The constable and the circus

…been a slow buzz coming from the sleepy little village of Newcastle. For the I-80 Tahoe-bound traveler, it’s a one-freeway-exit kind of town. A fire station. A store. A post office. And a watering hole. But more importantly, in Newcastle the watering hole of choice is called Constable Jack’s and that’s where the buzz is coming from. But the buzz isn’t from the beer that flows from the taps, but rather is from the stage, for Constable Jack’s boasts some of the best folk, blues and Americana touring acts in the world, acts like Lawrence Juber, Tony Furtado and Fred Eaglesmith. They aren’t household names but they are nationally recognized folk, blues and Americana acts—the kind of talent that we have come to expect of the Palms in Davis. But in Newcastle? The mind reels.

The back-story is simple enough. Far away from the sleepy village of Newcastle lies the even sleepier village of Ben Lomond (it’s up in the mountains above Santa Cruz). Ben Lomond boasts another beer and burger joint: Henfling’s. For 14 years, Henfling’s has been a stopover point for touring acts and it has developed quite a reputation for itself.

A few months back, Henfling’s booker, Tom Miller, happened to pull off the freeway in Newcastle and stopped in at Constable Jack’s for a beer. A few brews later, he suggested that Constable Jack’s could in fact become the Sacramento-area equivalent to Henfling’s—booking the same national folk, blues and Americana talent and filling in weekday dates for constantly touring national acts. Hands were shaken and the talent started streaming in the door.

It was quite a change for the neighborhood bar. Newcastle is a classic rock kind of town and the locals were, in the words of the good Constable, “a bit afraid of the bluegrass-type stuff.” But Constable Jack’s countered the resistance by bringing in acts like the upcoming Luther Right & The Wrongs, a Canadian band that plays a track-by-track country and bluegrass version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall (they’ll be in town August 14th). How can even the most die-hard electric guitar fanatic resist that kind of show?

Circus Contraption is one such act on the tour route and they proved to be something that you would generally never see outside of a major city’s art house scene. A brilliant ensemble of face-painted and costumed weirdoes that could easily pass for members of a traveling medicine show revue in the mid-19th century, Circus Contraption appeared before an audience that started bewildered and ended enraptured. After a solid hour of performing weird songs on banjo and accordion, tumbling and gymnastics, hat tricks, rope tricks and an act called “Spank the Audience,” the show ended with the full ensemble performing Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” on assorted beer and wine bottles. It was an unbelievable show made even more unbelievable by being on stage in Newcastle.

What we have in Constable Jack’s is a rare thing in any city: a very intimate venue that boasts national talent. It’s the kind of place where you can hear a performance that blows your mind and then sit and have a beer with the performer afterward. Watch the listings and check it out. You won’t be disappointed in the venue or the town.