Though the holiday season is typically shits for live music, it does afford an opportunity for impromptu band reunions. Mongol Beach Party's two-night stand at the Record Bar comes as an unexpected yuletide blessing for anyone who reveled in the local band's early '90s-vintage bizarro blend of Elvis Costello, Trip Shakespeare, XTC and Captain Beefheart. Billing themselves as an "inappropriately festive" bunch, the Mongols had a rep for dance-party hotness on the soles of arty pop tunes. After the group's dissolution, each member moved on to equally offbeat projects: Guitarist Jeff Freling scored a coveted gig with Chicago's Blue Man Group; drummer Bill Belzer hooked up with the New Amsterdams; bassist Scott Easterday formed Expassionates; saxophonist Mark Southerland helmed Snuff Jazz; and lead singer and percussionist Christian Hankel and trombonist Kyle Dahlquist birthed Alacartoona.
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