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<\/center><\/p>\nMarc Ribot (Again)<\/strong> In fact, while this was ostensibly a Ribot solo gig, in fact the guitarist’s presence meshed so seamlessly with the film that it seemed almost not to exist on its own. His highly expressive guitar lines fit so perfectly with the onscreen images \u2013 alternately conveying, joy, menace, whimsy, pathos and the other sensations that encompass the human experience \u2013 that one could easily forget about them and simply enjoy the movie.<\/p>\n Which is exactly what the packed house did. Fro the entire film’s run time (approximately an hour), the audience, laughed, gasped and otherwise sat enthralled with the antics portrayed by Chaplin and his seven-year old sidekick Jackie Coogan<\/strong> (known best to my generation as The Addams Family<\/em>‘s Uncle Fester). Ribot’s real-time score was so perfectly integrated that one could have been forgiven for thinking it has been pre-recorded. As it was, the solo performance was a tour de force<\/em>, one not likely to be bettered.<\/p>\n David Greenberger<\/strong> It was a thrill. In the intimate setting of the Square Room, Greenberger took the stage accompanied by a lively and expressive upright bassist (Evan Lipson<\/strong>), nimble and nuanced drummer\/percussionist Bob Stagner<\/strong>, and Amanda Rose Cagle<\/strong>, a multi- instrumentalist who played piano, melodica, accordion, electric guitar, percussion and Theremin (and that’s only a partial list).<\/p>\n The premise was rather straightforward, on paper at least: Greenberger read a number of shortish pieces (\u201ca dozen and a half or so,\u201d he told us), all monologues by characters based on conversations he’s had with residents of nursing homes. These raged from barely-lucid ramblings to bitter tirades to bizarre, Dada-ish rants that made little or no sense in any context. And they were unfailingly entertaining.<\/p>\n The musical backing was as varied as Cagle’s instrumental arsenal. Always well-suited for the monologue at hand, the trio provided deep tone color backdrops to Greenberger’s monologues. Initially I thought the trio was improvising; it quickly became apparent that they were instead working from a highly structured \u2013 although often seemingly abstract \u2013 plan. The only pop-culture equivalent I can think of to describe Greenberger’s performance (with the trio dubbed And<\/strong> Prime Lens<\/strong> — an anagram of their mutual friend, collaborator and guiding light, the recently-deceased Dennis Palmer<\/strong>) is the word-jazz work of Ken Nordine<\/strong>. While Greenberger’s delivery is less stylized than Nordine’s, it’s every bit as enthralling.<\/p>\n Dawn of MIDI<\/strong> As my sweetheart and I arrived at the darkened confines of the Bijou, we could barely see our hands in front of our faces as we crawled around looking for seats. Once we found those seats, we sat down and I snapped a few photos. The next thing I recall took place approximately thirty minutes later, when I was awoken by my sweetie’s whispered words: \u201cI have two words for you: water torture<\/em>.\u201d While the insistently repetitive music had almost immediately lulled me to slumber, it had given my partner a headache. Looking around into the darkness, I saw that several nearby fellow concertgoers were also splayed out in their seats, fast asleep. One guy, however, was physically gyrating his torso and head in (attempted) time with the music. Go figure.<\/p>\n My coverage of the second day of Big Ears 2014 will continue.<\/p>\n
\nThe second day of Big Ears 2014 kicked off with a most unusual event: Marc Ribot seated in total darkness, armed with only a classical acoustic guitar. Above him on the Bijou stage was a projection screen, upon which was shown Charlie Chaplin<\/strong>‘s 1921 silent film, The Kid<\/em>. Ribot’s charge was to create a real-time audio accompaniment for the film. This he did with amazing skill.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/be2014_kid.jpg\")
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\nGreenberger and I have been Facebook friends for years, but as a byproduct of his status postings there, I know of him primarily as a writer and visual artist. So when I learned that he’d be doing a sort of spoken-word piece at Big Ears, I knew I’d have to catch the performance.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/be2014_greenberger.jpg\")
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\nThe festival guide’s preview of this trio painted an intriguing picture: a lineup that essentially follows the classic jazz trio format (piano, bass, drums) plays a highly repetitive, minimalistic totally acoustic kind of music that evokes the sound and feel of early synthesizer music ad\/or motorik<\/em>. The truth was, I suppose, quite close to that description, but my reaction to it was unexpected.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/be2014_midi.jpg\")
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