Arts & Entertainment
Meet the Band: Jumbo Shrimp
Check out Jumbo Shrimp before they play at Webster Groves Action Park for Community Days at 7 p.m. on Monday, July 4.
Name: Jumbo Shrimp. "I was driving to work one day, and it came down from God, I believe," guitarist Mike "Al Fresco" McEnery joked. "It represents humor. It represents one of the main foods of all the areas we represent, New Orleans and Cajun music down to Key West and beach music and on down to Jamaica. I'd think you'd eat a lot of shrimp in all those places, and I thought it'd be catchy."
Current Location: St. Louis
Website: http://www.jshrimp.com
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Members: Jumbo Mojo (bass), Giacamo Findo (keyboards/accoridan), Coco Nutte (violin), Gonzo (percussion) and McEnery (guitar).
Description: "We are America's favorite party band," McEnery said. "We are five brave souls bringing Margaritaville to the Midwest."
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Influences: Music from the Caribbean, New Orleans, Key West and Jamaica. Lots of beach music and Jimmy Buffet.
Set List: "We play pretty much all covers," McEnery said. "The only originality we have is when we make mistakes, and that's how we put our stamp of creativity on things: We screw it up."
Backstory: According to the band's website, the five members were stranded on a desert island with three CDs: the greatest hits collections of Jimmy Buffett, Buckwheat Zydeco and Bob Marley, when a box of instruments washed up on shore. They learned to play these songs and eventually made it off the island.
Catch Them Live: Jumbo Shrimp will be playing at the Webster Groves Community Days celebration at 7 p.m. on Monday in Action Park. On July 22, they'll play the for McEnery's birthday. "Because the end of the world is still eminent, this could very well be my last birthday, so I'm sort of billing it as my last birthday party," he said.
See Them Sooner: Jumbo Shrimp has a Youtube channel and plans to record at Community Days for its website.
What they're up to now: "We're going to try to stay out of jail; that's always our top priority," McEnery said. "We would like to go on tour but our wives won't let us, and we hope to create a live recording at Webster Community Days that we will be able to post on the web, and if people want to give us money for it, well, we won't stop them. Those are pretty lofty goals, aren't they?"
Merch for sale: Jumbo Shrimp has its own "Jumbo Mojo Sauce," a BBQ sauce made for shrimp. The sauce can be purchased at live shows, and all proceeds go to The St. Patrick Center.