Medeski, Martin, and Wood give solid performance at Whitaker Center By Peter Strella Assistant Layout Editor When Medeski, Martin, & Wood (MMW) played at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg on October 29, it wasn’t your typical show; it was a lab experiment, John Medeski moved from keyboard to key board, seeing which one would make the perfect sound. Drummer Billy Martin (also known as illy B) had one of everything on his drum set and he used every piece of it. And I wouldn’t have been surprised if bassist Chris Wood dropkicked his upright bass in an attempt to make a new sound. They opened their first set with improv, beginning with a spacy jam. Billy Martin eventually settled into a steady beat that built up to an impressive climax. Medeski topped it off with an impressive solo. About halfway through the set, the band set tled on a jazzy progression. Chris Wood snapped at the strings of his upright, digging deep for the low notes that gave the jam a solid foundation. Martin played a lead drum part for a bit, hurling his drum sticks in all directions. The beat grew faster as Medeski took the lead, throwing his hands at the key boards like he was giving them a chopping back mas sage. They kept a progressive build until, like a switch of the lights, they all softened and got spacy again. The highlights of the hour-long first set were the solos by Chris Wood and Billy Martin. Woods’ came shortly after the jazzy progression. His mind blowing solo on the upright saw him do everything from tapping the instrument in between notes, to Former Eagles'frontman electrifies D.C. Don Henley rocks Constitutional Hall with solo originals and classic Eagles' tunes By Brian Seaman for The Capital Times Despite the chaos the snipers were inflicting played a very raspy, acoustic version of “Witchy upon the Mid-Atlantic states on October 15 l , The Woman.” A graceful country rock performance of Eagles co-founder, Don Henley was aiming his “Peaceful Easy Feeling” followed. It was a rendition musical talents at the audience in Constitutional that would make any Eagles fan rise to their feet just Hall in Washington D.C. as the entire crowd did upon completion. Opening with a . - Returning to the normal record-like perform- repertoire,enthused, Henley ance of “Dirty j n „ oiiitar «jnln« hv sang “Boys of Summer” and Laundry” set the -Blistering guitar solos by an Eagles _ like .. Life in the Frank Sirnes and Stewart Fasdane ” " ith ex P e f ed the set list surprised enthusiasm but returned to and enticed the audi- Smith enhanced if not com- the electric version of “Heart ence with musical of the Matter”, abilities of all band pleted the enCOre...” An added surprise to the members. Henley’s night was the appearance of band performed the newly added Eagles gui melodies irom tarist Stewart Smith, who artists such as Randy Newman “Burn down the replaced Don Felder and currently coordinates with Cornfield”, Paul Simon “American Tune”, and paid the Eagles for their upcoming release. Blistering tribute to Thomas Conely “You Must Not Be gu itar solos by Frank Sirnes and Stewart Smith Drinking Enough . The tunes encouraged Henley to enhanced if not completed the encore consisting of talk to his audience, saying, “just when you think “i will Not Go Quietly,” “The End of the things can’t get any weirder...” referring the sniper innocence,” “Hotel California,” and “Desperado.” situation, and later complementing and thanking the it touched the fans and in the encouraging final corn crowd for attending. ments of Henley. “God willing, I’m not done yet” Explaining a chest infection that he was over- plucking the strings below the bridge to create high pitches. Martin’s amazing five-minute solo ended the set on a high note. Through all the crazy rolls and fills, you didn’t know where he was going to take it. In the first set, the crowd was a laid-back, toe-tappin’ bunch. In the second set, people started gettin’ down. With over half of the crowd still out in the lobby, MMW began another spacy jam to start off the set. The jam grew more intense as more people reclaimed their seats in the theatre. The band went off before falling into a steady, soulful, funk beat that dominated the second set. The deeper into the second set it got, the more people went to the aisles to dance. The sound of the second set was fairly con sistent compared to the first; less ambience and more of a steady beat. The jam would start out with a slow, coming, Don asked the audience to pretend as if they were in the den of his house. The rest of the band took center stage, all in the spotlight, and funky beat with Medeski and Wood taking turns at lead. The notes from the bass moved randomly in key from high to low pitches while the keyboards would fill with short, consistent jabs to fill the sound and accent the beat. The second set was Medeski’s turn to take a solo. Aside from its absolute craziness, the crowd was struck by the ease in which he produced it. He could’ve talked to his grandmother on a cell phone in mid-solo and still dropped everyone’s jaw with its musical brilliance. Medeski layered 32 nd notes over each other, producing a wall of sound that hit the audience. At the end of the last set, the band came out from behind their instruments to front stage. Wood brought his upright bass, Martin a hand-held percus sion device, and Medeski, with a keyboard contrap tion that had a tube connected to it. Medeski blew through the tube and pressed down on the keys, pro ducing a smooth, high-pitched noise you would hear in a Nintendo game. Martin grazed the top of the drum, putting forth a scratching noise that made him sound like DJ Scribblz. It was an exciting ending to the hour-long second set, and reminded me of a jun ior high band rehearsal gone wrong. The encore, though very peaceful, was anti climactic. After witnessing a crazy second set, there needed to be more craziness. Instead, the crowd got a slow, quiet sound that meandered for ten minutes. But MMW had already made their mark. Their show, as always, had no lyrics and lots of improvisation. Their variety of musical styles satisfied the wide scope of musical tastes in attendance. Set List Dirty Laundry Everything is Different Now Tequila Sunrise You Must Not be Drinking Enough Miss Ghost New York Minute Witchy Woman Burn Down the Cornfield Peaceful Easy Feeling American Tune Boys of Summer Life in the Fastlane Heart of the Matter All She Wants to Do is Dance I Will Not Go Quietly The End of the Innocence Hotel California Desperado
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers