Bloomington hosts vintage music ensemble at Buskirk

Much in Bloomington resonates the past: the courthouse, the old university buildings and the portraits in the Union commons. For one night, Bloomington can experience a more personal reminder of the olden days -- music.\nJanet Klein & Her Parlor Boys kick of the Buskirk-Chumley Theater's "Good Ol' Summertime" nostalgia music series on Saturday. They will perform several vintage songs ranging from the 1910s to the '30s.\nThe program includes rustic and authentically inspired interpretations of early 20th-century hot jazz, tin pan alley, late ragtime and vaudeville tunes. Also included are 1920s jazz-styled Yiddish and Hawaiian novelty numbers and speakeasy songs featuring Janet Klein on her ukulele.\nKlein's own vocal style is also reflective of older, bygone singers such as Ruth Etting, Josephine Baker, Lil Armstrong and Mae West.\n"Listening to Janet Klein's sweet birdlike voice makes you feel like you woke up in your silk pajamas right next to your favorite sweetheart," said Mari Kono of Scram magazine.\nElizabeth Setler, in a 1999 issue of Popgallery magazine, also said of Klein's vocal talent: "Her knowing, kittenish vocal delivery, the equivalent of a wink and a smile, is perfectly matched with the material (which, chock full of clever wordplay and double entendre, almost makes one long for the days of strict censorship) and the delicate instrumentation lends an authentically old-fashioned sweetness to songs that, in the hands of a less finely attuned interpreter, might well end up as overblown camp. Impossible to listen to without smiling."\nKlein's first exposure to vintage music came from her grandparents, and what started out as a collection of sheet music from the turn of the last century gradually evolved into poetry readings backed up by music inspired by pre-World War II American popular music. Eventually, Klein dropped the poetry and focused entirely on vocal performance, assembling The Parlor Boys as her backup band.\nThe Los Angeles-based group has been performing vintage music since 1996, and regularly performs at historic theaters in Hollywood and Los Angeles as well as throughout California. The members of The Parlor Boys include 1960s pop star and radio personality Ian Whitcomb on vocals, ukulele and accordion and Tom Marion on guitar, mandolin and banjo.\nSaturday's concert marks one of the band's first ventures into the Midwest, so Bloomingtonians will have the added privilege of being among the first in the area to be exposed to the nostalgic sounds of Janet Klein & Her Parlor Boys.\nJanet Klein & Her Parlor Boys perform at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater Saturday at 7 p.m. For more information, including tickets, call 323-3020.