CONCERT REVIEW
Erica Wheeler at Berkshire Community College
by Seth Rogovoy(PITTSFIELD, Mass., Nov. 16, 1996) -- It was certainly not for lack of talent or trying that Erica Wheeler failed to ignite in her show at Berkshire Community College on Friday night.
On the evidence of the Northampton singer-songwriter's brand new CD, "The Harvest," on the up-and-coming, regional indie Signature Sounds, Wheeler is a top-notch singer and songwriter whose best work coexists comfortably in the company of Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter and that other Wheeler -- Cheryl (the two are no relation).
And in her performance on Friday, Wheeler showed herself to be nothing less than utterly professional -- at ease with herself and the crowd, technically proficient and well-versed in the art of establishing the illusion of intimacy between the performer and her listeners.
In fact, it was Wheeler's utter professionalism that kept the evening from degenerating into wholesale disaster.
No, the blame for Friday night's poorly attended, poorly managed concert lies squarely with the presenters, the Birch Tree Concert Series.
It is hard to believe that in its nearly three years of existence, the people behind Birch Tree have learned next to nothing about how to promote and present a concert. The fumbling manner in which the directors of Birch Tree introduce their artists and provide technical support -- such basics as proper sound and light -- is an embarrassment to our community.
Wheeler deserved so much better than the malfunctioning sound equipment she was given to work with. With no qualified technician on hand, Wheeler had to do double-duty throughout the evening as sound engineer and performer. While she made the best of a bad situation, the feedback, poor sound mix and constant interruptions detracted from what may have otherwise been a smooth program.
Not that anyone would have been able to tell from looking, either, because for the first half of the show, Wheeler was shrouded in near- total darkness, and for the second half she performed with the house lights on. So much for the magic of stagecraft.
As for Wheeler's performance, she sang most of the songs from "The Harvest" and a few older tunes from her repertoire, including "Down River," a song she wrote that was inspired by the Berkshires' own Bernice Lewis. Many of Wheeler's songs artfully establish an entire world and dramatic situation in their first four lines, which is why Wheeler is destined to be recognized as one of our top contemporary songwriters.
Wheeler also boasts a strong, rich voice which she uses with great delicacy and nuance, virtually all of which was swallowed up by the bad sound mix.
Birch Tree even botched its chance to promote its series to a captive audience. By way of welcome, a member of the Birch Tree board of directors whizzed through a schedule of upcoming shows faster than anyone could have caught and with seemingly no idea who the musicians were. He even referred to the world-renowned, husband-and-wife folk duo of Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen as "Steve and Cindy," as if they were some act that plays the corner bar. Perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps he is on a first-name basis with them. Somehow, I doubt it. And what a lost opportunity it was not to have printed schedules to hand out to those in attendance. It was this lack of attention to details both large and small that gave Wheeler's concert the aura of amateur hour.
As for amateur hour, Birch Tree did no favor to the local singer- songwriter it hired to warm up the crowd for Wheeler. I will save the individual from public embarrassment and not print her name, because the blame for her performance -- a parody of a bad, self-absorbed singer-songwriter -- lies not so much with the artist but with the promoters who put her on a stage where she did not belong and in front of a sound system that made her sound even worse than she already did.
[This review originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Nov. 18, 1996. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1996. All rights reserved.]
Seth Rogovoy
rogovoy@berkshire.net
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