The Wizard of Weird

Directly behind Barton -- as always -- stood the Bi-Peds, who are as crucial to his twisted brand of cabaret as the fans who spout responses in unison to his between-song ramblings. What's surprising about the Bi-Peds lineup these days is how many of them used to hold fairly normal, upstanding positions in local music institutions. Guitarist/bassist Jimmy Raycraft -- the recent replacement for Poison Zoomack, who has his hands full as the owner of Dan Electro's and Heights Guitar -- did time in both the Dishes and Herschel Berry's Natives, while drummer Wiley Hudgins is another Natives alum. Guitarist/bassist Jimb Jackson played with the Basics, and his wife, multi-instrumentalist Susan Wolford Jackson, has performed with the Harry Fish String Band, among others. They all work for Beans now, and it's likely they'll never be the same for it. Not that it matters; they're hooked.

"He's just wacky," says longtime Bi-Ped Wolford Jackson. "Maybe it has something to do with old age -- premature senility."

To Barton's right at Dan Electro's, a well-endowed go-go girl danced and motioned with her hands as if providing a sign-language translation of his spoken nonsense. Meanwhile two Bi-Peds -- one wielding a spotlight, the other a video camera with a color monitor strapped to his back -- circled their leader like flies on a goat. Those closest to Barton in the audience were unfazed by the spectacle, continuing to cheer him like they might some aging local hero -- almost as if he were normal, a person not unlike you and me. They, of course, had seen this all before, or something close to it. Many, in fact, had seen a lot worse. And so, one might add, has Barton himself.

"No record label's going to sign a bunch of 50-year-olds. We don't do well with the kids; they don't want to see their dad up there," says Barton back at home, finally starting to relax in his easy chair. "But I just won't quit. I do it because I love it. I'm a happy man."

Beans Barton and the Bi-Peds perform at 10 p.m. Saturday, November 22, at Rudyard's, 2010 Waugh Drive, and Tuesday, November 25, at Dan Electro's Guitar Bar, 1031 East 24th Street. Cover both nights is $5. Jimmy Raycraft's Roaring Calhouns open. For info, call 863-9337.