Album Notes

Viva Patshiva creates a new musical subcountry, somewhere between Transylvania and New York City, where you'll hear the ethereal voice of Chemda, the evocative violin of Jesse Kotansky, the gravelly comic genius of Lloyd Floyd, the immortal howl of Spread Eagle's Ray West, the velvety croon of Raven Solano, and the soaring flights of Mikey McCue, held together by a tight dance rock Gypsy rhythm section.

This stellar unit grew out of the improv comic rock band The Sacred Clowns, which mixed the daring musicians and fearless comedians of New York City's Lower East Side to mount legendary performance spectacles in the late 90s. Everything changed in 2001 and a core group of performers began to develop a full length Rock Opera that combined an over-the-top performance style with the emotionally charged melodies and dance steps of the Gypsies of Hungary and Transylvania to tell a story about love and sadness and triumph over the sadness of love.

Reasons To Live tells the story of a depressed Gypsy girl who lives under a highway overpass in Queens with a crazy Gypsy band. Two men are in love with her: a rich motivational speaker who falls for her exotic dance act at the Pump Room strip club, and a working class hero who runs the deli near the Gypsy camp. Filled with unforgettable love songs, drinking songs, dance songs, fight songs and breakup songs, Reasons To Live is a full-length Rock Opera with tight syncopated dance numbers, told in a fast-paced comic style.