Six Guitars
Six Guitars
By Chase Padgett and Jay Hopkins
Chase Padgett Productions
Brown Venue, 2010 Orlando International Fringe Festival</strong>
I honestly had no idea Chase Padgett could play guitar this well. And he does it in six different styles, all with the measured skill of someone who studied under six different masters in Jazz, Blues, C&W, metal, folk and classical Spanish. Tonight he creates six musicians, tied together by a love of music coupled with the deep and subtle understanding of their style and why that style is the best. Tyrone Gibbons comes from the Mississippi Delta, and believes life should be spent with good music, good food, good liquor and hot women. Wesley Takerfield is nearly opposite – he inhabits the cool intellectual aesthetic of jazz and sees it as language, spoken by specialist to specialist while the audience listens in awe while they chomp Brie on Ritz. Rupert Culp believes Country to be the quintessential American art form, revealing stories of the working man and while Peter Winter-Scrutman agrees that County is good, Folk is better. Emmanuel Ortega sees the Spanish form as true art, but it’s Michael Marsh with his face burning riffs who worships at the inverted pentagram of metal. He, most of all, has the fingering skills that can only come from the crossroad.
Padgett mixes the styles and stories, and gradual takes us from the divergence to the mantra “Music is just music.” While the musicians are stereotypes, they are distinct and provide contrasting canvases to highly the virtuoso style. Even his eyes seem the change along with his styles, which all seem complete from the languid fluidity of the Spanish to the cool little finger squeaks of Jazz to the smoking sparks of metal. He does have one technical trick up his sleeve, a black and white Variax guitar. This modern marvel transforms the evils of Auto tune to the good – he just pops a button on the controller, and the guitar is instantly retuned and ready to go. “Six guitars” is funny and moving, and what I’d like to see is Chase Padgett riffing off some Hendrix or Van Halen on the beer tent stage. Send in the Groupies!
This event is part of the 2010 Orlando International Fringe Festival. For schedule and ticket information, please visit http://OrlandoFringe.org
