Fat Tuesday's | Cervantes Other Side | 5/29/18

Article Contributed by Ali J. Stinehour | Published on Thursday, May 31, 2018

“It’s Tuesday night baby, and we like to party on Tuesday nights!” -Casey Russell, the Fat Tuesday event creator and a master keyboardist for The Magic Beans.

The theme for this latest Fat Tuesday, at Cervantes Other Side, was presented by KGNU community radio: A Cajun crawfish boil to support the NOLA culture. If you know the Magic Beans, then you know how they love themselves some crawfish and soulful music. I must say, with such a diverse group of attendees, that all of the above suits the historical musical neighborhood of Five Points Denver quite perfectly.

Cervantes Others Side

The night kicked off quickly with a high energy patio set featuring members from both Tenth Mountain Division and Part & Parcel together as Loose Willis & The 6th Sense.  They had Jacob Moss on guitar, Mark Pietrovito on the mandolin, Evan Harris on the bass, Devon Lindsay on drums, Mj Ouimette on guitar, and Campbell Thomas on the keys, plus special guest Kevin Watson on the dobro. They played funky bluegrass covers of the Beatles (Lady Madonna), Phish (Dirt; Ya Mar), and finished strong with “Hurricane” by Levon Helm.

Loose Willis & The 6th Sense | Denver, CO

After the patio set was over, it was time for the get down with one of most ever-expanding groups of Colorado local musicians I’ve ever seen on stage at Cervantes. Just to give you an idea of who joined Casey Russell & The Soul Shack’s circulating cast of musicians for this particular Fat Tuesday...

The featured artists were:

Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff (of Lettuce) on guitar

Nick Gerlach (of Michael Menert & The Pretty Fantastics) on tenor saxophone

Will Trask (of Analog Sun) of drums & percussion

Sean Dandurand (of Dandu) on

Eric Luba (of The RunniKine) on keys

Amanda Silecchio on vocals

Parris Fleming (of the Motet) on trumpet and vocals

Lyle Divinksy (of The Motet) on vocals

Matt Flaherty (of Matt Flaherty Band) on guitar

Mark Wilkolak (of Mercenary Horns) on trombone

Matthew Wilkolak (of Mercenary Horns) on trumpet

Michelangelo Carruba (of Turkuaz) on percussion

Megan Letts (of Mama Magnolia) on vocals

Kaila Mullady on beatboxing vocals

Mark Martin on beatboxing vocals

DJ Williams on Guitar

Cervantes Other Side | Denver, Colorado

With every song having different musicians enter the stage, the crowd was consistently satisfied and never bored right up until the very end of the show. The bangers of the night were “Night People” by Allen Toussaint, “Qualified” by Dr. John, and “Stretch Your Rubber Band” by the meters. The set finally began to wind down with vocalist Megan Letts, from Mama Magnolia, singing “Into the Deep” by galactic and Macy Gray.

Casey Russell and friends | Cervantes Other Side

Upon asking Casey Russell how he felt about the turnout Fat Tuesday has been getting lately, he said, “We have been building the show, and we have a solid turnout every month. We were only 50 people short of selling out on Mardi Gras.” To follow up, my next question for Russell was, “Do you see the experience you are providing for your loyal attendees to continue monthly for some time to come?” Russell replied, “I plan on continuing this show for as long as I live in Colorado! I would love for it to be a standing tradition and to continue growing it for the next decades!” On that note, he has succeeded in creating a popular event that also supports the local music community in Colorado that should definitely become a monthly ritual for you if you really love music. Russell is also very excited to see all of the new faces and the Magic Beans family this summer at Beanstalk 2018.