"Hello, we're the Toadies." So says Vaden Todd Lewis in one of his few between-songs remarks in the latest installment of Globe Trek Productions' Busking series. Appropriately, it comes after he and the boys have finished playing a cover of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" -- just in case there was any room for confusion.
This extended, two-part video was shot last week while the Toadies were busking around downtown Dallas ahead of their weekend celebrations at Dia De Los Toadies festival in Fort Worth. Scenes were shot between Winspear Opera House, Klyde Warren Park and Pecan Lodge, and there's not one but two renditions of "Possum Kingdom." Call it a deluxe edition, if you will.
See also: At Dia de Los Toadies, Hometown Pride Was the Main Attraction The Old 97's Ken Bethea is Still Blown Away By the Toadies' Rubberneck Toadies to Busk in Downtown Dallas This Thursday
With the exception of the Pecan Lodge stop, which makes up the entirety of the second video, the Toadies were on a bit of guerilla mission last Thursday, only playing a song or two at each stop before moving onto their next location. The songs are suitably bare-bones, with Mark Reznicek left with little more than shakers and tambourines. (It's okay; he got to take out his aggression the next day. In fact, the band blew the power out on Saturday.)
There's still room for innovation in such stripped-down circumstances, though: check out the neat on-board camera that Casey Carr and the folks at Globe Trek whipped out for these videos. It makes for a pretty cool bird's-eye view of the band at work (with the fortuitous side effect of sounding pretty damn good).
When all is said and done, the Toadies are ready to get down to more serious business: "We're going to eat a bunch of meat," Lewis declares. Viva la Pecan?
Part 1 includes "Possum Kingdom," "Heart of Glass" and "I Come from the Water."
Part 2 includes "Backslider," a redux of "Possum Kingdom" and "Tyler."
