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Archive for the ‘Tim Motzer’ Category

Stick Men (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, August 2, 2024)

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Pat Mastelotto, Stick Men, Tim Motzer, Tony Levin on August 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 2, 2024] Stick Men 

I have been trying to see Stick Men since just before the pandemic.  They play around here relatively frequently but the timing or location (not to mention the pandemic) has prevented me from seeing them.

But, luckily, they came back to Ardmore and I was able to get up close to the stage to see Tony Levin (the main reason I wanted to go) play the Chapman Stick up close.  I have seen him play with King Crimson but have never been THIS close.

I didn’t know much about Markus Reuter, who also plays a kind of Stick–his own U8 Touch guitar.  But wow, he was amazing.  And he made playing these crazy complicated song so easy.

And I can’t forget Pat Mastoletto, who I’ve seen several times playing drums with King Crimson.  He’s amazing to watch, but I laughed to myself at what an amazing show this was if he was the least interesting thing on stage. (more…)

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Tim Motzer (Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, August 2, 2024) [STICK MEN]

Posted in Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, Pat Mastelotto, Stick Men, Tim Motzer, Tony Levin on August 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 2, 2024] Tim Motzer 

Tim Motzer is a Philly-based guitarist.  For his live show, he plays acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, and electric guitar.  He loops his melodies and creates percussion by tapping on the hollow bodied acoustic (and gets a lot of different sounds from it).

He played four pieces in about 45 minutes.

The first on the acoustic guitar.  It was fun to watch him build and then deconstruct the melodies and work within the drum beat that he created.

When he switched to 12 string guitar the sound was more varied.  Afterward he said that he had a new array of pedals and some of the sounds were surprising to him as well

For the electric guitar he played a heavier song with a notable riff.  For this and t he other 6 string piece, he used the e-bow a lot to generate cool sounds.

It was genuinely unclear to me if he was improvising the whole time or if he was playing some of his original pieces.  It doesn’t matter, of course, because the music was cool either way, but I would give the songs a mention if I could tell which songs they were.

For the final piece, he played the 12 string guitar again and briefly used a violin bow (only briefly) to generate new sounds.

It was a pretty mesmerizing session.  The set was marred a little for me by the guy next to me who would whoo!  every once in awhile (like “Whooo 12 string!”) and the guy in the other side of me who kept getting out his phone and then reciting into it before taking a photo (I guess posting to Facebook) “He just took out the violin bow”)

But those annoyances were not very frequent so it wasn’t too bad.

And, overall, it was cool to see Motzer in person after having streamed his set from Sellersville last year.

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Stick Men / Tim Motzer (Egner Chapel, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA, February 24, 2024) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Allentown PA, Egner Chapel, Muhlenberg College, Pat Mastelotto, Stick Men, Tim Motzer, Tony Levin on February 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: February 24, 2024] Stick Men / Tim Motzer 

I have been trying to see Stick Men since the pandemic.  I wasn’t really aware of them before hand.  They played a show in Sellersville a few years ago and I was busy.  They play a lot around New York, but don’t seem to venture off the island all that often.

A show in Allentown seemed like an interesting opportunity to check them out.  But it coincided with a day that we had already set aside for another event.  So, there would be no Stick Men any time soon.

Stick Men is the trio comprised of Tony Levin and Pat Mastellotto from King Crimson and Markus Reuter, one of the foremost players of the Chapman Stick guitar thing.  Bernier and Levin both play them during the set (hence the name).  I’ve wanted to see them every since I heard about them (A chance to se Tony Levin right up close!).  But Stick Men seems to tour quite a lot, and now that King Crimson is more or less dissolved for good, I assume they’ll be touring a bit more.  So when Son Lux, a band I’ve tried and failed to see twice before) was scheduled for the same night, I had to see them while I had the chance.

Tim Motzer is an experimental guitarist.  Apparently you never know what you’re going to get with him.

This was the same line up as in Sellersville, so I guess they tend to tour together.

An excerpt from Motzer in Sellersville is here.  I don’t see Stick Men available anymore.

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Stick Men / Tim Motzer (Sellersville Theatre, Sellersville, PA, April 28, 2022) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Pat Mastelotto, Sellersville Theater, Sellersville, PA, Stick Men, Tim Motzer, Tony Levin on April 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 28, 2022] Stick Men / Tim Motzer [rescheduled from August 5, 2020 and April 1, 2021]

April 28th turned out to be a banner night of shows.  There were four I was interested in seeing–three of those I was really interested in.  It was very hard to choose especially since one of them was a show rescheduled to that night and I already had tickets to a different one.

The rescheduled show was Stick Men, the trio comprised of Tony Levin and Pat Mastellotto from King Crimson and Markus Reuter, one of the foremost players of the Chapman Stick guitar thing.  Bernier and Levin both play them during the set (hence the name).  I’ve wanted to see them every since I heard about them (A chance to se Tony Levin right up close!).  But Stick Men seems to tour quite a lot, and now that King Crimson is more or less dissolved for good, I assume they’ll be touring a bit more.  So when Son Lux, a band I’ve tried and failed to see twice before) was scheduled for the same night, I had to see them while I had the chance.

Tim Motzer is an experimental guitarist.  Apparently you never know what you’re going to get with him.

Both Motzer and the Stick Men show were streamed for a couple of days afterward, so I was able to see them both, which is nice.

An excerpt from Motzer is here.  I don’t see Stick Men available anymore.

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