Sat 11/13 @ 7PM
Many people know local musician Justin Gorski primarily under the pseudonym “DJ Kishka.” He performed as a DJ hosting the Happy Dog Polka Happy Hours for years under that name and it’s the identity he uses (complete with bearded disguise) when he hosts the annual Dyngus Day celebration the day after Easter.
Many don’t know he’s actually an accomplished musician but he’s working on getting the word out with his project Big Hoke, which performs his original material. It debuted in the early 2000s, but it’s taken a backseat to his other projects, which include the Lakewood restaurant Cleveland Vegan that he owns with his wife Laura Ross.
Now he’s putting out his first new album in more than a decade, Home, which was recorded in Austin in 2019. It’s got nine tracks of piano-driven (Gorski’s main instrument — and you probably thought it was accordion!) crisply crafted, infectious tunes drenched in R&B, bluegrass, Dixieland and old-time pop, among other influences.
The album opens with a sweeping, dramatic six-and-a-half-minute instrumental called “Wooden Meditation,” dominated by Gorski’s piano, and continues to romp through tunes such as the jaunty “Ain’t No Use,” the soulful, horn-drive title track that sounds like a poppier Southside Johnny, the instrumental “Cannonball,” on which Dixieland and bluegrass influences collide to create a vibrant stew, and a couple of great covers. He turns Randy Newman’s 1972 “Burn On,” about the famous 1969 Cuyahoga River fire into a retro-sounding rave-up, while The Band’s “Rag Mama Rag” gets a full-scale frenetic treatment with those horns again. The whole album boasts big, full arrangements of memorable tunes performed with driving energy.
Gorski originally announced the release of his nine-track album Home, last year, but he’s only now getting around to having a proper in-person release event for it. That will take place at Forest City Brewery Saturday November 13, with the November Knights (Brent Kirby and Andy Leach) opening. Get your tickets here.