Gladtree Collective - Joshua Burkett, Aaron Rosenblum, and Brendan Whittaker: June 7th, 2001

June 7th, 2001

Joshua Burkett, Aaron Rosenblum, Brendan Whittaker @ AVA Gallery, Lebanon, NH

Brendan started off the evening with a bit of his own version of funk-folk. A sort of jammed out series of songs both traditional and original. The crowd easily absorbed this hometown boy's offerings, giving him encouragement and pushing him along through his set. This is the first I've seen of his solo work, and Brendan sure didn't disappoint.

Sandwiched in this bill was Aaron Rosenblum, hailing from New York state. He brought with him CRAZY ideas about song structure and instrumentation. Lebanites, living in a farm-based community, did not let this city boy impress them one stitch. In fact, they seemed to have it in for him, populating his opening piece with talk of 'tuning' versus 'playing'. Aaron, perhaps not ready for this intellectual banter, nevertheless dogged on and finished his set (rambling, rumbling improvisations on guitars and clatter material), remaining upbeat about the experience.

Joshua finished out the night in fine fashion. His marvelous guitar playing soared, powered along by his whispering voice and quavering whistle. Each song flew around the gallery with ease and majesty, before being sucked into the minds of those present. The audience stirred and bent under a collective emotion, taking cue from the man before them. One of the best performances I've seen.