Carnivorous Grass

In late May or early June of 1996, Carnivorous Grass had a pretty nice gig at the Daily Grind in Kansas City. We performed in between Kid Niko and The Francos, which we did quite often around that time. This was a couple weeks after our 3rd anniversary concert and you can see that Jeff Mitchell is still wearing his "3" shirt!

Introduction by Shawn Ng

Shawn from The Francos introduces us and reminds the audience that the band made promotional combs! Yes, that's right, combs! Inspired by an idea that Jim's dad had for his business, the combs said "Carnivorous Grass - A Band Apart"

Cavalcade of Sound

This was the song we usually started off the concert with. It was brand new at this point and probably inspired by Kid Niko's intro song... "I love you, Kid Niko!"

Tonito

This was one of our most popular songs, and probably the only song we all wrote together. Tonito was a kid that Paul met on his first day of kindergarten in Vista, California. Tonito was so scared that he was shaking badly and wiggling around, unaware that his actions would start a dance craze in Kansas twelve years later!

The Stars

Paul wrote this song in Mr. Harbord's chemistry class in 12th grade, and would end up releasing it on his first solo album Paul and Me in 2005. Written especially for Jim to sing, the Mark Bentley mentioned here was a classical guitarist that Paul and Jim went to see perform that year. On a visit to Kansas City in 2006, Paul visited Mark Bentley at his guitar shop and presented him with a CD!
The studio version of this song was also released as a cassette single in 1996.

Ms Wheelchair USA

Probably the most famous Carnivorous Grass song in history, this was written by Paul and Jim one night after a bad concert when they were still a duo. Deciding it was time to get some good new songs together, they opened the newspaper to see an article about the Ms Wheelchair USA pageant! What more
could they want for inspiration?! Several people in wheelchairs have heard the song, and several have been offended. However, one Kid Niko fan named Matt who was in a wheelchair said he liked it and not to worry if anyone says they don't, so Paul and Jim stuck with his advice. Thanks Matt!

The Giant Midget

This is the only one of Paul's songs to ever be accused of being about god! It is a bit more serious than their other stuff, and includes a nice bass solo by Jim and a great trumpet arrangement. This made it onto Paul and Me too in 2005 and is still occasionally performed today.

Bob Ross

With a two note instrumental chorus, this tribute to the late painter was based largely on Jim's amazing bass riff. Jim often played exotic countermelodies and even chords in his bass parts, and this is one of his best. The band was shocked when they heard one of their heroes had died, and this was quickly written and became another audience favorite.

Waltz in H-Flat Minor

This arrangement was used by Paul again when he recorded this song for the Paul and Me album, but he substituted kazoos for the trumpets.

The Great Egress

This song was written especially for the Carnivorous Grass third anniversary concert, and we closed every show with this song from that point on. Ryan Griffin and Jeff Mitchell really show off their arranging skills here on keyboard and trumpet. Years later, Paul would form a band in Ireland that would adopt the name The Great Egress after working on this song during practice.