Magical Musicians

I could not describe to you how excited I was for the musical entertainment of last weekend to begin. After a quick run to Angelina's for some savory pizza, my cohorts and I decended upon Wilde Auditorium. Funny thing is you would never know a 200 seat auditorium existed, because it is built in the basement of a larger U-shaped building on the UHa campus. ARriving, we took side seats,as the house was mostly packed with Hartford socialites and other high-rollers. Reason being a non-profit University group Music For a Change is the coordinator for most of the concerts on campus, and they have raised over $100,000 for charities in the past few years. Luckily, student admission was a steal at $5. Taking into account that when Tim plays with Dave Matthews tickets are near $50, this was great. I had searched earlier for the opener Marcus Eaton, and had been mildly impressed with his samples on his website. Yet a live acoustic show can be way different from more tamer studio tracks. I mean, he was opening for Tim Reynolds, a master of non-conformity in guitar playing techniques.

As soon as he stepped on stage he was friendly and throwing the usual pre-set jokes. After that it was like an enthereal combination of acoustic talent and vocals. He began the first song with a slap on the bridge of the guitar and then picking palm muted stings, giving a basic kick sound and snare sound. Seconds later he was playing a melody on top of this- looping. Using the Roland RC-50, Marcus eventually added several backing loops such as chords, other percussive sounds, backing vocals and hand claps. He even had a mic setup on a lower stand to use for the hand claps and vocals, as he had to bend over to the pedal to set them up. (I wish I had my camera for this, and for the rest of the concert in general.) His sound is similar to Matt Wertz, with a hint of the spontinety also very present in Reynolds' playing. His songwriting was exceptional, in "Story of Now" and "Life and Reverse". I really was into his playing, and believe he'll be making a break in years to come now that he has his debut album out.


So, for those of you have only heard "Stream" or other Dave and Tim collaborations, you have to understand that Tim Reynolds solo is completely unleashed and totally abstact. No genre is free of his playing. I almost felt bad for the engineer who put his set on archive.org, becuase of how many times he changed songs. Don't get me wrong, this was not a medley. Such bits included Purple Haze, and Machine Gun by Hendrix. Tim's vocals are rougher than anything I've heard live, but it is also deep and quiet to match his personality. The entire time I was in amazement at being at such an intimate show with a living legend. Again, wish I had the camera, but on second thoguht I don't think the slow frame rate would have captured the ludicrous speeds he was playing at. I really would enjoy seeing both of these fantastic guitarists again in the future, their encore duet was equally pleasing.