Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Spring Slow b By BOB CRAFT Features Editor It's always darkest before dawn, right? Right. The Spring Thing all-day concert s had to be held in the Township z Auditorium because it was so cold c Saturday, and it first appeared the entire thing might turn into a t Chamber of Horrors where the s familiar, friendly strains of a e dozen songs might be put on some r sort of musical rack to be worked t over by amateurs who would wield s guitars, organs and voices in the deadliest manner. ') The concert got started about I 1:45 p.m. with two guys from "New s York City" who played acoustic I guitars and sang Grand Funk s Railroad while people in the 1 V C Across from USC ROUNDHOUSE SHAG . . . the m o max ej the m ninto.te a SWIG SHO) Th.ing 0 aginni iudience talked among them elves. The next group came on and the mcee introduced them and then aid "We want you all to stick tround. We got a lot of good groups eming up later in the afternoon." Hoots and laughter came from he audience. Embarrassed miles, from the group and the meee. The emcee tried to set it ight, "Ah-and here's one of hem," he said then hastily left the tage. No, he was right the first time. 'he group tortured the memory of ilizabeth Reed then the in trument bearing members of the and turned on one of its own and wallowed up its girl singer; urying her in the frailty of her ,oice and the loudness of the band. After that, the band seemed onfused and there was a con erence onstage about what to do ext. I had no such indecision; I aft. I came back at about 6:30 and Dund that the scales had tipped. 'here was a group called Silver Ian who had the audience tearing p the seats with their versions of - Revesabl Gys E.ur. . Modacrylic .t DUTCH SQUARE Ys, we Thae ACAD i all-day eg, pow songs such as "Wooden Ships" and "Four and Twenty". It was on the upswing. Nils Lofgren and Grin entered. It was rock and roll time and the impression that I had gotten from their album "1+1" was shattered as Lofgren broke a total of four strings and played the guitar with his teeth. It was raunchy and wonderful. After the audience had been satisfied with an encore, they brought on Faye Tucker. Her voice was beautiful, but she was totally out of her depth. The microphones wouldn't work for her or her accompanist and she kept asking that it be turned up. She sang her songs, but very few listened, talking among them selves,going out to the concourse for a beer or shouting at the stage ("Mr. Bo-jangles, Mr. Bo jangles..." "Here I am!".) It was almost like something out of a movie, the girl from the east trying to get her music across to a bunch Df rambunctious cattlemen in a saloon. After she left, the stage crew started setting up for Shawn all lengths from Shzags made from Fae resettable fiber FROM $j495 V#NTOWN ____ IALL concer erful ei Phillips; a carpet, a chair, a couple p of amplifiers, four or five guitars st and stands and an amplified sitar. ai People had started moving cli toward the front and by the time h( Shawn Phillips walked on there al were a lot of people standing in h( front of the stage. The house lights went out and m Tom DiFiglio introduced Shawn ar Phillips. He walked on stage with PO still another guitar and played his first song. 10 He talked to the audience like nc they were his old and good friends. te: His conversational voice had a so definite Texas twang to it. He he talked about where he was the th, night before, backing Sly Stone on th, a closed circuit T. V. hook-up. cl But then he sang and Texas was us lone. The music would come and th eckon and you would go off, sa otally under its control and after awhile you might open your eyes th mnd be surprised because there were other people in the room up esides you and Shawn Phillips. th The noises from the audience m were gone now, the feet had been :aken from the backs of chairs and au people just sat and listened. The po ho thi an IIN pe ph * bu Across from USC ROUNDHOUSE If yoN you're be You can help make EXPL( cover with us how Jesus CI practical for today. Meet us in Dallas, June 12-1 effective strategy to comm power to the men and w munity. EVERYBODY'S 001 For further information, conta 1315 Sur 252-8851..r. toS d ople who stood in front of the age didn't jump or dance iymore, but rather crowded )ser to get a better position to ar, elbows rested on the stage iron in order to hold up dreamy ads. It was as though he were some aster wizard who held all sound d all music in a scarred leather uch he wore on his belt. He charted his courses until :30, then broke his spell by an ,uncing a ten minute in rmission. After three minutes or he came back on stage and said would have to continue because ey had told him backstage that R management was going to >se the auditorium at 11 p.m. "I ually play for two and a half to ree hours but the cat back there id there was no way." Righteous indignation, "who are y to stop our music?" 3hawn walked over and picked his sitar, closed his eyes and let ! music flow for another ten nutes. Fle then sat down in front of the dience and recited a beautiful em about a witch, a unicorn and w the rainbow began. He said it he had worked on the poem d the music for about five years. e music for it for it had been rformed by 42 hand picked !mbers of the London Sym ony. The record company had it, t wouldn't release it because s not commercial enough." (Continued on page 7) are black, brown, red, yellow or white... autiful. ) '72 complete. Dis ist and His love are 17, and take home an unicate His love and omen in your com ct: Cliff Mills, oter 252.6452