Saturday afternoon I spent an illuminating hour with Raymond Henry, building manager at Memorial Hall in Over-the-Rhine. After spending the previous three nights enthralled with the structure and the music coming from its stage, it was a thrill to take a daytime tour of the place when it was empty and silent like a tomb.
The building is 100 years old
this year, but the enthusiastic and ambitious Henry has been on the job
for only two months. Expounding on his wide range of ideas and hopes
and plans for the place, his enthusiasm was instantly infectious. Henry
was so animated and engaging about the future, that I began to feel a
palpable sense of excitement about it myself.
His tentative plans for the near term include film festivals, “unplugged” performances by local artists and a host of other endeavors geared toward enlightening the people of Cincinnati about this beautiful, underused venue. Though I met with Henry three days ago, my enthusiasm about the prospect is still blazing and I’m determined to pen a separate, in-depth piece about Ray Henry and Memorial Hall. Stay tuned.
Later that night, Keith and I returned to Memorial Hall for the
fourth and final night of the amazing MusicNOW festival. Almost
immediately upon our arrival we were greeted by event organizer Bryce
Dessner, who complimented us on the blog post we’d crafted honoring the
festival's first night. Other members of the MusicNOW family
expressed similar compliments to Keith and me throughout the evening, and
frankly it made us blush.
Keith and I talk very often about how fortunate we are to cover these amazing concerts and other stuff for CityBeat, always feeling like little kids who snuck unnoticed into the adult world for an evening — like the proverbial kids in a candy store. Usually by the time our words and photos appear either online or in the paper, the artist we're covering is long gone outta town, somewhere far down the road on tour across the country. Our four nights in a row at Memorial Hall this past weekend provided us with the rare opportunity to actually have a few words with MusicNOW organizers and musicians alike, even getting to know some of them just a little bit. (FYI, see my review of Night 2 here and Night 3 here.)
Every last soul involved with the fest and the venue was gracious and kind to us, and the instant feedback on our first night bloggery was so warm and positive I hope our speechlessness didn't appear rude! When MusicNOW staffer Meredith Melragon handed Keith a laminated photo pass, he looked like a bug-eyed little boy on Christmas morning.
Armed with his shiny new laminate, Keith took a few pictures of the sold out crowd from the stage just moments before Grizzly Bear began their 8 p.m. set. Like Dirty Projectors of the night before, this four-piece is anything but conventional. Their song arrangements unusual, their bass player standing before a bank of effects and doubling on clarinet, their drum kit a sparse grouping of floor tom, snare and a few cymbals augmented by an electronic apparatus to the drummer’s right, only the guys gripping guitars were a familiar site.
Grizzly Bear’s trance-pop fairly shimmered with ghostly Beach Boy harmonies and creepy guitar lines. Their juxtaposition of the abstract with the beautiful was a curious joy and perhaps another apt metaphor for this whole spectacular weekend. When one of the Grizzlys broke a guitar string and the ubiquitous Dessner immediately appeared by the side of the stage with a replacement guitar, I started thinking maybe this guy’s a superhero or something.
Before Saturday night I’d never even seen a photograph of Andrew Bird.
From the large contingent of young girls in the crowd, I knew that Bird
must be skinny and cute. Let’s face it: If Bird were a fat, balding
dude with a gray beard, there would have been a lot less estrogen in
that crowd.
Sure enough, when he took the stage in light blue oxford, black vest and black pants, he looked like Adrian Brody with just one nose. That said, he nonetheless had the entire sell-out crowd under his spell pretty much from the minute he picked up his violin.
It is amazing really, how Bird loops violin lines and builds complex melodies and song structures with the use of several delay pedals. Often switching back and forth between violin and guitar mid-song, he also whistles like, well, like a bird. The overall effect is positively hypnotic, and I was a lot more impressed than I expected to be. Bird spun his quiet charm in between-song banter too, mumbling incoherently at times but still had everyone hanging on his every syllable.
He's an extremely compelling presence on stage, and the Echo Sculptures he builds from stacking and swirling his violin loops make him a one-man symphony. It's a singular and mind-blowing skill. If he keeps it up, he’ll still have a huge loyal following even if he does get fat, goes bald and grows a grey beard.
In the final analysis, I can’t say enough good things about this year’s MusicNOW festival. Dessner and crew assembled an incredible lineup from start to finish and staged it in one of the city’s most beautiful halls. All four nights were awesome, and any one of the four alone would qualify as one of the best shows of the year. Taken together, this was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had at a locally produced music festival.
They raised the bar for everything else, including Tall Stacks, in my opinion. Thanks Bryce, Kit, The MVP of the weekend Miss Meredith and everyone else who helped organize MusicNOW. It was amazing.
— Ric Hickey
(all photos by Keith Klenowski)
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