Mr. Something Something, meet Mr. Ed (video)

EDITOR'S NOTE: SooToday.com wishes to advise our readers that the author of the following article did not attend the Loplops event described, unwisely basing his reportage solely on second-hand anecdotal evidence and a video shot by Peter Gualtieri.

Quite frankly, most of us think Mr. Ed is getting a little old for this kind of thing.

As we seek a permanent replacement for him, we wish to caution our readers that Ed's observations and conclusions should, as always, be taken with a healthy pillar of salt.


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It is impossible, we were warned, to attend a Mr. Something Something appearance without dancing.

For this reason, Mr. Ed stayed away from Loplops Gallery-Lounge last Thursday night.

The sight of an aging horse spaz-dancing like Spike Jonze in the 1999 Fatboy Slim video Praise You might prove more than Saultites could reasonably be expected to endure, we reasoned.

After considerable buck-passing among our reporting staff, it was determined that SooToday.com's talented videographer Peter Gualtieri would be assigned to the Something Something thingy, as the individual least likely to cause permanent damage to our credibility and reputation.

The rumours, it turned out, were absolutely true.

Loplops was packed with movement-challenged Saultbies who clearly couldn't dance, but equally clearly were incapable of desisting from ataxic chicken-dance-like improvisations once Mr. Something Something began its hypnotic fusion of jazz, soul, funk and West African rhythms.

The band started its set at Loplops' Queen Street entrance, dancing its way to the stage, followed by a flock of flapping fans whose involuntary movements defied ethnochoreological analysis.

Frontman Johan Hultqvist, sporting a cast on his broken wrist, was unable to lead the clapping.

But the fans took over this duty, making sure the beat was known to all.

Except for the bartender, who appeared to suffer from terminal biomusicological arrhythmia.

Sault Ste. Marie was the first of 37 shows on Mr. Something Something's summer tour, which ends August 24 in Robson Valley, BC.

The band's latest album was nominated for World Music Album of the Year by the 2007 Juno Awards.

To view Mr. Gualtieri's video, please click here.

MrSomethingSomething.com
Band profile on MySpace.com