Almost Famous

A Gateway A&E blog for reviews, rants, and other entertainment tidbits.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Greg MacPherson = sweetheart


Last weekend I chatted with Greg MacPherson, a folk-rock musician whom I think resembles Jack Johnson but with a less "I'm a surfer and I'm just going to become a singer because I can" attitude. Anyway, it was only supposed to be a fifteen-minute interview (mostly because I had to get ready for my brother's commencement ceremony), but it ended up being an hour conversation about Europe and hockey. He was really nice and he invited me to his show, so I went. That was last night.

Music-wise, MacPherson is uniquely unpredictable. Some of his songs are folk, some are rock, some are hard rock; in other words, you never knew what to expect with this guy, which was great. His voice is amazing, and his guitar skills are definitely quite impressive. There was even one point in the show where this drunk guy in the crowd was holding his phone up so the person on the other end could hear, and so Greg took the phone from him and proceeded to use it as a pick and a microphone. Crazyness. Not only that, but his voice was all hoarse from playing fifteen straight shows, and because the audience kept wanting more, he kept playing. He played for two hours straight. He was a crowd pleaser.

After the show, I went up to him to introduce myself. From afar, he looks pretty tough and muscular, but up close, he's so softspoken and shy (and perhaps a tiny bit cute...). He shook my hand and thanked me for coming to his show, and said that he really enjoyed talking to me for an hour. He gets nerves, apparently, and he said that mine was the first interview he felt comfortable doing. Aww! Now I know why Jordan (from Fractal Pattern--I interviewed her, too, once upon a time) told me she was in love with him when I met up with her before his performance.

In conclusion, the new Sidetrack=rad, Greg MacPherson=sweet, Fractal Pattern=awesome, and I think capital punishment should be reopened.