George Bedard & the Kingpins

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When Bedard & the Kingpins are playing, my wife races me to the dance floor. It's always crowded, and no wonder. Dishman, who's "got a back beat you can't lose," and Tessier, who lays down the perfect melodic foundation for Bedard's soaring solos, make for an irresistible rhythm section, and the band always plays with abandon and joy.

Bedard & the Kingpins have been Ann Arbor's house band for more than a decade. They've been the soundtrack of Top of the Park, Ypsilanti's New Year's Jubilee, and countless other raucous celebrations. But their show at the Ark on Saturday, May 7, will be a rare opportunity to hear them in a small club. There won't be much room for dancers, and Bedard is looking forward to playing more blues than usual. And that's something we can look forward to as well. We'll be able to hear, even better than usual, every word of Bedard's well-crafted lyrics and every note of his muscular yet crystalline guitar licks. It will be a chance for the Kingpins to bowl us over, again, in yet another way.   

[Originally published in May, 2005.]