The first inklings of Keyboard and Plastic Duck came when I was set to play six songs at Sol Michael's, a local folk festival/benefit, in the late 90's. I recruited Richard Curtis to play flute and Richard knew Bill Wagner so we invited him to add percussion. We practiced three or four times, did the concert, and then never saw each other for another year. The next year, for the same event, we learned six more songs, so then we had twelve. We had a great time and decided to continue working together so we could play a whole concert.
keyboard and plastic duck: Nate Bynum, Richard Curtis, Susan Gilbert and Bill Wagner—photo by Jon Mead
Our first full length concert as Keyboard and Plastic Duck was at Kejara's Bridge in Lake Leelanau, a friendly place, on November 20, 1999.
Nate Bynum soon joined us to make a quartet, Nate on bass and bowed saw among other things. We played around the area and made trips to Chicago, Grand Rapids, and Ann Arbor all through the early 00's—would you call them the zeroes? We played maybe two covers and we tried out one of Bill's songs, but mostly we played my original songs. We received some wonderful feedback, but disbanded when both Nate and Bill moved away.
Visit the Keyboard and Plastic Duck website to find out more about the band and listen to two songs from the CD.
