|
Idle hands plays benefit concert |
|
|
Wednesday, 19 November 2008 |
 Idle Hands, a local bluegrass band, will be performing a benefit concert for Wild Iris at the Inyo Council for the Arts this weekend. Photo submitted Register Staff
11-13-2008 Idle Hands Bluegrass Band will perform a benefit concert for Wild Iris in concert on Saturday, Nov. 15 at the Inyo Council for the Arts. All proceeds will benefit Wild Iris.
Idle Hands is a local band that has been playing together for nearly eight years. Its musical influences include traditional and contemporary bluegrass, old time, blues, gospel and jazz.
Longtime Bishop resident Eileen Peterson will be playing guitar and bass as well as singing and celebrating her 70th birthday, live on stage, and without a net. Peterson is the only band member to qualify as a true professional musician by virtue of having quit her day job.
Margaret Peterson also plays bass, guitar and sings (could it be genetic?). She has recently moved to Nevada, so this may be a rare opportunity to catch her performing in Bishop before a keen-eared Las Vegas talent scout signs her to an exclusive contract.
Ray Finch is the banjo man; one of the select few who play both bluegrass and old-time “claw hammer” styles. He was once told by a venerated claw hammer guru that bluegrass pickers weren’t capable of learning the old-time style; a claim that to him was perversely inspirational.
Everyone will have the chance to watch him put the lie to the conventional banjo wisdom this Saturday.
Howie Schwartz plays lead guitar and sings that “high lonesome” sound. His secret talent is the ability to execute rapid-fire yet intricate guitar solos while simultaneously launching himself skyward on the trampoline. The sound just gets higher and more lonesome up there, sometimes achieving a kind of Doppler effect on the way down. There are no plans yet for a trampoline solo on Saturday, but no one knows for sure just what the band might try at the benefit concert.
Bruce Tulloch plays mandolin and intrudes with a sort of keening warble whenever he feels a song is in danger of becoming too slick or polished.
He claims his bad back, not lack of talent, prevents him from becoming a multi-instrumentalist, being unable to lift any of the larger instruments. His back, and not lack of motor skills, also prevents him from performing any trampoline solos or helping with the sound system.
The Arts Council is located at 137 S. Main St. in Bishop. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and music begins at 7 p.m.
All proceeds from the concert will benefit Wild Iris, a local domestic violence advocacy group that serves the Eastern Sierra.
|
