Little Shalimar is the brainchild of Flatbush native Torbitt Castleman Schwartz, and it’s an experiment that defies conventional description. Little Shalimar combines the fine countenance and “sartorial splendor” of Torbitt and the band, some Kentucky blues & art rock, some funk fuzz, and other dubious Brooklyn finishings. With debut project The New Pneumonia Blues, you’ll hear all you need to know. Tonight’s attendees include colorful characters such as Marcos Garcia aka Chico Mann, Wilder Zoby of the esteemed Chin Chin band, and the imaginary Bosko Jenkins of Leroy Jenkins fame. By night’s end, the band and audience are intimately harmonizing with kazoos, courtesy of Torbitt’s bag of tricks. All under the shimmer of an appropriate disco ball…
And it’s back to the hazy corners of the Loft to chat it up for a few. Pleasantries are exchanged and elbows are rubbed, all before bidding farewell to the Loft for the night. As we pivot into the new year, we look forward to turning it up for another season of shows, with some epic surprises. See ya on the flip. This is Live At The Loft…
Torbitt Schwartz aka Little Shalimar sat with us to share some of his colorful commentary on a few pressing topics. Check out what’s on his mind…
Torbitt on his affinity for the kazoo (which is so prominently featured in his song “Bad Position” and live performances):
The whole record, I made by myself…and I like kazoos, I’ve always liked kazoos. I like that Freedom song “Get Up And Dance”…it’s got kazoo in it. “Crosstown Traffic” by Jimi Hendrix got a dope kazoo part. I’ve always…I’m just kind of a wacky, waka-waka guy you know? And just when I wrote that song, I said, “Oh, kazoo! It’s gonna have a kazoo.” And then…I was probably zooted one night, and I was like, “I wonder if I could get kazoos with my name on ‘em.” I found a place that printed up kazoos and I had a bunch of kazoos made and that’s why I had enough to give them out. They’re Little Shalimar branded kazoos! Hahahaha…
There’s no skill to it… Really all you gotta do is put the kazoo in your mouth and sing, and it comes out kazoo’d! Hahahaha… I grew up on that shit, you know, Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem (The Muppet Show rock band). I’m all about some Electric Mayhem!
Torbitt on his personal style and how it adds to entertainment value:
My sartorial splendor? Hahaha… My pops, me and Wilder’s (Torbit’s brother from the band Chin Chin) pops is a really ill dresser. He always was a real serious dresser. He told me stories about when he was broke, and I’m talking about ‘60s money, and he would still go buy a thousand dollar suit, you know? And that’s true…I’m a short, slightly now getting chubby in the middle white dude…it started out probably just trying to get pussy, honestly. I had to try and do some shit to separate myself. And it comes from the people that I like… Miles Davis…he was the type where you’d see a photo and be like, “what’s that dude doing?” It’s art. The whole thing is art. I think of myself and I identify myself as an artist and I’d be doing this if no one was ever gonna fuckin’ hear it but me. I would still be doing it, because I got to. I don’t really have a choice.
But, beyond that, it’s also entertainment, and I believe in that. Ideally, I would love for a million motherfuckers to be banging on the door right now like, “Let us in, let us in, oh my god, we wanna see Little Shalimar, blah blah blah!!” I can be honest about wanting that…but, if you want that, then you should come with it. You should come with it as an entertainer. As Raekwon said, you gotta come provocative! Hahahaha…
All words by Devin “Pan” Barrett
