Finding Sugar Man
Oh wow – that was a transcendent show. Mrs. Bothered, her mother, a friend and I piled in the little Botheredmobile at noon yesterday, and ran ourselves from Baltimore up to Pittsburgh to catch the elusive Rodriquez live in a rare concert. It. Was. Amazing.
If you don’t know who Rodriquez is – don’t worry. Not having people in the U.S. know who he is, is kind of his jam. Tragically. Go to iTunes or wherever you choose to stream movies, and watch the documentary, Searching For Sugar Man. I’m not joking, this is not a drill, just go do that. You will then know who Rodriquez is, and why it was so exciting to see him perform live.
As much as I’d like to, I’m not going to go into the story of Rodriquez here. It’s amazing, it’s tragic, it’s filled with mystery, discovery, unfairness, then redemption – and all surrounding a true, true, true genius in the most literal sense of the world. Again, find and watch Searching for Sugar Man. It’s all there.
I would love to tell you the story of Rodriquez, but others tell it much better than I can (including my wife, who has been following his tragedy-to-glory tale from some 20 years. Also, have I mentioned you should watch Searching For Sugar Man) – and the show last night was so wonderful that I want to focus on that.
Rodriquez is getting old. He’s in his 70′s. He’s nearly completely blind. He’s also quite shy, and soft spoken (In his younger days he performed with his back to the audience.) but his performance was so sweet, so enduring and so powerful that you couldn’t help falling even more in love with him.
For me as a performer, the most instructive thing he did was take his time. With everything. This is something I struggle with personally when performing. There is so much to do when onstage, and I’m always afraid the audience will get impatient. “Move on with it” I can imagine them saying with each moment. And, you know, nerves. I still get them.
So it was really refreshing and encouraging to watch Rodriquez: Take. His. Time. With everything. He had costume changes… of a sort. With an impish grin he would change hats, or change sunglasses. At one point he put on a pair of steampunk goggles with glowing lenses. He did not rush these changes. He waited while his guitar was tuned. He took his time reaching for his water bottle – feeling for it with his hands, as he couldn’t see it. He took his time making sure he remembered the guitar licks before starting into each tune. He joked a little bit, but didn’t need to say much. We watched him. Intently.
And it worked, I think, because we were watching a man being. As a performer, and a former actor I can say that’s one of the hardest things to do on stage… to, just, be. But here is a man that is so sincere, so connected with himself that we just ate it up.
And of course it wasn’t all waiting – and the waiting was worth it. He pulled up most of the tracks from his two albums. He was so there, so with his music, it was really magical. Maybe knowing the backstory influenced the moment. If you know how much we all missed out because of the circumstances of his career (unless you lived in apartheid South Africa) then seeing this man finally recognized in his home country was purely rewarding.
It was fun watching his band, too. They were session musicians, I gather, brought in to back him up. Rodriquez doesn’t have a band. He doesn’t really have anything, except his guitar and his daughters. I imagine the band had approximately one rehearsal with Rodriquez. But, you wouldn’t have known it – except that you could clearly see the enjoyment they were experiencing by giving this man his due onstage, and playing with other great musicians. The chemistry between the drummer and the lead guitarist was particularly fun to watch, as the cheerfully and skillfully worked to keep up with Rodriquez as I’m pretty sure he was getting a little… organic… with the set list.
The show was at the Carnegie Library Music Hall in Pittsburg – a beautiful theatre. It was the perfect size and atmosphere for such a heart-warming show.
So, again, check out Searching for Sugar Man – and if you get a rare chance to see Rodriquez like, for the love of God – take it. You won’t be disappointed.
