A Great Weekend to be in Peoria

It's been a while since I've posted. I went straight from "The Fantasticks" into a production of "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," so I've been at rehearsals almost every night. And I've been pulling extra air shifts at the station, for a co-workers who's been on vacation.

But last weekend, I got a chance to take in two great concerts on consecutive nights. Alison Kraus and Union Station played the Peoria Civic Center on Friday night, and Art Garfunkel appeared Saturday. Under the circumstances, it would have been tempting to just take advantage of the opportunity to get some "me" time, but I've come to subscribe to a credo I picked up from my friend Jonathan: That when you live in a place like Peoria, instead if crying into your beer that there's never anything to do, you should make a deliberate effort to experience everything the place DOES have to offer -- to really live the place to its fullest.

On that advice, I've been to the local opera, ballet and symphony -- many times, in each case. I've taken in hockey games and baseball games, been to the big fireworks display down on the riverfront on the Fourth of July. I pack in as many plays and concerts as time and transportation allow. I've even been to the zoo, and toured the cemetary. So, when folks like Alison Krauss and Art Garfunkel pass through town, I'm going to be there.

I mentioned Jonathan earlier, because it's really through him that I first heard Alison Krauss. We were on a lunch excursion, and he'd just picked up the "O Brother, Where Art Thou" soundtrack, which was spinning in the CD player. I was impressed, but it was a while before I thought to listen to it on my own. As soon as I did, I discovered one of the clearest, purest voices I'd ever heard; and I had to revise any number of assumptions I had about bluegrass music.

The concert was packed, and I was crammed into a folding chair in a far corner on the floor of the arena. Taller people around me made it impossible to get a clear line of sight to the stage for more than a minute at a time. But the band was just ON! Krauss' voice carries just as much punch in concert as it does in the studio.

They didn’t “jam” very much – it seemed like, after all those years playing together, all the solos and fills are pretty well nailed down, and they don’t experiment very much from night to night. But every verse and chorus, and every solo, were tightly and exactly executed. This is a band that has every note completely figured out.

To go back to Jonathan once again (and why not? He's a great guy), he’s also the only person I’ve met who’s an even bigger fan of Simon and Garfunkel than I am (though he claims that his wife beats him by a nose). I have all the albums – he’s got the imports never released in the States, and caught the “Old Friends” reunion tour in concert. And whereas I never gave two thoughts about Art Garfunkel’s solo career, he actually has all the albums, and has listened to them pretty carefully.

I actually toyed with the idea of NOT going to the Garfunkel show, but when ticket sales were coming up short, and the theatre offered a last minute discount, I remembered the Jonathan Credo, grabbed my credit card, and hustled myself downtown. The concert itself was a little short, once you factor out the opening act. Also, Garfunkel brought his seventeen-year-old son out for a few numbers. The kid has a great voice, and he’s earily reminiscent of a young Art Garfunkel, but I don’t know that he’s ready for prime time yet.

But when Artie was on stage [after twenty years of dropping my hard-earned cash on his old records, I'm entitled to refer to him informally], he just sold it. He delivered the old S&G material like the pro he is: “The Boxer,” “Homeward Bound,” “Sounds of Silence.” And let me just say that listening to him sing “Bridge Over Troubled Water” live is one of those iconic artistic experiences that justifies the ticket price all by itself. Forty years on, he still brings it, every time.

There was also a great performance of “A Heart in New York,” one of the signatures from his solo career. His did a cover of Billy Joel’s “And So It Goes” that I was prepared to hate (I’m so in love with the original), but he convinced me. And he tore into a calypso version of “Cecilia” that gave the song a whole new lease on life. I only wish he done a couple more of the jazz standards that are on his new CD – he’s got such a lyric voice that I bet he’d do a perfect take on some of the old ballads.

It was a great couple of nights.