the triad music scene

the triad music scene

Dozens of musicians from without and within assembled for the weekly ritual of playing for free at the Blind Tiger this Monday. This particular rite has been one practiced by more bands in the area than are able to name in this space and a new wave seems to be hauling gear in week in and week out. It’s a simple dynamic: they provide a stage and soundboard; you, in your desperate quest for exposure, play for free. It’s not an uncommon practice by any means, but one that is often overlooked in many fledgling performer’s early careers.

The evening opened with a pair of acoustic performers — one pretty decent and the other I’ll touch on more later — before the mostly-plugged-in evening unfolded. Mike Powell was the first to go and though he cast himself with the rather generic mellow-acoustic-fellow lot, he had a good thing going and even showed glimpses of a good vocal range at the end of his set of originals. What followed was more a case study in middle-aged existential crises than an openstaged performance, but it was fascinating of its own accord. A gentleman took the stage from a lonely booth at the side of the Tiger with his acoustic and proceeded to play a 20 minute set composed of the same handful of chords, repeated every half dozen bars, without a break. It was occasionally out of tune and usually tough to listen to, but impossible to fault the impetus behind it. It’s easy to dismiss him as a dilettante and his playing was a little agonizing at times, but we shouldn’t overlook the forum that he so readily embraced. The mic is open, come ye with strings and bear witness. He’s nothing more than a guy looking to come out and blow off a little steam on the fretboard before retreating back to the same tedium which we all inevitably must face. Someone should have bought him a round merely for having the guts to open himself to the criticism which he undoubtedly bore in pursuit of a little musical therapy.

The house band plugged in shortly after the acoustic intro and included local guitarist Sam Robinson (5 Gallon Bucket), along with Adam Moses (drums) and John Holder (bass) formerly of Old Stone Revue. Together, they formed the house band Boulder’s Holders — whose name seems to inexplicably change every week, though they seem to like this one for the time being. I’d have to agree.

There might not be a better cover of “Red House” in town than the one Robinson plays; anyone from the Summer on Trade overflow crowd at 6 th & Vine on Saturday was aware of this. Robinson is the kind of guitarist who can play almost anything that you throw at him, whether it is rock, pop or funk. His Dave Matthews’ chops were tested by one performer on a cover of “#41,” though Robinson quickly left him struggling to keep pace after the lyrics had been exhausted and nothing but a test of sheer ability remained.

Another interesting case was the first actual band to take the stage, a group of highly emotional teenagers in odd attire calling themselves Colin Healy & the Jetskis (www.myspace.com/colinhealyandthejetskis) from Richmond, Va. Need there be a reminder that the tenets of open-mic nights dictate that bands which perform aren’t paid to do so and these fellows were traveling from

Greensboro to Tampa, Fla. for their next gig, another open mic. It could make for a great story for their kids one day, how they saved about three grand and went on tour with a band destined to go nowhere, crashing on whatever stranger’s couch they were allowed on. Wise men on that path heed the whisperings of others however, especially in regards to the choice of tightly-striped tank tops: “You probably shouldn’t wear that shirt in here.”

Colin healy & the Jetskis play the Monday night open jam at the Blind tiger (photo by Ryan Snyder)