An offbeat holiday tradition

Published 9:00 am Wednesday, December 20, 2006

And now for something completely different.

They call it a “Holiday Spectacular,” but don’t expect to be able to sing along to favorite, traditional holiday carols. The Lurie Brothers are anything but traditional.

For those seeking relief from the holidays, check out the Sixth Annual Lurie Brothers Holiday Spectacular, Dec. 23 at Pegasus Coffee House on Bainbridge Island.

They describe their music as a “quirk-pop romp full of catchy off-kilter tunes that rocks as much as it rolls.”

Brothers Dan and Robert Lurie will be joined by Dominic Aulisio. All three play guitar and are members of the Seattle-based band Solyoni. The trio will perform songs from Solyoni’s newest album, “The Princess Market,” recorded on the indie label Velvet Fallopian Tube.

The album continues the group’s offbeat style, with narrative-driven cuts such as “The Moped Song,” Burt Reynold’s Heart” and “Beard of Bees.”

Dan Lurie said that lyrically, the band tries to create “little abstract stories, digging from personal memories.”

Solyoni is a favorite band on the Seattle indie music scene, always drawing a good audience of fans and soon-to-be fans for the zany lyrics backed up by some fine guitar playing, but it spent most of this past year working on the new album.

“We would have liked to play out more to promote the album, but four members of our band are in grad school, apparently building up their education in case this whole Solyoni thing doesn’t pan out,” Dan Lurie said.

The Luries originally chose to play on Bainbridge Island close to Christmas because they were headed this way anyway — they have family on the island. Two years ago they played on Christmas day and still drew a crowd.

“The most exciting thing about the holiday show is we get to play Solyoni songs with my brother Robert on guitar,” Lurie said. “That only happens once a year, so we try to make a big deal of it, and work out some interesting arrangements.

The name, “Solyoni,” is a reference to a character from Russian writer Anton Chekov’s story, “The Three Sisters.” Solyoni is a young officer who repeatedly baths his hands in perfume, but still proclaims, “my hands smell of a corpse.”

Dan Lurie said he came up with the name after reading the book in an English class.

“He was an odd character and we were an odd band, so it seemed like a nice fit,” Lurie said. “The only down side is that no one knows how to pronounce or spell it. But we like that it’s unique and it looks good on paper.”

While the Luries are guaranteed of having their biggest fans in the audience, they would like to see other folks as well.

“Essentially the reason we play this show every year is so we can entertain our family and hopefully, in the process, introduce our material to a bunch of happy coffee drinkers who don’t share our last name,” Lurie said.

The Luries and Aulisio perform 7:30 p.m. Dec. 23 at Pegasus Coffee House, 131 Parfitt Way, Bainbridge Island. Admission is by the usual suggested $5 donation. Robert Lurie will open the show with a solo set.