Mr. Entertainment and the Pookiesmackers

Key words: liver spots, life insurance, Emma Bo-Bemma, Dick Royale, skeeze, beer, loitering. If Bob White were still around, he could tell ya that the preceding can refer to only one band, a band that is back with a new CD and a series of live concerts serving up across-the-board rock with jazz, circus, drug, and other influences. That band — Mr. E and the latest lineup of Pookies (Brandon Samdahl on bass, Mark Solezzi on drums, and Johnny Mahone on lead guitar) — dropped the disc Loiter (distributed by the eight-year-old online label CD Baby) in August. It contains seventeen tracks with titles such as "The Human Blockhead," "Diarrhea," "Henry in the Fireplace," and "Ode to the One-Eyed Sun Ra Kings." A couple of tracks, "Makin' Time Stand Still" and "Picking Up a Piece of Sunshine," ring as gooey-good as anything the band has concocted in its decade-long career, excellent exemplars of what Mr. E calls "happy fun music for the disenfranchised of any age." There's a dearth of technical precision, but the sound isn't sloppy punk, either. Memorable melodies and indelible hooks find little room here, but the music is agreeable, engaging, and clever, though less off-the-wall than previous efforts. No pretension, no bullshit, a good time for all. The key word is entertainment.