The folk duo Aztec Two-Step still has some gas left in the tank.
Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman celebrated their 40-year musical partnership before a packed house at the Sanctuary series in Chatham on March 12. Lending a hand were deejay Pete Fornatale of WNEW-FM fame, the duo of David Buskin and Robin Batteau, bass player Fred Holman and percussionist Marshal Rosenberg.
Fans compared scrapbooks and ate birthday cake during intermission. Aztec Two-Step performed originals such as Baking, So Easy, Whiskey Man, Almost Apocalypse and Cosmos Lady, and visited the Everly Brothers and Simon & Garfunkel catalogs.
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The Simon & Garfunkel set (Bleecker Street, Sounds of Silence, Hazy Shade of Winter, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme) proved that some things really do improve with age. When Rex and Neal played the Sanctuary a few years ago, they still were learning the material and it was a rough ride.
Neal got laughs with his story of Aztec Two-Step’s audition for folk impresario Izzy Young, a traditionalist who was allergic to the folk-rock trend of the early 1970s.
The duo played a few songs, then waited for Izzy’s verdict.
‘”I hope you make a million dollars,’ he sneered, and walked out of the room,” Neal recounted.
Four decades later, he added wryly, Aztec Two-Step finally is closing in on that figure.
BUILT TO LAST: THE MG PODCAST WITH REX FOWLER OF AZTEC TWO-STEP
On March 26, Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett of Little Feat come to the Sanctuary. Tickets are $25.
