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| photo courtesy of Gigshots by Stephen Bloch |
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| photo courtesy of Gigshots by Stephen Bloch |
I must say that the "Stained Radiance" performance was like nothing I've ever seen before and like nothing I'll ever see again, even if I attended another show on the same tour with the same artists. The shows are meant to be one-of-a-kind "happenings" of sorts. The theoretical artistic concept behind this performance art experience (as I would be remiss to call it a concert) is rooted in Wisdom's artistic philosophy that nothing is ever truly permanent or precious. To set the stage, Cline and artist Norton Wisdom teamed up to create "Stained Radiance," a performance where Cline uses the guitar and a cornucopia of effects pedals, knobs, and even a mechanism that allows him to manipulate his voice over the strings (never seem that before) to create a musical tapestry of sounds, while Wisdom serves up his art on a large plastic canvas where colors are blended, spritzed with a water bottle to bleed, and squeegeed into one another to take on compositions, shapes and, when coupled seamlessly with Cline's guitar work, stories. The show was a continual piece, rather than a collection of songs, which spanned the emotional range from disturbing to clever to humorous all within the span of the hour plus performance. Being seated in the front row, right in front of Wisdom, there was a certain "mad scientist" element going on with Wisdom and Cline. I'd liken it to Andy Warhol meeting Young Frankenstein, if that makes any sort of sense at all. Neither Wisdom nor Cline spoke during the performance, and it was rare to even see a grin from either... they just did their thing. The incredibly engaged audience soaked it in, and this, I think was the purpose of the performance more than anything else... just to take in what was happening at the time, and then to think about it later (if you chose to do so).
The evening opened with Sam Amidon, a Vermont-based experimental folk artist who I missed at the Eaux Claires festival, but was delighted to see here at the Collectivo Back Room. Amidon is an incredibly vibrant and clever singer-songwriter whose songs could be best described as traditional ballads layered over experimental sonic pallets, which for this particular evening, were created by Nels Cline. In fact, barring the first two songs which Amidon played by himself, Cline shared the stage with him for the rest of his set, punctuating his songs with his unique sonic landscapes, which added an entirely complex layer to Amidon's chords and vocals. Unlike the headlining performers, Amidon was quite the verbal storyteller on stage, and spun humorous anecdotes about being in a holistic healing salt water tank and having trouble getting out, before his performance of "Blue Mountains," a track off of his 2014 Lily-O album. Amidon also fondly recalled a driver's ed lesson where his teacher described the highest level of driving as being "unconsciously safe" which he claimed to experience this week on tour driving in the Midwest in his rental car. I'll take Amidon's word for it, and from my own experiences driving to northern and western Wisconsin, can somewhat relate. Rotating between acoustic guitar, banjo, and even violin, Amidon's rich vocals and finger picking were a uniquely fitting contrast to Cline's unique sonic fills. On paper it would seem strange, but on stage it worked out beautifully.
Put together, Amidon, Cline and Wisdom served a performance that challenged traditional notions of what exactly is a coffee house concert. A day after the show, I'm still thinking about it, and am grateful that folks like Gary Witt and the Pabst Theater Group are able to provide our community with shows like this, that are extraordinary experiences, even if they only last for one night only.
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| photo courtesy of Gigshots by Stephen Bloch |
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