Last week the 5th floor of the H&H building ran the risk of a total cave in when met with the high energy foot stomping performance of local gypsy band Balti Mare and the New York based Raya Brass Band. In fact, so much musical energy was released that even the awkward quiet hipsters who normally stand arms folded in the back of the room couldn’t help but make glorious asses out of themselves by way of uninhibited dance. Whether it was the intensity of eight insanely talented musicians, literally playing like their lives depended on it, the seductive movements of the belly dancers, or the electricity that occurs when every living soul in a room of at least 100 people can’t help but start jumping up and down, flailing their arms, and making any and all physical movements that could be loosely defined as “cutting a rug”, there are more than enough reasons to drop whatever plans you may have had and catch a performance from these artists who clearly must have sold their soul to the devil for their playing abilities. Word on the street is that Balti Mare plays Red Maple every Wednesday night. Word in my I-cal says I’m gonna probably be there every time it happens.


















