Week in Review part 4: Interview with the Electric Acoustic Groove Experience

I should have included this within the JPFW post, but I actually forgot about it while writing the post.

Table offerings. Taken by Steven.

Saturday night of Junior Parents and Families Weekend, CPB presented a coffeehouse featuring Eric E, an acoustical guitar artist armed with some loop machines and recording devices that allowed him to layer his voice to assemble melodies.

He was able to mix in some original songs into his request style allowing the crowd to offer a year.  Eric would then play a hit song from that year. 
This tactic allowed the small crowd to hear among others, a string of 1998's "Thank You" by Natalie Merchant, 1968's "Sittin on the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding with audience participation on the whistling verse, and 1990's "Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty. 

To prove his musical diversity, he was able to play country (1986's Randy Davis's "Forever and Ever Amen") and jazz (1955's "Autumn Leaves" by Andy Williams.) 

Stay patient over the next few weeks for video from his performance.

After the concert, I was able to interview him before he left.

bs: Why the stage name "eric-e?"

eric-e: Well, my last name is Engerbreston and people kept mispronouncing it, so I decided to shorten it to save people the struggle.

bs: How wide is your repertoire?

eric-e.: I can play songs as old as "The Entertainer" to recent hits (he played Train's "Hey, Soul Sister" as the 2010 request.) I was actually surprised I did not get requests for years older than 1955, because I could have played some great jazz and blues standards.

bs: What is your view on music radio and the music industry as a whole?

eric-e: Radio has been damaged by the ipod and Itunes. When I was young, I could only afford 15 albums. I was able to listen to albums all the way through and get the true meaning of songs only after listening to them  several times.   Music is not album-oriented anymore.  Since people do not listen to albums as much anymore, some people are not able to understand songs that fit within the context of an album.

bs: Why did you refer to you final song, Kansas's "Carry on, my Wayward Son," as your favorite Top 40 song of all time?

eric-e: It is a great rock song and has a good message.  I enjoy playing songs that have a message to them.

bs:  You have a diverse amount of songs in your repertoire. Are there any songs that you have proud to have mastered?

eric-e: I had trouble mastering "Carry on, my Wayward Son" due to the complicated nature of the song and  I was originally not able to sing that high.  Over the years, I developed the ability to sing high enough and managed to learn the difficult parts.



Eric-e used to travel all over the country, but now stays around the Pacific Northwest partly due to the economy, as proved by his driving around in his family minivan that can hold all his equipment. 

Coffeehouses are open to everyone, so try to stop by their next one!

If you need music to accompany your wedding, party, or social gathering and your event will be taking place in the Northwestern states within a relatively short drive from Idaho, (Wash., Ore., Idaho, Mont., Wyo.), consider eric-e!

This coming week is midterms, so events should be light.  The next few posts might not be great, but we'll see how it goes. 

Hopefully you readers will be able to get enough sleep and not let your brain melt!