ETHEL'S Truck Stop: The Beginning

When my friend Patrick invited to join him at BAM last night for a performance by the string quartet ETHEL, I certainly was not expecting what I saw, namely, a live recording session featuring a string quartet, banjo, hawaiian guitar, tejano accordion and native american flutes and percussions. The stage was set up with 60s-colored sound panels, a variety of furniture and, in the back, an actual recording booth featuring a recording engineer who recorded each song in the 90 minute performance (according to the program the set was inspired by Olympic Studios in London circa 1968). In between each piece, the performers casually discussed on stage what they liked, what they would play next as well as other random and idle conversation almost as if the audience wasn't there (there was some direct communication to the audience but most of it was amongst themselves). It certainly created a sense of intimacy in the Harvey Theater although it was a little strange to have a voyeuristic view of how they work together and record.

The music itself was very eclectic as one might imagine. According to the program, TruckStop (with a TM - yay trademarks!) is "a collaborative musical exploration of humanity's universal connections and relations." I'm not sure exactly what that means but I now see that Hawaiian guitar, Tejano accordian and Native American flute can all work together. One of the best pieces of the evening was when the string quartet sat out and the four other musicians formed a square facing each other and enjoyed a very spirited jam. Eva Ybarra, "the undisputed queen of the Tex-Mex Conjunto accordion" also had an amazing voice - in one solo, she sang in Spanish in a very sad but powerful fado-esque style (she told one of the violinists it was a song about an ex). Robert Mirabal, the Native American floutist/percussionist, joined in the singing and also displayed a very powerful voice. He was certainly the most lively of the bunch, never sitting still, even dancing on stage with audience members when he was not playing (when told that he shouldn't start playing before the red recording light went on, he declared that he "doesn't play for no red light.")

While the bluegrassy pieces certainly had the most energy, one of the best moments was a beautiful Hawaiian song played alone by Jeff Peterson on Hawaiian guitar - I don't think they recorded that but they should have! Other pieces did not quite work - at some point the quartet engaged in an atonal piece while Mirabal shouted out famous film lines and the guitarist and banjo player played random, well-known intros to songs (from Louie, Louie to Dueling Banjos to Stairway to Heaven) - I have no idea what that was about. However, when the group all worked together and picked up the rhythm the music was really infectious and certainly made for a most interesting and different evening.

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