STUDENTS SHOWCASE

STUDENT SHOW

At Club Passim

February 10

Featuring Noam Weinstein, Ashley Filip and Jessica Tardy

How many law schoolers, prospective doctors and I-bankers does Harvard dispatch to the larger world every year? Enough. How many songwriters, singers, musicians and people pushed by chord colors into less chartered territories. You don't even know. But Wednesday night at Club Passim show-cased and marked out for future attention three out-standing singing and songwriting talents.

Showcasing some of the college's more accomplished and active singer-songwriters, the show at Club Passim was testimony to the fact that we go to school with, dine next to, walk by--and probably holler at to shut up sometimes--tomorrow's musical stars. While the Ec and Gov kids are applying to How-To-Take-Over-the-World Summer Camp and the Computer Science students are hacking into FAS, industrious, inspired fingers are picking at guitars and tripping over ivory, producing a breed of fresh, original songwriters to make us proud.

Noam Weinstein '99 opened the night with a diverse collage of six original songs. An unremarkable-looking college kid on his soapbox in a T-shirt and sneakers--no rage, no angst, no gimmick--Weinstein had nothing to sell him but a voice and a talent. But once he started, he transported the audience in the packed cafe to another musical plateau where his expansive skill and solid music flooded and ear.

A consummate storyteller and musician, Weinstein's gift is a quick poetic sharpness. And this is not let down by his original melodies, or a voice with a winningly odd way of talking the music while slipping four notes into a single word. Whether it was an amusing imaginary song like "Twelve Last Words" and "Maximum Security Life" or a gentle musing like "People Watching," Weinstein always displayed complete mastery of his music and slid effortlessly between sensitivity and soft comedic entertainment.

The real show-stopper of the night was Jessica Tardy '99, with her smoking brand of funk rock and blues. Accompanied by Tyler Wood '01 (Keyboard), Andy Eggers '99 (drums), John Cappelo (bass), and Noam Weinstein (guitar)--who were all excellent in their own right--Tardy rocked the house with a voice and presence that Passim was straining to contain. Beginning with a borrowed song from Weinstein, Tardy poured out on the audience a voice like a steaming bath--spiked with scotch.

As her set progressed, her voice only grew richer and warmer, and it was like someone flambed the bath. "Get Real" was a refreshing original funk rock number delivered with so much punch that it felt like getting soaked on a dog day. By the time she closed her set with a cover of Eddy Arnold's "You Don't Know Me," the place was utterly drenched in her voice. From the first moment you hear her, you know that Tardy is something very special. I am almost embarrassed that she is still in school, subject to mundane concerns like response papers, when she is so evidently ready to wood the world.

Also in the show was Ashley Filip '01. A sizable contingent from the a cappella group The Opportunes was in tow to cheer on their talented member, but Ashley showed that she possessed enough presence and talent to hold the stage solo. A sort of Jewel-like Shawn Colvin, Filip demonstrates great control over her instrument and voice. Since she younger than the other two performers, her lyrics lack a certain maturity and dexterity, both which are rescued by her smooth guitar-playing and a voice that creams over the edges of notes. In the space of a bar, her voice can turn from something on which to ride into some-thing on which to chip your teeth.

There is no recruitment for songwriters. Which makes Weinstein, Filip and Tardy's precociousness in finding gigs and putting their sound out to be heard all the more admirable. All three represent a part of Harvard's population that will not follow the path well-paved and oft-traveled. Despite the difficulty of making a living that way, Weinstein and Tardy have made that brave decision to go where few others would go, and that is in the wake of the flight of their dreams. Already, Tardy is making an 8-track promotional CD (loosely entitled Jessica Tardy Live--Please Book Me) with the aim of distributing copies all over Nashville, where she hopes her destiny as a star will be realized. Until that happens, she says, "I'm just going to go there and starve and wait tables. I'm not afraid to be really poor. I just have to be singing."

Weinstein shares the ambition of going professional but is still too overwhelmed by life's possibilities to come up with any more refined life plan than, "I'd like to go into songwriting professionally, but I'll probably end up doing something else during the day, like armed robbery,"

Although it is still early for her to decide, Filip, who has been composing since age 11, would definitely like a career in the music industry.

So, in answer to the earlier question, I have no idea how much musical promise we brush past in Sever Hall each day. But I know that their emergence and growth is something awaiting discovery. Weinstein, Filip and Tardy have