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Monk concert

So, I went to see Monk play last night, and wow, was that an amazing
experience.  Those guys are such consummate craftsmen, it was like watching
someone spin some elegant goblet out of blown glass.  The space was really
nice, too: a small old church that has been converted into a theater.  The
house was pretty full, although there were a couple of empty seats left.  The
roster this time was Ric, Mike Georgin, and Josh Seurkamp, and Todd Kearby was
managing the tastefully decorated product table.  I have no idea how they all
managed to fit inside that minivan, even though I helped load it up afterward.
It was like a TARDIS from Doctor Who or something.

Anyway, they played two sets, starting just after eight and ending shortly
after ten.  The first set was Middle Way, Little Wing, Green, Dover, and That's
My Love, and the second set was Circle of Quiet, One Eye Open, Tattoo, and Womb
of God.  The second set went for almost an hour.  This was because after
playing the three or four minute song we know from the records, they would
spiral off into a world of improvisation that was simply entrancing.  I wish I
was enough of a musician to be able to imagine what they're doing when I listen
to the recordings, because it was just mesmerizing to watch them move.  Ric has
such a delicate touch on the strings, it's like watching a dancer.  And they
work off each other so well.  Mike tells me they don't plan those instrumental
sessions; they *listen* to each other and jam.  It's fascinating to see the
interplay and how they support and reflect each other.  

Ric has some really nifty toys that he incorporates into the music, and the one
that impressed me the most was some kind of looping recorder, with which he
would record a couple measures of music, then have it loop while he played a
duet with himself, on top of the track he'd just sampled.  Once he went four
layers deep, interweaving each new track with what he'd laid down moments
before.  Another time he laid down a track, then got up and switched guitars,
to play the second track with an acoustic.  And what an acoustic!  It was
fretless and had a very interesting body design.  I'm not sure how to describe
what a difference that made, but it sounded strikingly different.  It allowed
him to do a lot of sliding, without the little metal cylinder people usually
use for slide guitar, so it didn't have that "twang" I usually associate with
slide.  

Although I missed Brian, Josh was really amazing on percussion.  Not only was
he delicate and expressive with the drum kit, but he had a whole array of
bongos, talking drums, water sticks, bells, gourds and whatnot to use to
support the mood of the music, and it was magical.  

Oh, yeah, and Ric came out and did two solo encores with an acoustic (not
the fretless): willoughby, and This Train.  He said he couldn't remember
the words to William Tell, and several people shouted out OtR songs that
he gracefully declined.  Although he said he would remind himself how to
play Flanders Fields for next time.  All in all, a beautiful and striking
evening at the Trinity House Theater.  It reminded me of what enchanted
me about Over the Rhine in the first place, lo these eight years ago.  The
power of intricately crafted sound.

I'm off to Toronto!  See y'all later,
-- 
Don Smith                    Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment
dasmith at rotse2_physics.lsa.umich.edu        http://xte.mit.edu/~dasmith/

"The art of filmmaking is the art of regret."                 -- Ang Lee
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