2/20/2006 12:00:00 AM
Daily Illini - UCIMC 2/18/06
Tim Reynolds' concert draws people nationwide
Dave Matthews collaborator performs at UC Media Center; uses fun costumes to entertain
By: Aaron Geiger
Issue date: 2/20/06
Tim Reynolds, known for his mastery of the guitar, and the collaboration with his traveling kinsman Dave Matthews, headlined Saturday night at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. Opening up the show was the foot-stomping, accordion-playing Jason Webley of Seattle. Reynolds summed up the eccentricity and intimacy that defined the show, the music, and the venue.
"Thanks for having me out here, this is my first post office gig," he said.
The crowd apparently didn't know what to anticipate either. Robin Jordan and Kenny Schwarz were simply looking on the Internet for a night out.
"We don't know what to expect, so we're excited," Jordan said.
Erich Brandkamp of Queens, N.Y., took the Greyhound Bus for over 20 hours to attend the show.
"I'm very pleased with the ambience and I'm looking forward to the show," he said.
Reynolds' nephew, Scott Reynolds, traveled up from St. Louis. "I pretty much will travel in any four-hour radius to see (Tim Reynolds) perform."
The UCIMC, according to their by-laws, creates, publishes, and disseminates news not dominated by mainstream media. They also support grassroots organizations by finding non-for-profit distribution, as well as offering media production and general public affairs educational programs.
Kiah Morris, the coordinator of the Saturday venue, invited Reynolds to perform, "because (UCIMC's) politics are very in line with Tim's ... we also don't want the community to think we're just a bar or club," she said. Tim Reynolds' Web site sponsors links to anti-war activist Dennis Kucinich, the Hunger Site, and grassroots organizations.
Webley, when asked about his long trek from Seattle to open the show, laughed.
"Kiah Morris saw me in Seattle when I was a street performer, around 1999-2000," he said.
Webley started his set with a large, dark accordion, a Halloween mask, and a lot of stomping and gruff lyrics. His antics immediately made him popular with the audience, especially with his accordion version of OutKast's "Hey-Ya." Webley also brandished a large, plastic bottle filled with gravel for a caveman-like maraca, all the while playing music and jumping around. He finished the act with a solid drinking song, and had the entire audience hanging on to each other and swaying back and forth.
Tim Reynolds appeared on-stage wearing costumes stored in the media center's basement, sporting an alligator's head and a tutu; a sharp contrast to his professional performances he's been known for with Dave Matthews, and jazz drummer Brian Blade. Reynolds' crowd-friendly jokes, both in speech and by playing around with guitar effects, served to divide the dramatic changes in mood and tone he is famous for.
"I like to focus on one moment, one song. I like to let the people know (that moment)," Tim Reynolds said.
Tim Reynolds grew up learning violin, mandolin, and even the sitar.
"I worked at Kmart, played gigs, and raised babies," he said. He got into the rock 'n roll era in the roots of the music, and transitioned into fusion jazz.
"I got burned out on the real jazz in the 80s. From then on I looked into metal and drum music," he said.
Tim Reynolds, who offers an open video and audio recording policy, according to venue, likes to throw some improv in his shows. It's the fans that catch on, and each show they get something different thrown at them.
Danny Rey, a University student, was one of those fans.
"He's more of a purist." Rey said. "He doesn't buy into the whole pop scene."
Concert-goers were treated with hospitality by the likes of Ken Urban, an Urbana Green Party politician, and his daughter, Colleen (8), who ran the light show. The staff and volunteers wore costumes, and the audience got cozy sitting on the floor of a venue that holds a maximum of 300.
Christopher Foote, who journeyed from Chicago, sat for a short while after the show, looking up.
"That had to be the most interesting, most powerful, most special concert I have ever, ever seen," he said.
The UCIMC features a multitude of community and culture-promoting events, such as the successful UC Books for Prisoners, and requests and accepts volunteers to help carry out their promotions. They are located at 202 S. Broadway Ave., Suite 200, Urbana, next door to, as Tim Reynolds put it previously, a post office.
http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/paper736/news/2006/02/20/Features/Tim-Reynolds.Concert.Draws.People.Nationwide-1619754.shtml?sourcedomain=www.dailyillini.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com&page=1