Listen Up: Musician/Artist taps his foot to a different tune

Photo by Michael Donahue // Buy this photo

Artist/musician Alexander Paulus performs under the name "Paulus Bunion."

The first thing you notice when you see Paulus Bunion perform is the tambourine attached to his right shoe. He's shaking it while he's playing the bass drum with his left foot, the guitar with his hands and, when he's not singing, a harmonica with his mouth.

His real name is Alexander Paulus. His friend, photographer Tam Tran, came up with his stage name. "I have a beard and she thought I looked like a lumberjack," said Paulus, 30. "She was like regular 'Bunyan' and I said, 'Why don't I call it 'Bunion' like the foot problem because I play instruments with my feet?'"

Listen Up: Paulus Bunion

One-man band performs

Photo by Michael Donahue

"Merica" by Alexander Paulus, aka Paulus Bunion.

Paulus uses his real name as an art professor at Memphis College of Art and Southwest Community College.

A native of Perryville, Mo., Paulus grew up drawing. He got his bachelor of fine arts in painting at Southeast Missouri State University. After he graduated, he worked in frame shops in St. Louis for a couple of years.

He played guitar before he moved to St. Louis, but he got serious after he got a four-track recorder for Christmas and wrote and recorded his first song, "I Got a Woman," a "slide blues riff kind of song."

He came up with his tambourine shoe, which he calls "The Tambyshoe," after buying a wooden tambourine at an antique shop. He'd stomp on it while playing his guitar. One time the tambourine bounced up and looped around his shoe. "I thought, 'Why don't I tape this to my shoe?' It was like one of those deck shoes that they sell at Wal-Mart for like seven bucks."

Paulus had two tambourines fastened to his size 91/2 shoe at one point, but one of the tambourines eventually broke.

While he's shaking his Tambyshoe, Paulus' left foot is busy playing the bass kick drum. "Normally people play bass with their right foot, but because I had all those tambourines attached to my right shoe, I didn't want to have to re-do that. So, now I play the bass with my left foot. It's kind of backwards."

The only thing Paulus wears on his left foot is a sock. "I try playing with shoes, but for some reason my foot ends up going too high up on the foot pedal. So, I can feel it better without any shoes on."

After moving to Memphis to go to graduate school at Memphis College of Art, Paulus began collaborating on some songs with Natalie Hoffman from Bake Sale. "We would sit there and write a song and maybe play it through twice and she'd go, 'OK. Let's go play this for some people.' And I'm like, 'Uh, I don't feel comfortable enough doing that.' Like I don't even remember half the words and the chords and stuff."

He played his first one-man band gig on a sweltering evening last July at the "Pretty Dirty" show at the old Concept Gallery on South Main.

"I went to school with both the people who were in the show -- Brittany Wilder and Kevin Mitchell. And I was roommates with Brittany Wilder.

"I was actually excited because my roommate told me I could play whatever songs I wanted. I could play half songs. I could play a little bit of one song. Or I could play all of my songs. Then I could repeat my songs if I wanted. I was like, 'This sounds great because you're not expecting anything from me. I can just have fun with it.' I thought that was the perfect environment for my first show."

Paulus continues to make art; his work is on view at Automatic Slim's downtown. He included some of pieces in "The Price is Right" show last August at David Lusk Gallery. "

Playing his music at shows is fun because it's a new experience, Paulus said.

His gigs can last up to 21/2 -hours. "Your shins get really tired from bouncing your feet a lot. I'm sure drummers deal with that all the time."

He always remembers to remove The Tambyshoe when he's through playing. "It's pretty loud and obnoxious, so if I'm walking around I'm gonna notice it."

Listen Up spotlights area performers. Michael Donahue can be reached at 529-2797.

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Paulus Bunion with Holly Cole and Marcella Simien

The show begins at 9 p.m. Saturday at the P&H Cafe, 1532 Madison Ave. No cover charge. Call 726-0906.

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