Show Review

What an incredible weekend of celebration, improvisation, and jubilation as the Everyone Orchestra took over Portland Oregon’s Crystal Ballroom for two magical nights of musical mayhem. Led by members of Phish, the String Cheese Incident, Garaj Mahal, and a whole lot more, these two nights brought some musical mastery to a town that always loves the experimentation, and the beauty of it all was it was all for a terrific cause. The Pangaea Project was the focus that drew all these incredible musicians to the ballroom. I truly hope that these shows help the Project to obtain their noble goals of helping to send some less fortunate inner city youth abroad to immerse themselves in other cultures to broaden their world view, and then take these all important life lessons back to their own communities.

I found the first night to be more enjoyable than the second, simply because of the physical comfort level in the room. There was a lot more room to dance and move around on Thursday, and this easy flow of the room, made the events of the night all the more enjoyable.

It seemed as each set, during both nights, would start off slowly, and then build up speed, until the final jam of the set was an all out musical frenzy. The most enjoyable part of each night, was the jam that closed each set. Since there were so many talented musicians on stage at once, who knew how to keep space with one another, the jams became so layered and thick that it almost felt like a locomotive that had so much musical momentum that there was no stopping it once it got going. On the other hand the locomotive metaphor holds true in the fact that turning the direction of a jam is very difficult, and sometimes it takes a while to slow the music down to change course.

Another unique aspect to E.O. shows is the conducting led by the musicians themselves. Tye North and Jamie Janover handled most of the conducting duties, and seemed to gain confidence over the two nights. Fishman also led a jam, and was quite entertaining acting as the conductor. It almost seems imperative to have one individual drive the jams, because there is so much chaos going on at once that there needs to be some sense of musical order.

Bob Dylan’s songwriting skills made a double appearance on Thursday night with a first set cover of Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues, and second set closer of the majestic Tangled up in Blue. Billy Nershi sang Tom Thumbs, and led the crowd through the lyrical labyrinth witnessed in Dylan’s genius. There was so much incredible music streaming from the stage simultaneously that picking apart and prodding the specifics would be an arduous task. Everyone Orchestra shows need to be both seen and heard, since the complexity of the musical interplay, the intention and goals of the community, and the visual stimulation on the stage can at once smother and titillate the senses.

The major highlight of the night for me was the outstanding cover of Tangled Up In Blue, which was performed brilliantly. This may be my favorite song all time, and they nailed it to close the second set.

Friday was a great show, but the Drum seminar earlier in the day wound up being an epic experience that I will never forget. At 4 pm there were simultaneous Drum and Guitar workshops at the ballroom. Unfortunately I couldn’t be at two places at once; I’ve tried, but that darn law of physics keeps me from completing my goals, so I chose the drum workshop. I would have loved to see Billy, Libby, and Scott Law teach us a thing or two about songwriting, since they each show such skill in their craft, but the lure of actually playing music with some of my musical inspirations was an opportunity I couldn’t miss.

Led by the Everyone Orchestra founder Matt Butler, we were welcomed into the Ballroom with a drum circle in the middle of the dance floor, with 4 separate kits set up, one for Butler, Jon Fishman, Michael Travis, and Jamie Janover. There was space between them all for us to squeeze in and play along. We were all offered the opportunity to bring a Drum along to play, and this amateur drummer (and when I say amateur I really mean amateur) was not going to miss this opportunity to play with some of my biggest musical influences. Slowly the crowd filled in, maybe 50 of us in all, and we started taking our positions around the circle. I was nestled comfortably between Jon Fishman and Matt Butler’s kits, and what a view that was. I was even given the honor of reeling Fishman into the venue via a cell phone, as he got a little lost on his way in, and I am a local with an understanding of the lay of the land.

There were some open drum jams to start things off that was such a blast. I’ve taken part in drum circles before, but this was different. I’m so used to being on the other side of the stage, that playing music, instead of just dancing and ingesting it was a complete thrill. The musicians answered questions about their setups and musical philosophies. They led us through some simple drumming drills such as the “rumble” which signals the end of a jam, as well as other techniques. This was Fishman’s first drum circle, and he seemed to be enjoying the communal drumming experience as much as the rest of us.

We started a second jam that featured short leads that were signaled out by Butler, by each of the incredibly talented musicians. During this jam I almost had an out of body experience. Matt Butler along with playing along with the jam had been conducting the jam and signaling which drummers would take a quick solo, with everyone else holding down and anticipating the 8 count. After he made the rounds through the “real” musicians he pointed at me and said, “Jason solo.”

Again I am not a drummer by any means, and to have these other musicians watching me try to hold a rhythm was a thrill of a lifetime. On the 1 everyone jumped back in, and I was so happy I didn’t drop the beat too badly. Although as Matt and Travis repeated throughout the seminar there are no wrong beats, just new opportunities.

Another jam was started off by Fishman with all of us adding our layer to the mix to build up the sound. Being the next drummer in line to his right, I had the opportunity to add a rhythm to his lead, which again made me giddy. I know I am gushing here, but a little honest enthusiasm and exuberance never hurt anyone.

We also had the opportunity to run through Dizzy Gillespie’s classic jazz standard Manteca, as Fishman was asked about the song and his attempt at remembering the beat led to an all out jam. This open and honest look at creation of music and the personalities behind the backbeats carried on for more than an hour.

Afterwards I spent the next hour enjoying my raffle prize from the night before with a private bass lesson from Kai Eckhardt. Again I must state for the record that I am not a musician, so I used this opportunity to chat with Kai and interview him for an upcoming article on the musician’s take on the High Sierra music fest. We went backstage, chatted for a while, and he showed me some sweet warm up techniques on the hand drum, that stretch out rhythmic timing. Not that I could ever repeat what he showed me, but it was a great learning experience either way. As we were talking I heard the other members of the E.O. upstairs sound checking Eric Clapton’s Lay Down Sally.

After Kai and my quality time I left the confines of the Crystal, to join my friends for some quality Oregon sushi…I know…life is tough. We finally made it back to the venue, and the second night of the Everyone Orchestra was on.

During the first set the Sand Dollar instrumental was warmly received, and included some terrific jamming. Many of those in attendance cited that song as the highlight of the night. But for me the major highlight of the night was the String Cheese Incident reggae funk fest Miss Brown’s Teahouse. I had missed their northwest run, because I jumped on a short moe. run, and was hungering for a little cheese, and the Miss Brown’s surprise lit up the Crystal. It was definitely the hardest boogying of the night, and I must have had a smile from ear to ear.

They encored with the ever appropriate Beatle cover of Taxman, which being April 15th, was bittersweet (especially for those of us who had to pay out this year). As a fan of improvisation, and obscure musical pairings, E.O. shows are a perfect outlet for my musical desires. I will never miss a show that comes around my neck of the woods, and for those of you going to the High Sierra Music Fest, I’d make sure you are in the Everyone Orchestra late night show, because you never know who is going to show up.