This venue is next to the Masquerade, home to punk/metal and other assorted madness. What a difference a few feet makes. Here lies the calm and laid back side of Ybor City. What better place to sample the offerings of "Combustible Edison."

I don't think I'll ever adapt to the fact that show times are mere tease and that being fashionably late is the standard by which most venues work. The Rubb is no exception. Ensconced upon a chair at table that wasn't much bigger than the glass upon it I awaited the appearance of the opening act, "Ashes of Grishum."

AOG is a four piece band consisting of vocalist/guitarist Chris Temple, Chris Millstein on drums, Shayde on bass and Vinnie on keyboards. This band did a good job of setting the stage for Combustible Edison. Chris has a good voice and the solid play of the band behind him. An alternative band with suppressed angst flowing through most of the songs in the set, they were low key depending for the most part on Vinnie's keyboard work to add underlying strength to Chris' vocals. The opening song "Fool For Nothing" set the tone that continued throught the rest of the set. This is a solid band that needs to experiment a bit more as their music tends to sound the same after a few songs. There were a few bursts of energy but restraint seemed to be the byword of the evening.

From being a lonely soul perched upon a barstool I had slowly become one in a small but steadily growing crowd during the set, until the room was respectably peopled with folks from suits to sweats, silk to serge. When "Combustible Edison" finally took the stage the house was close to full.

CE is a band that would be right at home in one of those Peter Seller's "Pink Panther" films playing in a French nightclub while parodies of avant-garde folk parade on the dance floor. Combustible Edison is: Lily Banquette, vocalist and various instruments; Nick Cudahy, the double bass; Mr. Peter Dixon, keyboards, The Millionaire, guitar; and Aaron Oppenheimer , drums and vibraharp.

Miss Banquette, who I like to think of as the disinterested diva for the way she seemed to be into her music but unaware of the crowd, doesn't sing so much as use her voice as another instrument in the band. In a way it was like going to an opera where the aria's are all in Italian, you don't understand a word but the feeling and the music gets to you anyway. Lily's voice does that as she does a kind of scatted aria.

The Millionaire spends most of his time between song introductions posturing with his guitar like it was a prop more than an instrument although on two or three songs he showed he is quite capable of handling the instrument with a deft touch. The majority of the lead is carried by Lily and Peter Dixon on the keyboards.

Playing songs from all three of their Subpop releases they made no special effort to push their album except by identifying songs from it such as the opening number, "Mr. Pushkin Comes To Shove" featuring Lily on the bongos and scat. The beat is solid and Lily's voice certainly makes an impression on you."The Millionaire" is clad in a tan leisure suit (did that bring back memories) and kind of reminds me of Daddy Warbucks in "Little Orphan Annie" and he set the tone for the evening with his lounge-lizard patter between songs.

The whole band comes across like an inside joke that you strain to get. The younger members of the crowd don't have a clue and just accept the music itself much like the crowd in those Parisian night club scenes. Dancing or rather slinking about to songs like "Alright Already," "Breakfast At Dennys," and "The Twentieth Century."

After the first few songs Lily took over on drums while Aaron moved over to the Vibroharp. Songs like "Cadillac" and "Utopia" continued the ethereal nature of this retro band. The nature of the music lent itself to a lot of different styles on the dance floor from breakdancing to some solo tango type moves. Their is an element of the latin beat underlying a lot of the music, especially when Lily uses the bongoes or the vibroharp is used. Some of the faster songs like "Checkered Flag," "Hot and Bothered," and Hellraiser got closer to the crowd and felt less removed. It was almost like a mating dance as the band alternated between involvement and drawing away with songs like "Laura's Aura" that returned to the dreamy space-rock feel.

The last couple of songs illustrated this as "Double Latte" was the kind of song you cradle your cuppa just drinkin', while "Miniskirt" had the folks on the dance floor just slinkin'. The lounge band concept writ large. The title to "Combustible Edison's" encore song summed up my feeling for the evening, "Tickled To Death."