Sat. May 28

Michael Epstein and Sophia Cacciola are busy little beavers. Epstein's got his Typewriter Orchestra, his Memorial Library and - the last incarnation we saw (with barefoot pianist Cacciola) - the howling blues-punk duo, Do Not Forsake Me My Darling. (Theye were our top choice at the Rumble event we judged, but did not prevail.) Anyway, Epstein and Cacciola have, well, let's toss it to Epstein: Space Balloons is our children's music band.  It was actually originally created as an ad hoc band for the Rob Potylo (of Quiet Desperation fame) TV creation "Worried All the Time." which will stage an audie-visual show at Somerville's Arts at the Armory Saturday May 28. Rob had convinced MyTV to let him film a pilot for a new show and he asked Sophia and I if we would like to participate.  We borrowed some elements from 'The Prisoner' (as we do with Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling) including the idea of travel in a giant balloon and our multi-colored capes.  We only had a week before the pilot was being shot, so we quickly wrote 3 songs, "The Tale of the Space Balloons," "Grapes," and "If You Want A Mustache," describing, respectively, our predicament of being space wanderers, our love of non-climacteric fruit, and our interest in facial hair.  The instrumentation is relatively simple and is mostly just ukuleles, shakers, and vocals and we were able to record and mix the songs quickly in our home studio."

Space Balloons is participating in "Worried All the Time," a children's show for adults which debuts at The Armory in Somerville Saturday May 28th and will feature the pilot episode of the internet show "Worried All the Time" on the big screen, Rob Potylo (formerly Robby Roadsteamer) and The Lonely Planets, The Galactic Army Of Toys and The Tiny Space Instrument Revue.

Back to Epstein: "Informally, based on the very positive response to these songs, we had decided that we would someday make a full record and do something with it, regardless of whether the show gets picked up for MyTV or not.  We had sort of backburnered the idea until Rob approached us about doing a 30-minute live set.  As a result, we decided to make the "Worried All the Time" premiere party a sort of album release.  We will have some set of songs recorded and released that day and will perform the songs interspersed with skits associated with the strange behaviors, customs, and ideas of the Balloononian culture. Space Balloons While napping after a particularly hearty meal of grapes, Balloononians Sophia and Michael drifted a bit too far off course in their balloon spaceship. Now they wander the galaxy in search of their home planet Balloononia while spreading the customs and culinary interests of their society in song." Wanna see something?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImrQAvwSIzs

"Worried All the Time" is based on the book "The Little Prince." It's is for kids and adults who don't fit in quite perfectly. Rob flees his job making balloons on earth in his space car to planet Allston where he finds it's kinda rocky and quiet. There he spies a lady flower named Franny and together they have tons of fun making Space Cheese and being visiting by a cast of curious and amazing creatures since Allston is a port planet. They sing, and tell stories, and have puppets, and do every to keep from being 'Worried All The Time."

Tickets: $10. The three hour show starts at 7.

191 Highland Ave., Somerville, 617-718-2191 www.artsatthearmory.org