MARCI VON SAVOY
The oldest commercial building in Provo quaked on Saturday night with the sounds of My Man Friday and The Richard Pike Band.
The building, once the old Bread Company and now The Vintage House restaurant, held about 300 people, about half as much as last year, according to Jimmy Thompson, the lead singer for My Man Friday, a senior humanities major from Fresno, Calif., for “The Bread Factory” show.
My Man Friday is a ten-piece, Jamaican-style, ska band (as opposed to the more familiar punk style) composed of jazz musicians.
“We are all jazzers posing as a ska band,” Thompson said.
“Our ska is different from Stretch. It’s a little bit more of a Jamaican roots sound,” said Caleb Chapman, a senior music major from Boston. Chapman plays the alto sax for My Man Friday and is also the musical director for the horn arrangements. According to Chapman, ska was around before and was Jamaica’s first music.
My Man Friday, together for about 2 1/2 years, recorded their set at “The Bread Factory Show” and will be selecting five of the best recordings for their demo tape. The tape which should be done at the beginning of the year precedes their CD which will probably be released in March, according to Chapman.
The band played original songs, as well as a few covers, at Saturday’s show. One classic cover they’ve successfully redone in a ska-esque fashion is Smokey Robinson’s, “Tears of a Clown.”
Blenders and The Vintage House sponsored the show and between bands coupons for free smoothies and pizza were handed out to folks who correctly answered such trivia questions as naming three of the Jackson Five, thus making the 1866 bread factory more like a party scene.
“Any time My Man Friday plays, it is more like a party than a show,” Thompson said.
