Wow, what a night! I never knew I was a fan of "folk" music until tonight. Leave it to Spooner to turn me on to yet another great type of music. I have seen Bill "Sputnik" Spooner perform many of times over the years. As the grand frommage of the Tubes, the Affordables (with Vince Welnick & Prairie Prince), the Sponge Mummies, the Amino Brothers (I can't remember if he was Dino or Gino), and SNAFU it was pretty much an electric rockin type show. And now for something totally different in typical Sputnik style...

The Folk-Ups are an acoustic duo of which Bill is half. The other capable member is Alex Guiness (not Sir Alex Guiness). Bill usually handles six and twelve string acoustic guitars, Alex also plays six and twelve but throws in some awesome slide guitar and mandoline. They both take turns singing lead.

Hamburger Mary's is a little joint that is practically an institution in San Francisco. Killer burgers and shakes with a fine collection of lagers on tap. There is no stage, just a spot in the corner where some tables have been moved and a small PA has been installed. Basically this is a sit down show (if you can find a seat). I was in the 3rd row sitting on comfortable old beater of a couch. Spooner was tuning his guitars and doing a mic check. He strummed a few chords and asked in the mic, " How's that sound, not to loud is it?". I looked around, "You asking me?". "Yeah, is it to loud out there?" I manage to stutter out, "Yeah it's great." Duh, I sounded like a dumbass. Oh well maybe next time.

Pretty soon the place filled up and Alex walked on to the "stage". I had no idea what to expect, okay I had some idea it would at least be great. It was already so cool to be sitting about 4 feet from my favorite former Tube. They launched into a rockin' version of "You Racked up My Heart". I think it's an old honky tonk song. Bill ripped a cool lead, while Alex played slide. Great harmonies. Oh, man this is gonna be fun.

I had never heard many of the songs they performed, but there wasn't one I didn't dig. A stand out song was the reworked acoustic version of "Gonna Quit Tomorrow" (I remember SNAFU really rocking out on that one). What a great song, sounds very autobiographical I think. Right after that song Alex took over lead vocals on "Let's Get Drunk" a theme was starting to form , I half expected to hear WPOD.

Towards the end of the set they brought on a violin player, can't remember her name, she sang some harmonies and played a pretty mean violin. A nice addition. They blew the audience away with a wickedly hillbilly sounding "Foxy Lady". Jimi must have been squirting milk out his nose over that one. I almost busted a gut.

After a brief break we all got folked up some more. This set had a great song by Alex called "The Wrong Thing to Do". Alex is an awesome singer. I enjoyed his numbers and much as Bill's (if you can believe that.) Bill treated the fans from way back to a pristine version of "Young & Rich". It was really cool. "Norweigian Wood" and "Rocky Mountain Way" were two of the coolest cover songs I've ever heard. Alex invited the crowd to quack along with the talkbox solo. It was a riot. Joe Walsh ain't got nothing on these boys.

Bill and Alex seem like they've been playing together forever. The way they trade guitar licks and laughable comments between songs you'd swear this was there 100th show instead of there first. The Folk-Ups rule and I hope that my fellow Tubes fans will appreciate Sputnik's new group as the being in the same freaky funny vein as his old band. Don't go expecting to hear anything you've ever heard before, cause it's likely you won't. BUT YOU WON'T MISS IT!

"Folking" Fred C.