The Hickory Art Museum hosted Michael Gulezian on November 22, 2008. About 140 people witnessed music turning into taffy as Michael pulled and stretched newly-formed sounds out of his guitar. One might have sensed that St. Cecilia had returned to earth for an hour or two but had only a guitar to express the entire soul of music, or perhaps that Gulezian was in the process of designing some original device, perhaps for space flight into new dimensions of sound. He certainly gave a new meaning to the expression of "playing the guitar" because he did play with the thing, introducing sounds that not yet ever been played before to each other. Then he brought them out before the amazed world, and danced with them as they wafted together through the audience. It was a fascinating evening combining interesting music and interesting people in a surrounding of famous art and in the presence of the fabulously creative ghosts of Black Mountain College. Between the songs Gulezian conversed with the audience telling tales of his life and describing things he has seen and how he had felt about them, revealing to everyone present, except himself, that he really sees life from a poet's point of view. Then he played his songs with rhythm more than lyric, but it didn't matter because he was sharing his understandings in two different dimensions simultaneously. Drawbacks? Well, one did not leave the performance whistling the tunes he played. Even on the way home it was becoming hard to remember what he HAD played. Finally, it was a bit TOO much advant-garde, perhaps there should have been an occasion or two in which he quickly ran through a "normal" song to provide a vantage point to more clearly see what he is actually doing. If you have never seen him before and he comes to a place near you, don't miss the opportunity.
© John Womack, 2008. All rights reserved.
