How Beanbender's Got Its Name

Beanbender's was named after a club called ``Beanbender's Beer Garden,'' which is found in the Tintown section of Baconburg in Daniel Pinkwater's novel, The Snarkout Boys & the Avocado of Death. Following are excerpts from that novel, the first describing Beanbender's, the second about a musical performance.


Beanbender's was a strange-looking structure. At first, it was hard to get any idea of it's shape; it just seemed to be a collection of odd-looking dark lumps in the night. Then we could see that Beanbender's was made up of a number of dead trucks and a couple of railroad cars arranged in a circle, like covered wagons in the movies, made into a circle for protection against the Indians.

When Paco was satisfied that the guitar was in tune, he strummed a single loud chord and nodded to Captain Shep Nesterman. Captain Shep Nesterman arose and, carrying Dharmawati [the chicken] on his wrist, wings flapping, he walked into the firelight.

The crowd went wild. There was a lot of applause and cheering.

Captain Shep Nesterman nodded to Paco. Paco nodded to Captain Shep Nesterman. The crowd was silent.

Then Captain Shep Nesterman put Dharmawati on the floor. He stood up very straight, put his arms in a certain position - one in front of him and one in back - and stamped his foot very loudly.

Paco strummed a few chords. Captain Shep Nesterman stamped his feet a lot of times in rapid succession. He kept his back very straight and did subtle things with his arms. He looked good.

Captain Shep Nesterman was getting into some tricky steps. As his movements got more complicated, Paco's playing got fancier. It was getting pretty good. Captain Nesterman was really stamping around pretty well. Up to this point, Dharmawati had just stood there next to Paco. Then she began to sing! It was a wild sound; a sort of high-pitched moaning and crowing and crooning. It sounded wild, and sort of sad. Paco watched Captain Shep Nesterman, and what he played depended on what Captain Shep Nesterman did in his foot-stamping dance. Sometimes Dharmawati would sing to Captain Shep Nesterman's dancing, and sometimes Captain Shep Nesterman would dance to Dharmawati's singing. Sometimes Paco would sing along with Dharmawati, and sometimes Paco would take a solo. Then Captain Shep Nesterman would wait, and Dharmawati would wait, until he was through. It was really great! Each of them was making up what he or she was doing as they went along, and the whole thing blended together. The audience was really going crazy. They were great performers - all of them - including the chicken.


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For more information about BEANBENDER's shows, or about booking your band or musical event, send e-mail to:
Dan Plonsey
dan@plonsey.com
or call (510) 528-8440.