Blackberry Wood played another great show for no people at the Slice, Monday, Dec. 16.
On a crossword puzzle, a fourteen letter word for fun is Blackberry Wood. Missing a Blackberry Wood show is like missing the circus when it comes to town.
They always have something new when they play their incendiary blend of folk, jazz, random circus music and assorted weirdness which sounds like Geoff Berner without the accordion. This year they had a new line-up backing frontman Kris Wood.
Two beautiful mimes, aka Shannon Miss Eerie Marie grooving on stand up bass and new trumpeter Maren “The Professor” Lisac held everything together as flamboyant frontman Kris Wood weaved and bobbed all over the stage.
As usual there were lots of highlights including a cover of Tom Waits’ I Don’t Want to Grow Up .’
They didn’t have a drummer. Instead they had a computer set in an old wooden suitcase balanced on a bass drum, holding down the drums. They played a hyperactive set of jazzy gypsy music.
The end of second set was the time for bass tricks as Shannon ‘Miss Eerie’ Marie, showed her circus (they actually did get her from a circus sideshow) and her acrobatic rockabilly side as she balanced on her stand up bass with an evil grin. 
While she was doing gymnastics, new trumpeter Maren “The Professor” Lisac wandered into the audience and jumped on top of the Slice bar where she played her solo from the top of the bar. She would later play on the Slice’s piano.
One of the highlights of the set included ‘Strong Man and the Russian Bear’, the title track from their most recent album which ended the second set.
By the third set the audience had swelled to 12. It was full of more energy, lots more gypsy music, a couple new songs and lots more fun and, even better, the cantina theme from Star Wars. How can you not love a group that covers the cantina theme?
They played a new song about a strange man, they met in a truck stop. Kris Wood ended show by breaking a guitar string, taking a break and returning for two more songs.
If you missed the show, they will be playing the South Country Fair next summer and will have released a new album by then.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
