Wits were definitely lost last night as far as i am concerned.....
The texture and style that tim brought to the blah blah was unparalleled. With George in California, Adrian took over as defacto leader of the Collective. Right from the first note it was easy to tell that the night was going to have a little different flavor. Tim with his boomerang and magic stop was off and running with sounds and loops, while Adrian was attacking the drums with precise finesse. Mike Nuno sat stoic whilst dropping the basslines and patiently waiting to add his own brand of madness to the mix. And of course Mr. Matt Oestricher was a pulsating being of energy and creativity on the keys.
The highlights for me were, what billychags referred to as Space City Flash Gordon Affair, sounded more to me like something off the Zone 1 CD. it was spacey yet funky yet with this cutting rock and roll edge to it. Yes it did go into a ser Polka Jam.
Sammy, a 17 year old guitar prodigy under the tutalage of Casey from Hubinger St., had brought his guitar and amp as requested. We watched the first set together sharing eachothers awe and admiration for the musicians on stage. When I asked Sammy when he was getting up to play during setbreak, he said that after what he just witnessed he couldnt possibly get up there and play. However, he did. Sammy sat in for the first 2 songs of the second set. The first, which the song name escapes me, I believe was a Herbie Hancock tune. The second was Whipping Post, where the furious guitar play between Tim and Sammy was equaled by the insane vocal stylings and stage antics of Matt Oestreicher.
What was to follow though is what really blew me out of the water last night. I am not sure what to call the song that they played. Matt introduced it as, "an original composition that was written 15 minutes from now". As they got into it Matt mutters, "I am going to speak the future". Tim hears this and his head drops and all focus is now on his instrument. Matt starts talking, narrating if you will, about "all these people in the room" and how everyone is "breathing in", "inhaling", "exhaling", and then the people started realizing that they were all breathing the same air. Then the people started to dance and move to the music. By that time in the song, Tim was on his knees with his guitar and working the boomerang and other pedals. As the jam progressed, Tim stood up, turned his guitar upside down with the headstock on the floor and the body up towards his and was stroking some amazing sounds out of it. He then proceeded to pick up the guitar and beat sounds out of it with his guitar strap and then Adrians mallet. All the while, Adrian is banging rythems out of anything and everything including the thin air. And of course Mike was adding the spice on bass, while Matt just hemmoraged his expressions through the keys and mic.
It was an amazing night of music. And that is the least one could say about what went down in the valley last night............
