It isn't very reasonable to expect every family to live in a comfortable housing estate, attending school or work daily and interacting around a television. It takes a very special nuclear group like the Trachtenburgs to come along and show some initiative by dressing in homemade 1970's threads and travelling the world singing Happy Birthday to photographs of dead nurses and uncles.
Husband/father Jason - the Adam Green of New York's anti-folk scene in the late 80's/early 90's and onetime Daniel Johnston collaborator - excels in crafting hilarious observational commentaries over quirkily childish melodies in the vein of They Might Be Giants or the Danielson Famile, but with an even more severe bout of A.D.D. His wife Tina - the band's projectionist - is the traditional homely American “mom” who exudes warmth and acts as the night‘s gracious hostess. Despite fierce competition, the fan’s favourite is their thirteen year old drummer daughter Rachel, which is apparent from the band’s merchandise (her cartoon manifestation is emblazoned on colouring books, badges, dolls and bags made from eco-friendly materials by Tina's mother). It is obvious to all that the good-humoured and multi-talented teen (she was originally the band's harmonica player and has guested as a bassist for several bands) has a certain fate to fulfil as the next decade's Kim Deal.
Jason utilises Tina's reel-changing break between each song and their mid-set questions/answers session to showcase his tendencies as an intentionally bad fast-talking stand-up comedian ("The Who reformed to record their final album. It's going to be called Who Cares!"). He is a sort of stumbling, musically-inclined Tommy Cooper who substitutes a fez for a brown velvet suit, gigantic moustache and oversized glasses. He is also immensely likeable; afterwards, there’ll be a 15-minute queue to shake his hand and say hello.
But there’s much more to the band than their style and their smiles. The set's highlights include their visual odes to eggs and dandelions, with the centrepiece being a 6-piece rock opera based on a slideshow of McDonald's corporate plan for 1978 ("Let's Not Have the Same Weight in 1978 — Let's Have More"). The fast food giant couldn't have dreamed of their strategy coming into the possession of a more inappropriate person, as Mr Trachtenburg bemoans the company's relative inability to "take advantage of efficiency" over a polka rhythm and a clashing drum beat. The contrast between the two interacting worlds is perfectly accentuated and the family once again serve to represent a delightful schism from the norm.
The band also exist to bring life to the lifeless and forgotten. Here are people's long-discarded memories and lost friendships being projected on to a wall in a country thousands of miles away from where they were formed, to a paying audience of hundreds! The adventures of best friends Jean and Kathy (probably now deceased) make up the naggingly-catchy pop gem Look At Me and bewilder the audience into side-splitting laughter (what is a "Festival of Gas" and why are they at it?!).
Hollywood handyman and comic David Cross said it best when he remarked upon Tina and Jason's parenting skills as "a way to raise a family and conduct your life that most of us either haven't thought of or simply lack the imagination and courage to carry out." An innovative government would surely authorise cloning so that every neighbourhood could be home to a few Trachtenburg Families.
Eggs
Eggs (Video)
Mountain Trip To Japan, 1959 (Video)
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The Players are releasing a live DVD 'Off And On Broadway' on August 1st, which can be purchased here.
