Countless melodramatic stories ponder the question, “What would you do if you had one more day?” I guess the creators of such stories don’t recognize that every four years we do get an extra day. Because it takes six hours more per year to complete the earth’s rotation around the sun we end up with Leap Year every four years. So what will singers/songwriters/musicians/renaissance men jackbenny (twin brothers Jack and Benny Lipson) do to celebrate? They are putting on a show called And On the 366th Day on Saturday night (February 29th, of course) at Luckman Fine Arts.
jackbenny recently curated the Musik! Fantasie! Revolution! show at Black Rabbit Rose as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Weimar Republic series. They are the house band for Queer Cabaret at Tramp Stamp Granny’s in Hollywood each month. (This month’s cabaret took place on February 26th.) They write their own songs. They play piano (Jack) and bass (Benny). They are equally comfortable talking about Phil Ochs, Stephen Sondheim and Yanny or Laurel.
Which means my interview with the brothers was bound to be interesting and fun. And it was. Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.
On your Facebook page it says jackbenny’s genre is ‘Happiness.” What do you think the formula is for people being more happy in our increasingly angry world?
Benny: We must have put that up when we first began playing. From being part of the band scene in LA and noticing how a lot of band photos were very serious faces and not looking at the camera. We want to smile and we want our music to be positive.
Jack: Often after a show someone come up to us and says, gushing, “I had so much fun. I was smiling the whole time.” I think part of the reason that the show comes off that way is because Benny and I are sharing exactly what we want to share.
How much are you creating that is unique for And on the 366th Day?
Benny: There are some numbers, specifically a Hymn 366, that is something very special to this particular show. We also began thinking about our material we’ve written before or new stuff through the lens of the extra day. The Consent Song – what can happen with one extra question? What can happen when you add two extra letters? What can happen with an extra word?
The website for the event says “The Lipsons guide audiences through a candid tour through the delicate, curious millennial mind.” Who’s millennial mind?
Jack: It’s no one in particular’s mind. It’s just a view into the kind of things Benny and I are discussing with our friends. It’s taking our meditation with each other and with our young friends and rhyming it and putting it to some quirky music.
When I’ve seen you perform you make references that most people don’t get. I saw you reference Phil Ochs last year, for instance. Are those references for the small percentage of people who might get them or are they for you?
Benny: Those Easter Eggs are for a listener who might get it and then try to bring that content to somebody who might not know Phil Ochs. Those type of gems are very much for Jack and me as well because we love that. We do want to respect those songwriters we cherish and adore who help us move songwriting into another direction.
Jack: There is something hidden or some reference for everyone whether it’s a young person more familiar with Laurel and Yanny or in the event of the show you saw, appreciates Phil Ochs.
I want to respond to some famous events that happened on February 29th. In 2012, Davy Jones of The Monkees died.
Benny: Oh that’s unfortunate. So now we can only memorialize him every four years? I guess you’re not monkeying around.
Jack: I saw a production of Pippin and Micky Dolenz was Charlemagne. I love The Monkees
Benny: I’m honored to play on the death anniversary. I’ll make mention of it.
Two serial killers, Aileen Wournos (a prostitute who killed men in Florida in 1989) and Richard Ramirez (“The Night Stalker”) were born on Leap Day.
Jack: Wow. Our dad’s father was also born on Leap Day. But he’s not a serial killer or a prostitute.
In 1940, Frederick from The Pirates of Penzance would finally be released by The Pirate King on Leap Day.
Benny: Who did these calculations? Leap Day is this quirk we just accept every four years. Every 100 years we don’t have a leap year. It’s so convoluted. Don’t expect an extra day in 2100 should anyone be around.
If instead of having a Leap Year you could get six hours extra to do as you please each year, how would you use them?
Jack: I would probably practice more piano in those six hours. Six hours is a solid amount of practicing a day if you really want to be fantastic.
Benny: It’s a six hour tradition for everybody? I would put on a show and everyone can come. I would like to practice or write or sing – anyway to find time to put to the craft that I do and Jack and I do. Jack and I tend to host an annual New Year’s party. If it is a party with an extra six hours, I don’t think I would do that anymore.
Jack: Maybe if we make Christmas an extra six hours, retailers and others would be happy.
Photo of jackbenny Courtesy of the Artist