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| Piper Green is: Kyle Gass Jeff McFarland |
| CLICK HERE for pictures of Piper Green's performance on 9.20.03 at Highland Grounds! |
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| www.pipergreen.tk |
| Piper Green @ Highland Grounds - 8.23.03 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The question on everyone's mind seems to be: What is Piper Green? I'll let Kyle answer that in his own words: "It's a celebration of music... and friends [smirk]." More specifically, Piper Green is Kyle and his old, pre-TD writing partner Jeff McFarland playing mellow gold covers (and two originals) with a rotating cast of friends singing lead. No wigs or funny vests this time (sorry, T-Wreckers), just straight-up great music played with a whole lotta love and a healthy dose of musical talent. Before I get to the set, I should say that the posse was in effect last night: everyone from Trainwreck was there (as far as I could tell), along with JB, KG's girl Sally Sandoval, one of the guys from her band The Haunted Tortillas, and various other friends and hangers-on. The turn-out didn't seem that impressive until this crew swept in to set up the band's instruments on-stage, at which point the room magically filled to capacity. It wasn't as packed as it was for the first (ahem) real Trainwreck show last summer at the Grounds, but there wasn't an empty seat to be found. First up on the mic was Kate Mulligan (I think -- forgive me if I get some of the names wrong), who belted out two classics from "The Sound of Music." The best way to describe the style of these covers is "power folk." Kate has a great voice and did Julie Andrews proud. My memory is a little fuzzy here, but I think she also did a song from "West Side Story" -- or another woman came up and did that, although it might not have been from "West Side Story" (I'm not up on my show tunes -- sorry!). Among the highlights here: KG on the recorder (!) and KG providing the nice vocal harmonies to fill out the spare, acoustic-only arrangement. Then Kyle and Jeff played some stuff that sounded like Simon & Garfunkle or Bob Dylan (again, pardon my ignorance). Shreddy Krueger of Trainwreck came up and played the shit out of an acoustic guitar on a few songs, ending with "All of Me." During this song, KG and Shreddy traded off guitar solos and got the crowd all worked up with their effortless, incredible finger-work. Another woman came up to sing an original that she had apparently written with Piper Green in the '80s, and Shreddy stayed to give what Kyle called "the Molly Hatchet, three guitar attack" effect to a haunting tale of longing set against the desert. The order of things, and the songs, have been obliterated in my mind by what happened next. Jeff told Kyle it was time to bring his friend on stage, so Kyle introduced "Fucky McFucklebee." Jack took the stage wearing an old Beastie Boys tour T-shirt (the one with the van on the front and "Aloha Mr. Hand" on the back) and corrected Kyle on his name -- "It's 'Tuffy McFucklebee.'" The crowd, half friends of the band and half psycho fans, did its best to stay cool in the glare of Jack's megawatt superstar appearance, but there was a palpable sense of anticipation as soon as JB got up. He noted that a lot of people came to the show expecting comedy, but got a look at "Kyle's soft side, his soft underbelly" instead. To set up their song (the second Piper Green original of the night), Kyle explained that when he met Jack, he had just written his first song on his own. They were driving somewhere (or back from somewhere), and Jack wanted to hear the song, but Kyle was insecure about sharing it, so Jack offered to help him out by adding a little something. This may well be the first time Jack and Kyle ever collaborated on a song together, and last night may have been the first time they ever performed it together publicly (or maybe not -- Kyle apparently played it once this summer while touring with T-Wreck). In any case, they launched into "The Recycle Song," which starts out with Kyle singing and playing one verse before Jack jumps in with a "rigga-goo-goo-gwah." Despite Kyle's claim of insecurity lo those many years ago (he said it was the late '80s when he first sang the Recycle Song for, and with, Jack), the tune is strong-to-quite strong, with a great melody and powerful, early-D, "Five Needs" vibe to it. Jack joined in on the chorus and a few other parts, instantly reminding me of the unique and magical quality that these two voices, when heard in harmony, possess. Meanwhile, the earnest message of the song (chorus: "don't throw the bottles, crush the cans, stack the paper, that's the plan..."), combined with Jack's typically energized performance, had me crying tears of laughter for pretty much the entire number. Jack -- sorry, Tuffy -- accepted roaring applause graciously and then took a step towards leaving the stage, but paused and put a hand on Kyle's shoulder as Kyle teased the opening notes of "Fuck Her Gently." Friends in the crowd encouraged them to sing it, so Jack returned to the mic and delivered a pure and passionate rendition of the D classic. At the end, the usual "haa-aaah-aard!" refrain was repeated once, then twice, then a third time, each with mounting intensity, before Kyle finally gave and ended the number. Jack mock-sang the start of another one and insisted that he was going to "go for ten" or more of the refrain, which capped his time on stage with appreciative laughter from the audience. What happened next? Well, some more people came up and sang some more standards, including Sally and Kyle dueting the Barbra Streisand classic "Evergreen" -- which Kyle claimed they "sing around the house a lot." Boy Johnny finished the set off with a startlingly strong rendition of Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" to maybe the biggest applause of the night (which led Kyle to comment: "Clay Atkins [sic] everyone! Clay Atkins! You should've won, man!" -- alluding to 'American Idol' runner-up Clay Aiken). Honestly, it's all kind of a blur. The whole night was special and filled with great music from the past, but as a D fan, what I took from it above all else was a brief glimpse into the early life of the band, from before Jack and Kyle were even a band. For a few minutes, I knew what it must've been like to witness the D in their infancy, taking the first tentative steps toward a partnership that has brought them fame, fortune and legions of fans. It reminded me that beyond their musical talents, their unique sensibility and their sense of humor, what makes Tenacious D work is that it's rooted in a bond of friendship. And that's a special thing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- reviewed by ISOS of aspecialthing.com |
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