Stephen Bunovsky, guitarist for the Naomi Star, looked over the crowd at Cafe Nine.
“Raise your hand if you’re a Kohler,” he said.
A lot of people in the audience raised their hands.
“Or just raise your hand,” joked Paul Kohler, the band’s lead singer.
But Bunovsky had asked a good question. The Naomi Star’s one-off show on Sunday afternoon, after years of not playing together, felt like a family reunion for both band and audience — made up of actual family, friends, their children, and longtime fans who sang along to their favorites as the Naomi Star rocked through two sets of songs pulled from their discography, plus a few well-selected covers.
The Naomi Star — Bunovsky, Kolher, Steve Raccagni on drums, Dan Kohler on bass, and Ward Whipplerose on guitar — formed out of the breakup of indie band Hannah Cranna (named after the famous alleged “wicked witch of Monroe”), played a lot of gigs, and produced three albums, The Naomi Star, Sunshine Girl, and Through the Eyes, from 2003 to 2009.
Then, as Frank Critelli of Cygnus Radio said, “People got married, had kids. Paul moved away” to New Hampshire. “That’s the way it goes.”
Brian Slattery Photo
But Critelli didn’t lose touch with the band’s members. “I was thinking, ‘Aw man, I’d love to see those guys play again,” he said. He got them to play at his stepdaughter’s wedding. And months ago, he idly floated the idea of giving the band a slot in Cygnus Radio’s ongoing Sunday Buzz series, which books shows Sunday afternoons at Cafe Nine. The band got back to him and said they were interested, and it all came together. The Naomi Star did two rehearsals and “pulled up like they had played last week,” Critelli said. “That’s when it’s the best.”
The band’s members also found that their fans had become multigenerational, as the good-sized crowd included several kids. They occupied the floor during the band’s break between sets. When Naomi Star played fan favorite “Sunshine Girl” early in their second set, the kids — some wearing protective earphones — danced between the stools around the club’s high tables. And for the band’s encore, Raccagni ceded the throne behind the drums to Paul Kohler’s 5‑year-old son, who backed up the band for their last number. It was a gesture that felt less like passing the torch than keeping the flame alive, for a band that has turned out to last through marriages, kids, out-of-state moves, and all.
