"If you see a red-wigged nun, a turbaned Ayatollah, a forelock-dangling rabbi, a pope, and a monk tearing it up onstage with a mixture of jam-band rock, R&B, jazz, and world music, you haven't stumbled into the punchline of some pan-ethnic joke, you're just witnessing the Thursday Night All-Stars in action. The satirical New York City band is the ultimate musical/cultural melting pot, parodying every religion they can find the outfits for, and delivering lyrics that expose worldwide religious and political hypocrisy without ever losing their sense of fun and feel for funk.

Fronted by the "Fancy Ayatollah" (Iranian-American Piruz Partow) on vocals and electrified tar (an ancient stringed instrument) and convent escapee "Sister" Charise Sowells, the band shifts seamlessly from blaxploitation-flick funk riffs to jazz-fusion grooves to Latin montugno piano patterns without breaking a sweat. Backed by a simmering rhythm section that includes two bassists ("Monk of Funk" J. Betz and "Rabbi of the Beat" Josh Lindy), the amiable Ayatollah delivers everything from a funk-popping celebration of sexuality to an Eastern-tinged anti-terrorist anthem, all the while extolling the virtues of "disorganized religion" and reminding understandably awestruck audiences that "God wants you to drink heavily."

- Jim Allen: Music Critic for Rolling Stone.com, vh1.com, etc.