Parlor tricks
If you’re looking for a fantastic band with roots in swing, jazz, and American speakeasy music, Parlor Tricks is simply the best.
The band has played regularly at both my music venues for several years. They are always consummate professionals and will get any crowd dancing in no time. I highly recommend them for any event or festival.
Teague Kernan
Owner of Tupelo and Belle Cora
San Francisco, CA
In summer 2023 Parlor Tricks will tour Europe bringing industrial ragtime to music venues, festivals, bars, cafes, and private events.
Parlor Tricks will perform songs from our deep list of American songbook, vaudeville, boleros, cabaret, blues, and other early century popular music.
We can't wait to see you!
Melina Selverston is the vocalist and front person for Parlor Tricks, the world’s first and foremost industrial ragtime band. With a background in musical theater, and years of chorale vocal training, Melina entertains audiences with lively interpretations of the vintage music she adores. She is an innovative jazz soloist with vaudeville instruments, adding a thrilling musical layer to the Parlor Tricks sound. Cab Calloway, Sophie Tucker, Fats Waller, and Anita O’Day are key influences in Melina’s style that highlights her voice as an improvisational instrument, with the energy of a cabaret performance.
Eddie Scher is the guitarist, ukulele-ist, songwriter and co-leader of Parlor Tricks, the world’s first and foremost industrial ragtime band. Founded in New York in 2006, Parlor Tricks relocated to San Francisco in 2008. Eddie specializes in early 20th century guitar, inspired by the unsung early innovators of jazz on six strings. Parlor Tricks is acoustic jazz, led by Eddie’s National tricone resonator guitar – an instrument whose volume and distinct tone dominated the music scene for a brief time from its introduction in 1927 until the widespread use of the electric guitar just a few years later. Eddie is also a leading proponent of hot jazz ukulele in performance and as a contributor to Ukulele Magazine. Eddie began his musical career in Washington, DC in the late-1980s with the Moribund Brothers, a hardcore band covering disco-era hits. Rediscovering small group recordings of the 1920s and 1930s set Eddie on his goal to bring the infectious stomp and swerve of ragtime and swing to modern ears.
Bassist Bob Donlon began his professional music career at the age of 15, while attending the School of Performing Arts in New York City. While at the school, he performed in a month-long run of the off-Broadway show “D’Jamin Sings Lennon and Sometimes McCartney” as well as twice with the New York Philharmonic. In his early 20’s, he performed with Barry Manilow, the Fifth Dimension, and the legendary Swedish singer/songwriter Sven Bertil Taube. Bob then founded the rock band The Rake’s Progress, who recorded for the Geffen Records label, performed on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and embarked on several world tours. Thereafter, he was bassist in the band of Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Freedy Johnson and was an active session player in the New York City recording scene. In 2020, Bob relocated to Copenhagen where he currently lives with his wife and two children.
John Lakian began playing drums at 12 years of age, taking snare drum lessons and moving on to trap drums the same year. He began playing in rock cover bands at age 13 and played in several ensembles and rock/pop bands throughout his teenage years, while continuing lessons. During the burgeoning indie rock era of the 1990s, John - then in his twenties and living in Boston, Massachusetts - played with several groups who shared the stage with national acts such as Sleater Kinney, Morphine, ‘Til Tuesday, and The Lemonheads, among others. After moving to San Francisco in the late 1990s, John continued playing with variety acts, indie bands, and rock /blues cover bands. Later in his 50’s John moved onto playing in more jazz, ragtime, and swing bands which frequent many local venues in San Francisco and California. He is currently playing in local SF bands: Parlor Tricks, Hobbs and Co, Hanna Rifkin and the Handsomes, Burl Haggard, and The Spectones.