Monday, October 8, 2001 -
WLAN’s Rediscover America Benefit at the Whitaker Center -
w/ Kindred Rust, Zero Gravity, Echotown, Cellarbirds, the R. C. Yetter Band, the Martini Bros., Jeffrey Gaines
Monday, October 8, 2001
WLAN’s Rediscover America Benefit at the Whitaker Center
w/ Kindred Rust, Zero Gravity, Echotown, Cellarbirds, the R. C. Yetter Band, the Martini Bros., Jeffrey Gaines
On Monday, October 8, the Whitaker Center hosted WLAN’s Rediscover America Benefit
with Kindred Rust, Zero Gravity, Echotown, Cellarbirds, the R. C. Yetter Band, and the Martini Bros.
with special guest Jeffrey Gaines. We had bought tickets for second row, center in the
Sunoco Stage and picked them up and headed to the theatre. It was dark, silent,
and deserted down there, so we turned to go up the stairs, but saw others coming down. As
we muttered to ourselves heading up the steps, a man said something like, “Yeah, they’re
closed.” Conflubbered, we took a moment to think and realize that those people were probably
heading out the exits down there. We assumed it was moved to Stage II, but stopped to
ask the counter just in case. It was. That meant no reserve seating and it was
5 o’clock (show time) when we arrived!
We were able to sit second row, stage right for the first band, Kindred Rust.
They were an acoustic duo that was not too exciting. Mostly covers,
but a few originals. I suppose covers were a good choice since the
crowd did not know who they were. The guitarist in his black baseball cap
looked like Fred Durst! When the singer was not playing guitar, he took the
opportunity to walk down the center aisle or sit on the edge of the mini stage.
Next up was Zero Gravity, a band we had never seen either. We switched to the
front row before they began to perform. From the name, they seemed like they would be
some hard rock or metal sounding band. We usually term that music “grr music,” but Zero
Gravity was a pleasant surprise. Composed of five guys (2 guitars, bass, drums, &
keyboards), they performed mostly covers. However, they do have originals.
Echotown took the stage next. Mike Morrison had a new blue electric guitar
with nothing on the front except the blue design and the strings. It looked
quite odd, but it was cool too. They played their original country-esque tunes.
Squished on stage, all 6 members managed to fit themselves, plus instruments
and equipment. When they had finished and were taking down their stuff, Mike
walked by and Shannon quietly said “good job” to him. Stopping he asked if
she really though so. He went on to say that he felt somewhat nervous being
that his guitar is still new and he needs to get used to it.
The Cellarbirds, keeping Ron on drums and adding Bret and Paul to the
stage, began to perform songs from their CD. As usual, Bret had his
stringed instrument stand, which holds 4 instruments. It reminded us of a
Christmas tree shape, so we called it a guitar tree.
When they finished we sat in the lobby area on a bench with our
earplugs out. (This was the first time we wore earplugs.) We heard
Deuce’s voice, so we knew that the Martini Bros. had arrived. Since we were
thirsty, instead of looking for a water fountain, we went over to the mini bar.
Mike, the Martini bassist, was there and we chatted for a moment before asking
for a bottle of water from the bar man. He told us it was $15. Melanie, knowing
the man was joking, replied, “Nuh-uh, you’re lying.” A conflubbered expression
came across his face and Shannon gave Melanie a what-the-hell-are-you-saying look.
“It’s not $15!” Melanie exclaimed. Shannon replied it was only $2 and Melanie felt stupid.
She explained to the man that she thought he said it was $15. How she got
15 out of 2 is beyond us.
Sitting on the bench and sipping our water, we could hear R.C. Yetter begin
his set. He sounded like he would play rock and roll. Slipping in our
earplugs, we hurried in through the back and to our chairs up front. A bassist
and a drummer backed R. C. Yetter while he played guitar and sang a few
vocals. There was not much singing, but there was a lot of guitar solos.
At one point, he played with his teeth. The songs were long and we felt restless
sitting in our seats.
We took a break outside again after R.C. Yetter played. However, we quickly returned
to seats. We were about to get up again to hang out in the lobby when Melanie
heard the people sitting next to her say they wanted to get ready to leave.
They got up, but left their jackets, so Melanie told Shannon that we should
just sit for a while longer. When they returned for their jackets, Melanie politely
inquired as to if they were leaving. They were, so we slide down 3 seats toward the center!
Special guest Jeffrey Gaines, buddy of the Martini Bros., appeared next on stage to
perform a few songs. We had heard of him, but never actually seen or heard him.
Jeffrey sat on a stool by himself on stage and performed acoustically. He did a
wonderful job! He said it all worked out for him to come down to Harrisburg and
make an appearance at the Rediscover America Benefit because he had a
doctor’s appointment the next day.
Finishing the night were the Martini Bros. Deuce commented on how
small the crowd was to us. After rocking out a few, Deuce asked the
crowd what they wanted to hear. A woman called out louder than us “California Man.”
We wanted to hear one of their originals “Beer Shot.” That is off their 2000 release,
“Trans*Mission.” They plan on recording another CD in October and have it out by
summer 2002.
Afterward we gave the guys a small we’ve-been-fans-for-a-year gift. It was more
than a month late, but it is the thought that counts. The gifts were plastic
car wheels filled with candy…if you've seen their Trans*Mission CD then you know
why we gave them the wheels as a present.