a three-night, three-venue celebration of “Superior Complaints,” their record hot off the press. Or whatever you call it when the music is downloadable.
■ Night No. 1 in the saga is tonight. Locust Street Taxi pulls in with its ska, reggae and Americana music in tow to the Quimper Grange, 1219 Corona St. in Port Townsend. Rhythm Planet is the opening act for the 7:30 p.m. event, and tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children age 12 and younger.
■ Next the Taxi will arrive at the Uptown Pub, 1016 Lawrence St. in Port Townsend, at 9 p.m. Saturday. Admission there is $10 for the adults-only venue.
■ Taxi Fest culminates this Sunday in a concert at the Quilcene Theater, 11 Old Church Road in Quilcene, Bertucci’s city of residence. Tickets to this
7:30 p.m. show are again $10, or $5 for kids 12 and younger.
At each event, wearers of Locust Street Taxi T-shirts — even the homemade ones — will enjoy a $2 discount at the door.
But then, ticket prices will be $2 more at the door than they are in advance.
So for those who want to save money by buying ahead, the outlets for Taxi Fest tickets at the lower prices listed above are: www.LocustStreetTaxi.com, which also has links to music and much more information; Quimper Sound, 230 Taylor St. in downtown Port Townsend; and the Village Store at 294235 U.S. Highway 101 in Quilcene.
These Locust Street Taxi shows are not going to happen as often as they once did, added the band’s agent, Danny Milholland.
This is due to the fact, he said, that trombone player Nathan Geyer has moved to Las Vegas. And while Bertucci is in Quilcene and drummer Sam Stockard is based in Port Townsend, bass man James Porter lives in Bellingham.
So the band promises to pull out the stops. But then, these players are always “very animated,” Milholland observed. “There’s a lot of jumping around.”
Hold on, added Bertucci. Locust Street Taxi also offers a wide variety of songs and rap parodies, custom tunes composed on the spot and Geyer, “a trombone player who can make a really sweet cow noise.”
The Taxi, Bertucci added, delivers “the kind of pop-rock you would expect from three musical geniuses . . . and a trombone player.”
But seriously. Or not. Taxi Fest is three concerts covering the gamut of music.
“We’ve got something for everyone,” Bertucci said, reeling off an impressive list: “The Beatles crossed with Cake, Bobby McFerrin, Bob Marley, Tom Waits and The Muppets.”
