by Rich Casella.

Thank you Marco. Thank you for releasing me from my inner cynic.

You see I have a theory about life and that theory is that as soon as you decide that everybody is evil, all bands suck and there is giant conspiracy by corporate America to take over the world and turn us all into drones, somebody or something will come along and show you something you hadn't seen. If your eyes aren't open, you'll miss it.

And if you as ask yourself why have I been released from this inner cynic, the answer is because I saw the show on Friday night over at Scenic on Ave B and let me recount.

After arriving promptly on time at 8pm as the show was scheduled, we found a place at the bar and were lost in conversation. Thank God the conversation was good because we may very well have left since they couldn't have started until 9:30.

The three men taking the stage were Marco Benevento from Benevento/Russo duo, Marc Friedman (bassist from The Slip) and Andrew Barr (drummer for The Slip) in a one night musical union of two groups.

I could tell these guys were something to see just by judging their choice of musical gear. You see, the choice of equipment is kind of like the company a person keeps. Just as you almost always can judge a person by who they surround themselves with, I envisioned a good show just by their gear.

So we waited around until they started and passed the time by talking to a few people and hearing the stories of the great musicians Benevento plays with.

The lights went down, They started playing, the devotees started grooving to the music, and I was wondering where the hell the beginning of the song was and when they were going to get to the point.

Now since I have the attention span of a hard boiled egg, 5 minutes into this I was ready to leave.

But something told me to stay and slowly it happened.

I began to see what those devotees saw in the music as they flailed their arms around like the lunatics I see in old footage of Woodstock.

This wasn't direct verse, chorus, verse solo songs. This was an energy that was coming through the music.

It was musical experimentation that was just far enough out there to be called unique but not far enough to lose me. Every song seemed to offer a bass line, or a drum fill or a keyboard melody to lose myself inside. I genuinely became absorbed in the music and saw a different energy and commend Marco for being the one to introduce me to it.

The band's performance was quintessential improvisational rock. As the bass player begins to play a line the rest of the band seems to make room as he grabs his moment to say something musically. Likewise, each band member will either step up or back off as they each have their time to improvise. It seems that the song morphs and moves as if it has a form or shape as opposed to a musical beginning and end as we generally understand in contemporary music. These qualities, however, make me believe this band would not translate well as a studio project.

Seeing this unfold draws you into the music as though you have a say in what they are going to play next and it is quite interesting to watch. It also has a strange tendency to draw people to one another and create the communal experience that is their show. This explains the mild mass hypnosis that takes place.

So thank you Marco for releasing me perhaps hours before the cement that is my cynicism solidified forever. Great show.

Labels: Marco Benevento