Andrés Segovia
meets U2’s Edge
Finger Picking Rock Star, Shaun Hopper, is in the
House
By A.
Colin Flood
The dream
of tweaking audiophiles - especially those like yours truly, who can not play a
single musical note - is to reproduce the sensations of live music in one’s own
home. A friend of mine took this idea one-step further. Following the growing
trend, she recently hosted a live concert in her home.
In a word? The
event was awesome.
In 2007, the Atlanta Journal
Constitution is voted Hopper the "Best Musician on the Rise." In September
2009, he won “Best of The Bay” from Tampa’s Creative Loafing magazine.
They said the “Most Unassuming Monster” has “fingers of doom, no two ways about
it. A true world-class talent on finger style, flat-top acoustic guitar, Hopper
effortlessly channels Chet Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel and Segovia, blowing minds
and dropping jaws everywhere between his twin home bases of Tampa and Atlanta. To top it off, he’s just as nice
as could be, humble and without pretense, a true Southern gentleman whose
nonexistent sense of entitlement contradicts his prodigious talents on the fret
board."
Hopper’s live play list includes a
number of covers, including the crowd pleasing sing-along, Queen’s “Bohemian
Rhapsody.” He has a CD of course. But audio
only CDs and iTune files fail to communicate his dimensions.
The setting
for this house concert is unusually idyllic. With glimmers of blue lake visible
through several acres of verdant Florida, the two-story cypress cabin is a
garnet infused with rural peace and tranquility; a drop of red in a palette of
urban greenery. Double French doors in her living room open the house to the
screened lanai. It is a house of magic. There, with an intimacy impossible in
any commercial venue, attendees were thrilled with Hopper’s performance.
For tweaking audiophiles, who care
as much about the hardware as the music, Hopper projected his instruments with a
black Bose L1® Model II professional audio speaker system. This single, five-foot
high, tower is typical Bose. It has twenty-four of the tiny drivers, the ones that
made their Jewel cubes famous, set in a line array as narrow as a hand. A bass
module, like their home theater systems, stands next to the tower like a boulder
near a tree. The system has four-channels with special effects. The effect is a
tall and wide soundstage that filled the typical-size living room with a clear,
balanced sound. In addition, Hopper used enough guitar pedals to resemble the
cockpit of a single engine plane. With a handful of commercial endorsements,
Hopper plays Larrivee guitars.
Unassuming,
casually dressed, with a mop of curly black hair, Hopper clearly enjoyed the up
front and personal nature of a house concert with two-dozen people. With
self-deprecating humor and a vivacious wit, this son of the Deep South gave a uniquely friendly, funny and
entertaining presentation. His darkly somber posters and Web site belie the
upbeat and enthusiastic tempo of his performances.
Think classical guitar and the
popular Spanish master Andrés Torres Segovia comes immediately to mind. Classically
educated, Hopper can certainly channel Segovia. Yet he doesn’t just play classical
music.
Think Irish rock band U2. The unique
tonality of their popular guitar riffs are the creation of guitarist David
Howell Evans, known as “The Edge.” Jimmy Page’s “It Might Get Loud” move shows
that The Edge works hard to convert simple notes into distinctive and
compelling sonic articulations. Yet Hopper doesn’t simply wow with special
effects either.
Hopper uses long, clear acrylic
nails with dual finger and thumb picks. He combines sparkling fingers with modern
electronics. He merges Segovia with The Edge. The result is
neither classical nor modern. It is neither merely physical virtuosity nor
digital product. It is however, electric.
Hopper is a finger picking rock
star. With the arms and shoulders of a wrestler, he didn’t just pluck the
strings pizzicato style; he tapped, knocked and thumped the amplified guitar
body like a drum. He stroked the shapely wood. He spanked the fret board. He
clacked his ring on the back of the giraffe neck. He slid a metal train down
its rails.
Hopper picked the top and bottom
strings with such precise syncopation it seemed like two or three guitars
playing simultaneously. He wove rhythms as tight as Moroccan carpet.
Hopper sings very few lyrics. Yet
the talent of this consummate finger-painting virtuoso lifts the voices of
angels to a higher plane. The highest achievements of the most talented artists
approach this level of higher consciousness. Think Claude Monet, Edgar Degas,
Walt Whitman and Frank Lloyd Wright. With his rare gift, Hopper is no exception.
Relaxing to the relaxing sonorous strings and escaping to this plane, there is
a chill of recognition. He speaks the language of Olympus with his music.
Forget stadiums,
bars and coffeehouses. A house concert is close to the venue for tweaking
audiophiles. It a place to gather in friendship, enjoy gentle nature, freethinking
people and the magic of accomplished artistry. I will not miss the next one.
Hopper
plays next month at Tampa’s funky hippie bar, Skippers. It may not be the
ideal venue for tweaking audiophiles, but I will not miss that one either.
More
Information
Event photos:
http://www.meetup.com/40andFun/photos/742562/
www.concertsinyourhome.com
Tampa house concerts: http://livemusic.meetup.com/96/
Host Judi
Shila: http://www.livingartsstudio.com/
http://www.shaunhopper.com/
http://www.skipperssmokehouse.com/