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58 HOOK M usically speaking, Mingo Lodge and his band The Big Boss Sausage, have recorded 3 full length albums of rock, pop, funk, alternative, country, dance, folk, bluegrass, and super- disco space-grooves. His energetic and crowd engaging performances offer a potpourri of original tunes, classic melodies, obscure oddities, today's toe tappers and songs of beyond, from soulful to comedic pre- sentations. Members of the Sausage have performed with The Sam- ples, Rusted Root, Jo-Jo Russell and Phish, to name a few. Mingo, a Folk Rock Musician and Inspirationist, has traversed up and down the East Coast, from Nova Scotia to Key West. While he calls the entire Eastern Seaboard home, he spends a lot of time playing in the Catskills and Adirondacks and has been a familiar presence in Wood- stock and the Hudson Valley throughout his career. He was a big part of Pete Seeger's Clearwater Festival for decades and has been playing the Winter Carnival at Saranac Lake for thirty years. "I come from the Pete Seeger school of performing," he explains. "It always felt kind of goofy for me to just sit up there on stage and have people watch me when we could all watch each other and play with each other. So at times, Mingo started hand- ing out instruments to people in the au- dience: washboards, shakers, maracas, tambourines. "I try to give them some bizarre instruments." Come to a Mingo Lodge show and you may well find yourself on stage, playing along, which makes his perform- ances true, communal unique experi- ences. "I think a reason I do this is that we influence each other with the joys of music, dance and fun, and find the best way forward." mingolodge.com His energetic and crowd engaging performances offer a potpourri of original tunes, classic melodies, obscure oddities, today's toe tappers and songs of beyond

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