After a two-year drought, The Singing Flowers are ready to tend to an audience and shower it with blossomy ballads. They play at Linneman's, 1001 E. Locust St., on Thursday, Sept. 21 around 9 p.m. Norrie Cox opens at 7:30 p.m. The cover charge is $3.
"Anyone coming to the show smelling of Heresford hops cheese gets in free," says Nicholas Frank, aka "Nicky Glory."
The band, a smart mix of three faux folkies, have 70-plus songs in their repertoire -- all around the greenery theme -- including "Beer is a flower," "Lonesome Lily" and "Stay in My Vase."
"My dad has the greenest thumb I've ever seen, but I got none of it. So I put it into my music," says Frank.
Jennifer "Jasmine" Mikulay and husband Mike Mikulay -- aka M. Vermiculite and Dusty Miller -- are also in the band. The group's delivery is simple: three voices and three guitars, but their wardrobe is an elaborate jumble of flower-iffic get-ups and guitar cases.
OnMilwaukee.com: When was the last time you performed and why the break?
Nicholas Frank: We last performed in Portugal on April 25, 2004, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution. As an unfortunate result, something to do with alleged communist affiliation, our performance visas were suspended by the United States government, and in the process of suing for their release we were barred from traveling outside of or performing within U.S. borders. To celebrate being released from our ban after a long legal fight, we had a little show at Circle A to help send off our friend Kiki, who has moved to Thailand, with a blast of Flowers. And we're really looking forward to expressing our support for left-leaning revolutions involving flowers at Linneman's. Norrie Cox and hid New Orleans Jazz Band will help us by opening. Does anyone remember New Orleans?
OMC: Do you have any new songs?
NF: Hmmm... interesting question. Our songs are mostly composed in an off-site answering center, located in a factory district of Cyberjaya, Kuala Lampur. I guess we have hundreds of songs available to us at any time, and we can order up new ones whenever needed. They're so cheap! Sometimes we have to change the diction a little bit, though, and take out some of the more obscure lotus references, like Padukahs. Good song, but here the word Padukah has an entirely different meaning.
OMC: What else is new with The Singing Flowers these days? Any recent name changes?
NF: Actually Nicky Glory went through a laborious legal name-change process, to go from his birth name, Nicky Nasturtium, to the name he has used and been called his whole life long, Nicky Glory. There seems to be some issue with having too many driver's licenses, though. Dusty Miller considered changing his name to Dusty Highlife, just to differentiate from MGD, but he figures people who need to know will know. Jasmine changed her middle name but she's not telling us what it is.
OMC: When you are performing, are you people, or do you actually become flowers?
NF: I think we become something more like a tornado of forks.
OMC: How are your gardens this year?
NF: We're experimenting with the green garden movement, you know, allowing native wildflowers, which some people disparagingly refer to as "weeds," to come in and take over large swaths of cultivated land. It's going very, very well. Low maintenance, too!
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
