Mother’s Day concert at Vault Art Gallery

By Kirby Pringle

Just when you thought that there were no musical events just for Mother’s Day in Tuscola, you need to recalibrate your thinking.

The swing jazz band from Charleston, We Ain’t Misbehavin’, performs at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 13, at the Vault Art Gallery in downtown Tuscola. Members of the outfit include Yvonne Larson on vocals, Michael Brown on bass, Sarah Wiseman on accordion and Karen Hart on vocals. Bob St. Gemme is on guitar, while his wife, Laura, plays violin.

We Ain’t Misbehavin’ is an offshoot of another popular Charleson band, the Moondogs.

“I had started that band and it became pretty popular around here,” Bob St. Gemme said. “But then last spring we just decided to go in a different direction from rock and blues, and my wife Laura agreed to it and we left the Moondogs on amicable terms. We’re all still friends.”

The band performs as part of a special Mother’s Day event at the Vault Art Gallery. The performance is free and the public is welcome to attend. Seating will be available and refreshments will be provided.

“We started playing what I would call gypsy jazz. But we’re not limited to anything. We do tango, swing music, samba, a bit of Django Reinhardt, things like that. We’ve become more of a world music band. Yvonne has a big voice and can sing anything. Her and Karen (Hart) sound beautiful together,” St. Gemme said.

We Ain’t Misbehavin’ performs once or twice a month and that schedule is fine for St. Gemme and the other members.

“That’s plenty for us. We want to keep it fun and not turn this into a job,” he said. “The direction I would like to go is to perform in more upscale places like wineries, art galleries like the Vault, places like that.”

The band’s last performance at the Vault was indeed a popular affair with a large crowd in attendance.

“Our network is growing rapidly and we’ve become quite popular in the short time we’ve been together,” St. Gemme added.