Review: An Artist Creating Art In An Artful Way is Reeve Carney At The Greenroom 42

With A Real Power Behind His Slight Frame, This Music Creator Was Unstoppable

Heigh-Ho, My Merry Rainbow Tribe! Bobby Patrick, your RAINBOW Reviewer here. Putting the silent T in cabareT to bring you all the T!

Well, my rainbow rock and rollers out there, Sunday night's assignment was a fresh and exciting one for little Bobby, as we took ourselves down to The Green Room 42 to get only our second ever dose of this thing called Reeve Carney. Having no other experience of Mr. C's work beyond seeing SPIDERMAN: PLEASE TURN THE DARK BACK ON! a decade ago created an interest in seeing this slight, handsome, street-stylish musician/composer in his own element, with his own music... and darlings, what a seeing it was. His entrance, after the pumped up loudspeaker announcer shouted his intro, was a quiet, casual saunter into the spotlight, electric guitar casually slung over his shoulders, pork pie hat casually cocked back to show his forehead expanse, whereupon he took another casual 90-second interval to tune his instrument while casually chatting with his fans in a casual way. You catch Bobby's drift? All of this relaxed, almost diffident seeming demeanor belied the force of creation that was about to fill TGR42. You see my dearlings, not only was this just the second live experience seeing Art Carney's grandnephew (Yeah - that Art Carney!) but, truth be told, young Mr. Carney's work on stage and screen has blown by us in both lanes over the last 10-ish years without so much as a looky-loo. Not anyone's fault really, it just so happened that the singer's other works, post-Peter Parker, slipped by Bobby in that way that is unavoidable at times. While we did look forward to seeing HADES TOWN, that show's popularity prevented the acquiring of seats pre-PAINdemic and, so, looking forward is where we remain until Broadway's re-opening. So, when RC finished his tune-up and hit the first chords of his hard strumming, rock/blues shouting, face-contorting, sweat-dripping, hat-doffing first number, the show was, as they say, "Off to the races."

With no setlist or program to read from and no on stage continuity of a performer announcing each title, we won't be able to break down the music piece-meal but, given how the show flowed and was served, letting you know about the "happening" that was Reeve Carney is more appropriate and will serve better, my little lambkins, in urging you to get your tickets to his next performance ASAP. The phrase, "Rock & Roll Baby!" is what comes to mind in describing Carney's work, both as a singer and a composer. With an incredible "rock-scream" voice reminiscent of a Steven Tyler meets Janis Joplin sound, and guitar skills that recall the Chuck Berry JOHNNY BE GOOD lyric, "...he could play a guitar just like a-ringin' a bell," Carney's musicianship on all fronts was thrown at the audience like fireballs from Gandalf's staff. To watch RC on stage is to watch an artist in the act of full-on sweaty creation in a live raw moment. With his skill at improvising vocally, rhythmically, and instrumentally, he was able to take his audience on a musical roller coaster that included recording riffs from the piano stage right on HIS CELL PHONE, walking said cell across the stage to his LOOPER to feed the riff into an amplified loop, take up his guitar and improvise further layers, all while operating half a dozen of his own, self-designed preamplifiers on a pedalboard. Sounds complicated, no? But under the careful, gifted guidance of an artist painting in keys both major and minor, it looked and felt and sounded like tone poetry. His vocals thrilled, his instruments flowed around him like leaves in a brook, and the sounds they all made together sped his listeners down that Rock & Roll highway. Whether he was deftly grabbing (with his teeth) a kazoo off his mic stand to add that tinny, humming layer in the midst of some stunning vocals, or grabbing a violin bow to apply to his guitar to make it wail in the hall, Reeve Carney showed only musical virtuosity harkening to the best of Rock's Hall-Of-Famers.

The effect of Reeve Carney's Rock/Jazz/Blues hybrid music on his attendees was incalculable. Unable to stand and scream and shout and wave lit cigarette lighters about, watching the audience physically and emotionally react from their chairs left one with an almost sacred feeling, as though the metal guitar legends of the past had anointed their future heir with the souls of Rock & Roll, and for all that, and quite a bit more, Reeve Carney gets our full

5 Out Of 5 Rainbows

Reeve Carney Returns To TGR42 On August 22 And If Your Soul Belongs To Rock & Roll, You Must Get Your Tickets: HERE

Reeve Carney is the President/CEO/Engineer and Designer at Quarantine Effects USA, where he personally designs and handcrafts dynamic electro-mechanical preamplifiers for concert musicians. Read all about his innovations and shop for just the right sounds to enhance your music: HERE

Grab Reeve's Twitters: HERE

Check Out His Insta-Pictograms: HERE

Ande Followe On Ye Olde FaceBooke: HERE

All photos By My Lovely Boss, Stephen Mosher

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