WELLFLEET – On Sunday afternoon, as was once a Sunday tradition for a quarter of a century, fans of the Incredible Casuals gathered at the Wellfleet Beachcomber to listen to live Casuals songs.
But this was not a Casuals show. That band no longer exists.
It was a memorial party in honor of longtime Casuals guitarist, singer/songwriter Aaron Spade, who died in June. Several acts took to the stage to play songs that were mostly written by Spade, who was affectionately nicknamed, “The Brat.”
This video is taken from mostly the heart of the dance floor where I was surrounded, as you will see, by joyous dancing chaos. (See the first music video Cape Cod Wave ever shot: The Incredible Casuals at The Beachcomber. May 2013)
Aaron Spade
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF ROWLAND SCHERMAN
While some remembrance/memorial shows can be sad, this was, from the very beginning, a pure party. And by the time Chandler Travis, Rikki Bates and Steve Wood took the stage as their new band, The Incredible Butterheads, more than a decade’s worth of pent-up exuberance was clearly ready to explode.
This video mashup is not necessarily in complete chronological order, but I did try to capture the spirit of the night.
Bands appearing included The Incredible Butterheads,
The Bitter& Broken Men’s Chorus, Bonehead Stew, Overnight Sensation, and Kimon Kirk. Also Also sitting in w the Butterheads at various times throughout: Dan Murray, Jeremy Willis (Willis Willis), Judy Ireland (The Dandelions), Julia Randall (The Ticks), Ben Samuelson (Bonehead Stew), Bruce Maclean (The Cyclones), and Fred Boak (the Chandler Travis Philharmonic.)
At the end of the video, there is a photo illustration of Aaron Spade by photographer Rowland Scherman.
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