100201 Medeski Martin & Wood, Ottawa, ON

On October 2nd, 2001 Medeski Martin & Wood were playing at the National Arts Centre and I had a ticket (of course).  It’s curious that despite the fact that it seems pretty unimportant, I’m sitting here struggling to remember how I got to the show.  At the time I was living in a nifty two-storey loft apartment in Ottawa’s Chinatown and it would have been a pretty long walk to and from the NAC.  And I doubt I drove; I rarely drive anywhere in the city.  

Oh yeah…I had an old, beat up ten-speed with no brakes, no lights, and no hope that I had found in the garbage or somewhere equally economical; I probably rode it to the show.

Anyway, the concert was great!  More than anything I remember drummer Billy Martin leading jam after jam using little shakers, rattles and toys that he kept on a small percussion table that sat beside his trap set.  I remember this more than Chris Wood’s ultra-groovy and endlessly exploratory bass runs and more than John Medeski’s undeniably brilliant chops on the piano.  To be honest, as far as my selective memory will reveal the drummer pretty much held down the entire show, leading the other two guys into some seriously intense improvisations.

(And y’know what?  “Martin Medeski & Wood” seems to roll off the tongue a bit easier than “Medeski Martin & Wood” does anyway.  And they could still keep the same “MMW” logo.)

Another thing I can’t remember for sure but I can assume quite confidently is that I hosted an afterparty following the concert that night.  It’s written in my ticket book that I went with Jay, Kyla, Tamara, Dave, and “…Everyone”, and back before my nifty loft apartment got all burnt down I was pretty quick to invite large groups of people over for an impromptu late-nite shindig.

I certainly had the space for it.  The living room was huge, with a pair of skylights poking through a large two-storey hole in the upper floor, from which dangled lush, hanging plants.  There was a pinball machine in there, a heavy-bag, a hanging hammock chair, a kickin’ stereo with speakers wired to every room in the apartment, including the large bathroom, and about twenty-five instruments hanging around the main space, all tuned up and ready to play.  There was a Hammond organ in the corner and a nice old upright piano too, a sitar and tablas, a dozen guitars, basses and amplifiers…oh the jams we had in that place!

“What about the noise?” you might be asking.  Noise, shmoize buddy.

Y’see, my good friends lived downstairs in the only other apartment in the “building” (it was a house, really), so if they ever found the neighbour – me – too noisy they could (and generally would) always come up and join the party.

So yeah, I probably had a party after the show, and it was probably pretty epic.