|
Date: Fri 26 Oct, 2001 at 00:00
Headline: Doing What We Do
------------------------------
|
Greetings and Salutations!
To say that Thursday's benefit concert went off without a hitch would be
stretching the truth...but not by much. Despite the usual practical and
technical headaches that inevitably occur when trying to cram so many
artists into so small of a space in so short of a time, things were relatively
smooth throughout.
 James got to play with his usual Sunday Night jamming partners Dan Weldon
and Dicky Martinez, and they turned out a string of solid pop-rock covers,
opening the show with Tom Petty's "American Girl" and closing over 3 hours later
with a heartfelt rendition of John Mellencamp's "Pink Houses". Danny was
especially pleased to be doing the show, being a native of NYC.
Body Talk funked everybody up with a great set of soul & disco. Despite
their guitarist breaking strings on two successive instruments, everybody kept
their heads in the game and their set was smokin'.
Tornado Blue combined folky guitars, driving DJ beats, sisterly harmony and
supplementary visuals for a set that certainly had
people talking.
Troy Nielsen's jazz trio kept things buzzing out in the foyer, and blew
most of us away from a purely musical perspective. Awesome work.
And us?
Well, we gave it our all. Lots of interesting sidelines along the way.
Tim, having misread our start time, was on a run to the local 7-11 when our
set began. Fortunately John Clark was on hand and threw in with us for old
time's sake. By the time Tim had arrived, we were nearly halfway through the
set. We had a guitar amp breadown after that, but musically things were much
more solid. I got a chance to make a little speech about how many lyrics seem to
have taken on a new meaning in the last 6 weeks, and I thought we were
especially soulful on "We Are One" that night.
 As I mentioned to the audience, it was extremely humbling and gratifying
to be doing the show. As citizens, we have all searched out ways to help and
taken the various opportunities presented to us. However, to be able to contribute in
this way, doing what we do, is really very special. And though
many concerts such as this one have already taken place on both the localand
national levels, I feel this was neither pointless nor redundant. Having trouble conjuring up the cynicism right now. :)
Special Thanks go to all the bands, tech crew, and especially John Clark and
Ray Opheikens, who saved all of our lives in more ways than one that night.
You guys RULE!
Next stop: CLUB EXPOSE on Halloween. We're gonna burn the place down...er,
musically speaking...and we even have some holiday material picked out for
the occasion.
Bye for now,
your humble correspondent
Thom Bowers
|
