Saturday, October 12th, Gold Dust Lounge returns to the Live on the Plaza stage at Adrienne Arsht Center. For those not familiar with Gold Dust Lounge, they are an instrumental quartet arranged in violin, guitar, bass and drums. The music is hard to describe. If you ask me, I’d say something like (in a Tommy Chong voice), “They’re cool man, they have a violin player.”
I know, not much help.
The marketing department at the Arsht Center much more eloquently describes the band as “An amalgamation of his (Mofsky’s) eclectic influences ranging from surfy jazz to cool lounge noir and punk meets Americana resulting in a sound that is energetic and eminently listenable.” Spot-on I’d say.
The band has been around since 2009 and is the brainchild of 53-yr-old composer/guitarist Russel Mofsky, who describes his music as, “soundtracks for imaginary films”. He tells me, “People zone out in the music and visualize their own internal film.” Modestly, he also adds that it’s less about what it means to him and more what it means to others.
The consensus from the other band members, violinist Robin Roslund and bass player Brian Tate, is the music reflects the contents of Mofsky’s brain. Ben Crandell, writer for the Sun Sentinel, wrote, “The inside of Mofsky’s head is like a tour of your cool neighbor’s garage, the one with the recording studio in it.” You get the drift, right?
The members of Gold Dust Lounge have all logged serious hours to master their instruments.
Russel Mofsky graduated from UM then went on to the New England Conservatory of Music. If that wasn’t enough, when he returned to Florida, he locked himself in his bedroom everyday for eighteen months from 6:30AM to 12 noon to perfect his jazz playing. Brian Tate graduated from the UM School of Music and now gigs as a professional musician practically 7 days a week. Robin Roslund, who first picked up the violin from his Gypsy jazz violin playing dad while they lived in Sweden, performed in his first orchestral group while only in the fourth grade.
Aside from polished musical skills, the three band members share a desire not to get stuck in any one musical genre. That’s what makes the band’s music so difficult to describe, and that’s what makes the band so supremely creative. There is literally no limit to their sound. As a matter of fact, every gig is different. Heck, even the songs are rarely played the same twice in a row.
Russel Mofsky views the invitation to perform at Adrienne Arsht as proof of the commercial viability of his music. He certainly doesn’t write his tunes with mainstream appeal in mind, but if the music is universally appealing, that’s a good thing. Given the fact that he’s written between 150-200 original songs, but yet GDL has only put out four albums, I’d say they’ve only scratched the surface of their musical potential. It’s not the first time they’ve played at Adrienne Arsht, and I suspect it won’t be the last.
The Saturday night show starts 7:30PM sharp. There is no opening act, so make sure to get there early. Leave your expectations at the door and be ready for whatever Gold Dust Lounge is inspired to put out that night. Trust me, they’re cool man….and they have a violin player! Hope to see you there.
