Bankie Banx and band to perform ‘a once-in-a-lifetime show’ tonight

Not only is his island music often compared to Bob Dylan’s music, Caribbean but musician Bankie Banx has worked with Dylan as well.

Now Banx and The Roots and Herbs will perform at 8 p.m. tonight at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater as a stop on their “Midnight in America” tour.

The tour promotes the group’s new album, also titled “Midnight in America,” which will be released in November.

Danielle McClelland, director of the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, said he estimates at least 300 people will attend the event.

In 2005, Banx started the Project Stingray Music and Arts Program with Ijahnya Christian, of the Triple Crown Culture Yard in Anguilla, to reduce violence among children in Anguilla, a small Caribbean island.

Banx’s goal is to provide children on the island with guitars and free lessons in order to prevent them from choosing a life of crime.

“Kids see guns as toys,” Banx said. “All I did was give them a new toy.”
Project Stingray also provides a community center where children can learn the history of both the Caribbean and Anguilla and be trained in other forms of cultural expression.

McClelland said the theater’s staff has been busy preparing for the concert. Her main priority is to get the word out about the show.

Banx said he’s been ready for the show for the past month when the “Midnight in America” tour kicked off in Austin, Texas. In the meantime, Banx said he has been doing his yoga and headstand routines and has been eating some good food.

He said one of the reasons he agreed to stop in Bloomington for the tour is because his close friend Daniel Orr lives here. Orr is the owner of FARMbloomington, the theater’s neighboring restaurant, and knew Banx from his time spent in Anguilla.

“The opportunity to partner with the theater’s next-door neighbor for a show was intriguing,” McClelland said.

Banx sounds like Bob Marley and Bob Dylan, with a touch of Frank Sinatra, according to the theater’s Web site. Banx said he doesn’t think he sounds like anyone, but he loves Dylan and Marley.

However, Banx’s overall influence comes from Caribbean music.

Oddly enough, Banx has not only been compared to Dylan, but he has actually worked with him. Banx said what he enjoyed most about working with Dylan was his spontaneity.

Dylan is not the only musician to have worked with Banx.

Banx has worked with a variety of musicians during the past 30 years, including Jimmy Buffett, Rita Marley, Richie Havens, The Bacon Brothers, Black Uhuru, Freddie McGregor, Peter Cetera, Third World and Junior Jazz. Banx meets a lot of musicians through the Moonsplash Music Festival that he throws annually in Anguilla.

“Bankie is little known to the public and a legend to other musicians,” McClelland said, “which is generally a guaranteed description of a once-in-a-lifetime show.”