Within a few days of coming back from a weekend of nonstop pulsing electronic dance music at UMF, I was already itching to hear more music. Since my eardrums are sore and my calves are worn out from launching myself off the ground every time the beat drops, I decided it was time to treat the musical itch with a more traditional auditory remedy. Wednesday night my ears were soothed by the sounds of Chick Corea and Béla Fleck at the Phillips Center.
If I had to pick two instruments to put together for an epic duet, banjo and piano definitely wouldn’t be the pair I’d go for, but the two men, regarded as master songwriters and musicians, did an incredibly unique duet of piano and banjo. If I had to classify them into a genre, I’d say they were jazz meets rock meets flamenco meets bluegrass meets classical. It was a beautiful and effortless merging of musical styles.
There was nothing on the stage but a massive grand piano, a sleek white banjo, the microphones, and the two musicians. It was quite refreshing to see a performance in its simplest form as opposed to the dramatic light and video productions that bombarded my senses the previous weekend in Miami.
I always had this notion in my head that for my undergraduate degree I’d settle for a college town for the “full college experience” and then move on to professional or graduate school in a big city where there was more going on. In my time here in Gainesville I’ve done my fair share of complaining that there is nothing to do here and often wished for the city life that could provide endless entertainment.
What this spontaneous musical show helped me realize is that little ole’ Gainesville has way more to offer you if you’re willing to take a change and try new things. Honestly, I had no idea who these two guys with weird names were when a friend suggested we check it out. And with the prospect of free drinks at ladies night in midtown looming, I could’ve easily had another night like countless other Wednesdays and woken up with a headache wishing there were more options for entertainment. But I went out on a limb and it turned out to be a really fun night. Sure, there was a time during intermission where I noticed that the ratio of white hair and bald heads to pigmented full heads of hair was a little skewed, but young and old can appreciate stellar musical ability when they hear it, so who cares. (I did, however, vow to never don one of those hairstyles that looks like a poofy helmet when I’m an old geezer though.)
So when you start to feel the Gainesville cabin fever creep up on you and the thought of yet another evening hearing “Wagon Wheel” at Dog makes your skin crawl, give the rest of the town a shot at entertaining you. See a show by artists you’ve never heard of before, surround yourself with a different crowd, take a chance on something new…and if it sucks, hey, at least the bars are open till 2am.
Image courtesy of: Wikimedia Commons
