Thursday, October 28, 2010
Terri Clark: Unplugged emotion
"Morsch goes to a concert" post. Not even a question.
Terri Clark isn’t the first singer-songwriter to tour unplugged and alone. But she certainly executed the concept to near perfection Wednesday evening at the Sellersville Theater.
Another variation on his oft-used "This event is always great, and tonight's event was no exception" lead-off sentence.
Accompanied onstage by five guitars, only four of which she played during the nearly two-hour gig,
I'd be interested to know what the fifth one was for, then. But we'll probably never find out.
the Canadian-born country music star has designed a show that she hopes is “like sitting in a living room at a party with someone who has a guitar in her lap.”
There was another show that Morsch attended where the performer wanted to "come into your living room" or some such. I'm taking bets on whether Morsch, at the end of the article, will declare that she accomplishes her stated objective. [Editor's Note: It was my Wednesday, July 21 entry. Singer/songwriter Kathy Mattea: “people feel like they’ve been sitting in somebody’s living room...”]
In that regard, Clark accomplished that in spades.
Wow, I hope you got your bets in early. Nice double "that."
It’s a return to her roots, when she played at Tootsies Orchid Lounge in Nashville for tips more than two decades ago.
Did Morsch travel to Nashville? Did Ms. Clark accept tips?
What took it to the next level this time was the way she really laid herself bare to the audience, talking at length and with emotion between songs, especially about her mother Linda, who died in April after a battle with cancer.
He has said this about every other acoustic performer he has seen. A smarter man might conclude that it's a tactic used by live performers to engage the audience. He seems to conclude that it's each person's innate, mystical power.
The hootin’ and hollerin’ early in the show from the northeast hillbillies in the crowd — whom Clark suggested could be considered more “sophisticated” than hillbillies in other parts of the country — gave way to stone cold silence midway through the show as Clark detailed her mother’s illness and the impact it has had on her, both personally and musically.
Northeast hillbillies? Does that mean, like, hillbillies from Easton PA? Or is he referring to people from the northeastern area of the United States who like to act like hillbillies?
Concert tickets aren’t cheap these days, given our current economic climate.
That damn Sarah Palin! It's all her fault!
Certainly folks expect to be entertained for their money, and that’s nothing new. But everybody has lost a loved one, and when the person on stage opens up and shares that experience, people can relate. We feel like we know the person on the cover of the CD.
One problem - you have to GO TO THE SHOW to see the person "open up on stage." So should people have purchased tickets and gambled that there would be some kind of deep emotional connection established? There seems to be no logical progression from "tough economy" to "relating to losing a loved one."
The particularly poignant moment came when Clark talked about being at her mother’s hospital bedside and starting to cry. Awakened by her daughter’s tears, Linda comforted Terri with words that had to do with always being able to smile.
I hope she didn't Glenn Beck it, complete with quivering voice and fake radio tears.
After her mother’s death, Clark took those words and turned it into a song, which she performed for the enthralled ST94 crowd.
Well what a surprise! Morsch sees a concert at the Sellersville Theater. I'm going to have to go back and completely re-work my labels some day. So many new cliches are always emerging.
She hasn’t yet recorded the song, but it played big in Sellersville, as I suspect it has at other stops in the tour.
You know what they say - "As Sellersville PA goes, so goes the nation."
Meet-and-greets with people before the show, signing autographs for fans after the show — and in between laying out your heart and soul to a group of strangers who have paid to see you perform — it’s the total experience for an artist and the fans.
Woah, meeting with fans! Signing autographs! Was she gracious and nice? Did she pose for pictures perhaps? What a rarity among celebrities! [Editor's Note: Regarding Kathy Mattea, Morsch said she "was warm and engaging during the show, and friendly and kind to those who waited in line to meet her after the show."]
Someday Terri Clark will go back to full band concerts with all the bells and whistles. But at this point in her career, the “Unplugged and Alone” tour appears to be Clark’s way of not only dealing with her career changes and challenges but her personal loss as well.
I just realized that not even an attempt at a joke has been made so far.
It’s the right artist doing the right show at the right time. What more can be asked?
Regarding the Kathy Mattea concert: Maybe it was just the right artist in the right place on the right night. I know what more can be asked - THAT YOU DON'T RECYCLE THE SAME MATERIAL.
Labels: Mike Morsch, Montgomery Newspapers, Outta Leftfield, Terri Clark
I guess I understand why he labels himself and the title of his blog in every single post (he's dumb and doesn't understand labels). But why "Montgomery Newspapers"? Now get this - actual reader comments not made by me!
Reader Cindy Lou says: "You really describe the experience of these intimate shows very well." She doesn't appear sarcastic about it, either. I'm guessing Cindy Lou is not one of the world's great geniuses.
She also asks: "How many artists these days meet with each and every fan after a show?" Um, only every single one that Morsch has seen, madam.
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