Shoehorn: Reviews and Press

first impressions

Friday, November 04, 2005
The Oregonian

"SHOEHORN": Tap dancer and saxophonist Michael "Shoehorn" Conley brings fresh meaning to the term New Age vaudeville. He's a magnetic orchestra of one, a charismatic tapper of tunes, a funky beat-rap poet, a soulful hornist and a dazzling dancer.

His performance last weekend in Vancouver's Arts Equity Inc. Main Street Theatre thrilled a medium-size, responsive audience. What's great is that Conley, who calls New Orleans the city that shaped his performance skills, is well-versed in the harmonica style of Sonny Terry and names Gene Kelly and John Coltrane as other sources of inspiration, so he's honoring and emulating traditions before him and at the same time using them to create his own new bag.

His musical inventions include a device wherein tap shoes meet a platform and create synthesized music; as the tap threads the backbeat across a tune, the sax or clarinet takes care of the melody. Conley is dancing out the music. He seems to have an unending well of energy to blend with his creativity, which also is inspired by global sounds. Still, a little less than two hours without a story is just about enough for a satisfying evening, and Conley quits while he's ahead. Invigorating stuff.

Portland resident Conley toured Russia in April 2002 with an all-star cast of tap dancers, including Savion Glover, Brenda Buffalino and Jason Samuels-Smith, performing in a series of concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg for the Tapparade 2002 Festival. He appeared on Oregon Public Broadcasting's "Artbeat" in 2004.

Continues 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 8 p.m. Nov. 11-12; 2 p.m. Nov. 13; 8 p.m. Nov. 25-26 and Dec. 2-3; 7 p.m. Dec. 4; 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8; 8 p.m. Dec. 9-10 and 16-17; 7 p.m. Dec. 18; 8 p.m. Dec. 30. Arts Equity Inc./The Main Street Theatre, 606 Main St., Vancouver. $18-$24. 360-695-3770 or www.shoehornmusic.com.

-- Holly Johnson Special to the Oregonian

©2005 The Oregonian

"A Dance Company and Orchestra in One" is the tagline for the new one-man show featuring Michael "Shoehorn" Conley, produced by Arts Equity. While this grandiose moniker may sound like it promises something like the time your older brother cut a hole in a cardboard box and pretended he was in the TV, it isn't.The shtick as it were, is the famed ability of Conley to simultaneously tap dance and play the saxophone. Yes, that's right, Conley taps and plays the sax at the same time, and he does both very well indeed.
The show running at the Main Street Theatre through December is two acts comprised of roughly 16 pieces total, lasting an average of two to four minutes each with one intermission. The first act flew by, and left the audience obviously waiting for more to come. The second act, while quality, wasn't quite on the same energetic level as the first. But this aspect will definitely vary between performances so don't let it stop
you from attending.
Conley is a Portland resident, but his music is a direct product of the New Orleans street performance scene, with the added spice of Conley's Midwest roots and his travels through Europe and Southeast Asia. The varied musical styles invoked run the gamut from jazz standards and swing compositions to works with Latin and even Southeast Asian influences
(including instruments unfamiliar to Western audiences). From it's street performance lineage comes a vaudevillian quality, especially in pieces like the " one man drum circle". you might expect that with all these colorful variations in genre, Conley has left behind mastery of essential musical skillls, but an impeccaqble sense of time and rhythm follow him throughout this cornucopia of style. His tap, which could have easily stuck out like a sore thumb, was an interesting and integrated component, building throughout as a fluid percussion accent to his music. A MIDI tap percussion kit, a sort of synthesized drum kit for the tap artist, aided Conley in his versatility.
Arts Equity is well suited to host a one-man show like Shoehorn. the set and lighting were considered and appropriate highlights to the show. As a side note, I highly suggest attending the "champagne opening" for future shows, which has drinks and light snacks for both the over-and-below 21 set and is well worth the extra cost. Not to mention the added energy and excitement of a full opening night house.
Michael Conley's work is fundamentally autobiographical in character, and his personal philosophy of life can't be separated from his music. at his best, he's sincerely confessional and infectiously upbeat. At his worst, he's overly idealistic and slightly preachy, but his consistent self-deprecating humor reveals an acute sense of artistic self-awareness and renders any off notes inoffensive. At the core Shoehorn's creative effect is a thoughtful synthesis of instruments and styles. To break the rules right, you have to know what they are in the first place, and Conley clearly does.

Shoehorn VonTap Trio
[JAZZ-DANCE] Michael "Shoehorn" Conley will not only sing for his supper, he will tap dance, play saxophone, xylophone, and harmonica-maybe even all at once. Both an exceptional entertainer and a serious artist, Shoehorn's synthesized the juba-lent complexities of jazz and tap--mind-melding with both Honi Coles with John Coltrane--creating an utterly engaging blend of bebop toughness and fluid, feets-don't-fail-me-now panache. Having performed in clubs, festivals, and concert halls on four continents (everywhere from the Brisbane World Expo to the  Scappoose City Hall Sauerkraut Festival), the riff-time-stepping Conley rarely fails to deliver. Add in a trio of bassist Skip Elliott Bowman, and the great Gordon Lee, on piano,  and you can't go wrong. TIM DUROCHE (Willamette Week)

Some reviews of Shoehorn:
"The man they call Shoehorn not only plays the alto sax amazingly well, he also does some expert tap-dancing as he plays. That's some serious multi-tasking." The Oregonian -5/31/02

"Miraculous...a dance company and orchestra in one."
Boston Globe

"...amazing marriage of dancing and saxophone playing." ChicagoTribune

" an amusing routine with a serious message..."
Christian Science Monitor

"impeccably tight and controlled dancing ... mean alto saxophone..." Boston Herald

"Es un gran artista"
flamenco master- Ramon De los Reyes

"covering the boards with a sheet of sound..."
Boston Phoenix

" A sound to behold"
Twin Falls Times-News