Beer-Hall Bounce Has More Than Novelty

New Wave Polka? Believe it, it’s here. It’s played by a spiffily dressed octet called Rotondi, and for those not vanguard enough to have been around the group’s early performances at the Lingerie or the Anticlub, it is the most bizarrely appropriate mixture of elements since Jerry Garcia got together with Ornette Coleman.

Rotondi’s performance at Crayons Saturday night even suggested that there may be more than pure novelty value in combining some reggae accents with a bouncing, two-beat polka rhythm. Pieces like “Well Then,” “Poolside Polka” and “Modern Man” somehow managed to combine a smorgasbord of styles--rock, R&B; jazz, calypso, you name it--into an utterly unique blend that was as musically fascinating as it was rhythmically irresistible.

But this is a band whose primary appeal is to the feet, not the head. With singer Tony Patelli’s lounge-act tenor providing the perfect suds-and-pretzels lead voice, and Paul Lacques’ drums and Richie Lawrence’s accordion laying down the proper beer-hall bounce, the Crayons audience responded to Rotondi in the only really appropriate way--by turning the evening into a free-form dance party.