By: Andrea Myers
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| Peter Mayer - Photo by Paul Dols |
At least three times in the past three weeks I had told a friend of my plan to see Peter Mayer at the Cedar Cultural Center last Saturday and was greeted with the same response: “Oh, Peter Mayer? My mom really likes him.”
Accordingly, I prepared to spend my evening in the company of everybody’s mothers and invited my own mother-in-law to come to the show. It piqued my interest to learn that Mayer’s music appealed to a certain niche of Midwestern women, so I decided to go in for a closer look.
The evening began at exactly 8 p.m. with a short introduction by Cedar volunteer and booking agent Brian Corner, who was wearing a spectacular black fedora. The audience erupted into applause as Mayer bounded up the steps to the stage with his acoustic guitar, smiled appreciatively at the audience and took a seat in the center of the stage. “Hi, Pete!” exclaimed a man near the front of the stage, and the whole room laughed warmly as Mayer joked about the man being chosen to represent the audience and greet him with such a friendly hello. The ice was broken and Mayer was ready to begin.
Dressed in a plain black shirt, khakis and hiking boots, with gray hair that stood on end, Mayer seemed to light up the entire room with his kind eyes and humble disposition. A natural storyteller, Mayer alternated between talking with the audience and narrating stories with his songs, and despite the fact that I had only heard him a handful of times on the 89.3 The Current Morning Show I found his performance to be very engaging and his songs eerily familiar and comforting.
As he tuned his guitar between songs, Mayer explained that he had recently taken an interest in learning about string theory after reading Brian Greene’s book The Elegant Universe. “I’ve decided on a very appropriate epitaph for a gravestone,” he explained, his eyes sparkling with wonderment. He said that learning about all of the tiny particles that make up our existence caused him to determine that “the best epitaph would just be the words ‘that was weird.’” He followed with one of my favorite songs of the night, a newer song that he had written about the complicated and amazing things that need to happen every day just to keep us alive and tied down to the earth, which I believe was titled “Just Another Ordinary Day.”
Other songs were less serious (one of his silliest songs was about fighting dandelions in his yard), though I preferred it when Mayer allowed himself to “get deep” and sing poetically about the mysteries of life. He alternated between gracefully fingerpicking his guitar and hitting the sides of the instrument, and at times it seemed impossible that just one person could create such a plush array of beats and chords.
Before taking a short break midway through the show, Mayer explained that he had recently had a new guitar made for him by a fellow named Phillip (who happened to be in attendance), and invited guests to approach the stage during intermission to check out his new instrument. Rather than retreating to the green room between sets, Mayer stayed out in the audience talking to his fans and friends; it was refreshing to see a talented musician so humble and appreciative of his ticket-buyers.
Location Info:
Cedar Cultural Center
Artist Info: Peter Mayer
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