It’s honestly all about me."
There are few more surreal experiences than wandering unawares into Will's Pub on a Monday night and being confronted by Nadeem Khan in full flight and natty finery, nominally hosting a game of bingo. Nominally, because Khan seems gleefully unconcerned about the numbers he's calling out, instead using the pauses between them as opportunities to tell jokes, do an avant-lounge act and spin expansive yarns about a life lived well and weirdly in Orlando.
"I knew nothing about bingo then and I still don’t," confesses Khan. "The bingo is just a vehicle to talk about myself. It’s 100% ego driven. I’ve played in tons of bands, but I’ve never been a frontman, nor have I ever wanted to."
At the request of Will's Pub owner Will Walker, Khan takes the stage at Will's roughly every month armed with only loud attire and years' worth of weird and wild yarns from decades spent in Orlando's musical fringes, an integral part of bands as varied as Wild Tones, Obliterati, the Delusionaires and Big Jef Special. He's seen it all, and he remembers most of it.
Aside from the stories, Khan is happy to go the extra mile to keep the proceedings skewed, remembering one memorable Bingo night of years past: "I once hosted as a Russian nightclub owner and my wife was my 'kept woman.' She went as far as taking 'how to speak like a Russian' classes on YouTube. Neither one of us went out of character before, during or after. That was a favorite."
This Monday's "Cheap Ass Bingo" (July 10), features very special musical guests in the form of the Woolly Bushmen's Jacob Miller in tandem with Jordan Schneider.
"Jacob Miller and Jordan Schneider were barely adults when I met them, but I saw in them immense talent, and stunning good looks," says Khan. "They will do whatever country covers they choose, total justice, I love them both. I wish I was their dad."
All that and it's free, you cheapskate.
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