StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Omaha Diner offers menu of reimagined hits

"You've got to have a gimmick" may be a hoary old show-business cliche, but there's still some truth to the idea. Building an act around a distinctive, easily understood concept can help a performer stand out, and as "gimmicks" go, the band Omaha Diner has a pretty good one.

The quartet - seven-string guitarist Charlie Hunter, single-named saxophonist Skerik, drummer Bobby Previte, and trumpeter Eric Bloom, in for original member Steven Bernstein - plays only songs that have hit number one on the Billboard pop charts, albeit in rearrangements that often bear only a passing resemblance to the originals.

St. Louis audiences will get their first chance to hear those remodeled hits in person next week when Omaha Diner plays next Wednesday, November 18 through Saturday, November 21 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Hunter certainly is no stranger to the Bistro, having played there several times in recent years. Skerik also has performed in St. Louis recently with The Dead Kenny Gs and Garage A Trois; and Bloom was here just a few weeks ago with the funk band Lettuce at the Pageant.

Next week's gigs, however, are the official St. Louis debut for Omaha Diner as a band, and so today we offer a video sampler of some of their decades-spanning songlist, starting up above with a cover of the Beatles' 1964 smash "I Feel Fine," recorded November 9, 2013 at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, OR.

After the jump, they're reaching back to 1972 with a version of the O'Jays' "Love Train," from a show in July, 2013 in Philadelphia.

Below that, there are re-imaginings of two hits from 1987: Terence Trent D'Arby's "Wishing Well," recorded on July 4 of this year at the High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy, CA; and "Sweet Child O' Mine," made famous originally by Guns N' Roses and captured in a performance in November 2014 at the studios of KPLU in Seattle.

The same session at KPLU also yielded the last two videos, as Omaha Diner offers their takes on "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)," a hit for Beyoncé in 2008, and "Thrift Shop," a hip-hop-turned-pop smash for Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in 2012.

For more about Omaha Diner, read this review of a 2013 show in NYC, and this feature published last year in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

Pollstar: Omaha Diner to perform November 18 - 21 at Jazz at the Bistro

The online touring information service Pollstar has just added a listing showing the group Omaha Diner performing Wednesday, November 18 through Saturday, November 21 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Formed in 2013, Omaha Diner (pictured) includes guitarist Charlie Hunter, who's played the Bistro before with several different configurations of musicians, along with drummer Bobby Previte, trumpeter Steven Bernstein, and the single-named saxophonist Skerik (who's played in St. Louis at a couple of different venues as part of the trio Garage A Trois, of which Hunter was a founding member).

As you'd expect from the backgrounds of the various members, Omaha Diner's music incorporates a variety of influences, from funk and fusion to punk rock and experimental jazz. However, their stated musical purpose (or gimmick, or unique selling proposition, depending on how you look at it) is to deconstruct pop music, playing only songs that have reached #1 on the Billboard charts.

You can get a idea of what that sounds like in the promotional video embedded below, or check out the versions of Macklemore's "Thrift Shop," Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine" and Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" that they performed during a visit last November to radio station KPLU in Seattle.

As always with listings posted on Pollstar, dates should not be considered confirmed until officially announced by the venue or presenter. That said, the service has proved to be very accurate over the years, and given that Jazz St. Louis has said they plan to announce their 2015-16 season schedule next week, local listeners won't have to wait long for confirmation on this one, anyway.

Garage A Trois to play Tuesday, September 14 at the Old Rock House

The jazz/funk combo Garage A Trois (pictured) is coming to St. Louis on Tuesday, September 14 to perform at the Old Rock House, 1200 S. 7th St.

Garage A Trois was formed in 1999 by drummer Stanton Moore, single-named saxophonist Skerik (nee Eric Walton) and guitarist Charlie Hunter. The band's current lineup includes Moore and Skerik along with Mike Dillon on vibes and Marco Benevento on keyboards. Their most recent CD Power Patriot came out in October 2009.

For their performance at the Old Rock House, the doors open at 8:00 p.m., and show time is 9:00 p.m. It's an "all ages" show, and tickets are $15 general admission, plus a $2 surcharge for minors.