Tonight, RUBA Club (our lovely 2011 festival bar) takes it easy with the red hot jazz of Drew Nugent and the Midnight Society! Drew Nugent and his band play jazz from the turn of the century to the early 1930s. Tonight and next Thursday, the band includes a tuba, accordion, 1920s drum kit, and two horns, along with Drew’s vocal stylings. Tonight, he’ll also be playing several novelty instruments includingthe goofus and the hot tea kettle. Expect crazy instrumentation along with lots (and lots) of dancing!

Drew’s parents encouraged his artistic nature by giving him musical instruments at a young age. He loves syncopation and ragtime, and when he started playing trumpet at the age of 14, he fell into the music of the 1920s, and then into the dancing, clothing, and the whole lifestyle that goes hand-in-hand with The Jazz Age. A classic 1990s Nickelodeon television show, Are You Afraid of the Dark? inspired Drew to name his band The Midnight Society. Fittingly enough, the band’s name is also anachronistic: it has a vintage feel, as if it’s the name of a true 1920s jazz group.

Drew and his band are renaissance artists who strive for an authentic representation of American jazz. “Jazz music is the music of the people, after all. They want to feel good, and dance to it,” Drew says. Listing inspirations such as Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Earl Hines, and Bix Beiderbecke, the band’s mission is to keep the tradition of early jazz music alive.

But it’s not institutionalized–jazz is a living art for Drew Nugent and the Midnight Society, and when you see them in action, you’ll be giving just as much energy back as they’re sending to you. So: tonight and next Thursday, come dance your heart out. But don’t spill too much of your PBR, at least on me. And you won’t, because on Easy Thursdays, we’ve got artisanal cocktails for you to sip languorously, until you’re tight enough to loosen up.

The Festival Bar opens at 10 pm tonight and next Thursday for Easy Thursdays. See you there! RUBA club, 414 Green Street, Northern Liberties. Admission is free.

–Christina Snyder