Daily Hampshire Gazette March 2, 2006 - NORTHAMPTON, MA. By JOHN STIFLER Spellbound by the song spirits, Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams looks to 'the ghosts' of Sleepy Hollow for musical inspiration Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams is easy to locate geographically and temporally. Listen to this band's folk-rocky chords, the hip-but-earnest lyrics, the careful scratchy articulation of lead singer Joziah Longo, the Dylanesque phrasing, and you know you are somewhere in the Hudson River Valley, and it feels like sometime between 1967 and 1972, and the incense burns slowly as the winter sun pours through the white-framed window, and the herb tea is warm . . . This is not nostalgia. It's a reminder that a certain musical sound did not wear out its welcome at the end of the '60s and it's not going to any time soon. The late '60s and early '70s in the Hudson River Valley area were, as Longo observed this week, a cultural and spiritual vortex. The key thing about Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams - that's the last time I try to write their entire name here - is, while there's an insistent familiarity about their sound, it's not recycled. Like their up-river neighbors the Mammals, albeit in a different style, they are carrying forward a musical form that comes from the deep past and has always been too good to be faddish. Speaking on the phone from his home near Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., Longo said of the band's work, 'Instead of rehashing the old stuff, we went back to the well.' For Longo that well was dug at least as long ago as the 18th century, when author Washington Irving walked the same woods where Longo walks when he thinks of songs. Irving told tales of haunted farms, dark gorges and Henry Hudson's lost sailors; Longo tells of rockets, celestial pancakes and drinking espresso with the Buddha, but as he says semi-jokingly to people who ask where his songs come from, 'It's the ghosts.' Acknowledging a desire to stay in touch with the spirit that could produce The Band or Tom Petty, and continuing on the theme of artist as conduit, he added, 'I write stuff that comes down finished. Whatever the desire is (to be in touch with the tradition), it's happening a lot in the band.' Gandalf Murphy audiences seem to get it. And speaking of The Band, that august group's great bearded keyboard player, Garth Hudson, has been in that audience. 'Somebody put us in a contest,' said Longo. 'We'd never do that ourselves, but someone put us in. Anyway, when we got up on stage and (accordionist) Tink (Lloyd) was playing the first chord, Garth Hudson came in and sat down, and he liked us.' Gandalf Murphy is not purely Woodstockian - and I'm thinking more of the town than the festival when I say that. Later Neil Young and Pink Floyd come to mind, and so do the Beatles, from whom the Slambovians merrily steal pieces of melodies and lyrics. Their 1999 debut album's title sums up their attitude toward such sources: 'A Good Thief Tips His Hat.' They also borrow an opening chord pattern from the Beach Boys and a few lines from the square pop hit 'Winter Wonderland.' Another part of the creative well from which the Circus gets some of its Dreams is Longo's upbringing in Philadelphia, where, he recalled, 'My grandfather and my dad played music constantly.' By trade they were factory workers, but after hours they were musicians. 'They were at the center of a tribe in the Philadelphia area, and every Friday all my aunts and uncles would get together and play 'til four in the morning,' Longo continued. 'I think my vocabulary for old-time music, and for the British Invasion, comes from then.' Longo writes most of Gandalf Murphy's songs, plays guitar and usually sings lead. Besides his wife, Lloyd, on accordion, the group includes Sharkey McEwen on guitars, mandolin and keyboards and drummer Tony Zuzulo. The band name, as Longo pointed out, is an amalgamation of Tolkein, Ireland, street rap, Al Capp and whatever. 'It's such an insane name, it was hard to stick with for the first six months. It's so long it's almost painful to say.' He added that the name helps the band achieve an important goal, namely to avoid the mainstream music business. 'We're looking for a clean slate,' he said. 'We created a stupid name almost to make sure to evade industry success.' Although their touring schedule includes major East Coast festivals and gigs in well-established clubs, GM & The SC of D has a particular fondness for playing concerts that are booked by their fans rather than by professional presenters. Their second CD, 'Live at the Puppet House,' was recorded in a very alternative venue in Branford, Conn., and although in Northampton they have played more than once at the Iron Horse, they have also played independently produced shows in the Northampton Center for the Arts, where they'll return for a concert on Friday, March 10. As to whether this outside-the-biz aspect of its work is part of the band's cosmic identity, Longo commented, 'Cosmic, schmozmic, the resonance from someone's doing it for love is amazing. We've done some shows like this through the ceiling.' The big room in the Center for the Arts has a high ceiling, so this should be good. Concert time on March 10 is 8 p.m. Recruit your baby-sitter now, if needed, or finish your term paper early, and get tickets for $15 in advance at 584-8912 or www.virtuous.com. Tickets at the door are $17.50, with a discount for students.