CONCERT REVIEW
Arlo, Shenandoah reunion caps festival showcase
by Seth Rogovoy(LENOX, Mass., May 5, 1997) -- The weekend-long Berkshire Music Festival came to a close on Sunday night with a surprise appearance by Arlo Guthrie, who joined his former bandmates in Shenandoah for a reunion. In a bit of Berkshire history, it was the first time in 17 years that all these musicians -- the cream of the Berkshire crop for the last 30 years -- were together on the same stage.
What was almost as surprising as Guthrie's appearance at the Berkshire Performing Arts Theatre was that this special treat did not overshadow the day-long showcase of Berkshire musicians for the few hundred listeners who remained at the end to witness it. The showcase itself was an event of semi-historic proportions, uniting the far-flung Berkshire music community for the first time ever all in one place at one time. Over 50 acts were scheduled to perform during the course of the 12-hour program, which went off with nary a hitch. Such an undertaking has a great disaster potential, but the show ran like clockwork throughout the day, culminating in the rowdy, ragged reunion of Shenandoah and Guthrie, who ruled the Berkshire scene in the '70s and early '80s and who are still beloved by many.
But this was not a day for star turns. The event at the National Music Foundation celebrated homegrown, homespun talent, and there was talent aplenty on the stage and roaming every corridor of the BPAT on Sunday. The musicians, selected by a committee from some 83 who applied, played by the rules and got on and off the stage with a minimum of fuss after playing just two or three songs.
While the level of talent ranged from high-school amateur to professionals of international stature, what was perhaps most surprising was that out of the approximately nine hours of music this reviewer heard, not one act came a clunker. All the performers displayed a considerable degree of earnestness and seriousness about their work, and more than a mere few showed themselves to be great entertainers.
Throughout the day, a steady stream of listeners flowed through the auditorium, ranging in age from infants to elderly. The only constant was one older couple, seemingly off in their own world, who danced off to the side non-stop to every conceivable style of music.
Among the performers who stood out were Wishful Thinking, a trio which played clean, smooth versions of Top 40 hits, Lord Hill, which played its original, infectious neo-hippie-rock, and Dredi, with its funky, soulful reggae. Tom Jawbone, the Berkshires' answer to Tom Waits, led the Big Waaagh Scratch Band through a rowdy version of his aptly titled "Bedlam," while Vikki True and her Sweet Sisters of Mercy, aided by special guests Steve Ide and David Grover, turned the hall into an R&B/gospel revival meeting, and got a substantial portion of the audience on its feet and dancing.
Iris Lyons, the lead singer of Dead White Males, a modern-rock band from North Adams Stage College, was a compelling frontwoman. Evan Rude and the Motors played a hypnotic style of contemporary rock, and Pittsfield singer-songwriter Carl Bowlby was intriguingly suggestive.
That the event ran smoothly throughout the day was a tribute both to the careful planning that preceded it and the skillful touch of the stage and sound crew, particularly sound engineer Bruce Clapper who -- faced with the nightmarish task of mixing a constant flow of performers with no sound check -- did a fantastic job.
By the time Guthrie and Shenandoah took the stage, listeners had been treated to the richness and diversity of Berkshire musical talent. In this sense, the festival was a success. Both on and off stage musicians and audience members were able to share with each other in a manner that ordinary situations typically do not allow.
As for the festival as a whole, the measure of its success will be determined as much by the follow-up as it was by the smiles on the faces of those in the audience watching Guthrie and the members of Shenandoah cutting up on stage and playing such classics as "Comin' Into Los Angeles" and "City of New Orleans." The questionable claims of 39 festival-related performances around the county aside -- most of them would have taken place anyway, with or without the acknowledgment of their existence by the foundation -- the weekend of activity gave some hope for the future while raising expectations that the center, indeed, may yet become a nexus for a revitalized scene for both local and national musicians.
[This review originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on May 6, 1997. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1997. All rights reserved.]
Seth Rogovoy
rogovoy@berkshire.net
music news, interviews, reviews, et al.
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