THE UNFETTERED CRITIC

By Paula Block Erdmann & Terry Erdmann

A Wild and Crazy Talent

Steve Martin first burst into public consciousness with a banjo in his hands and an arrow running through his head. Now, four decades later, the arrow is (mostly) gone. It’s the music from that banjo that keeps running through our heads. Who’da thunk it?

During his standup days, we giggled at Martin’s banjo, certain that it was but a comic prop. The banjo is, after all, a great subject for a joke. (You know, like: What do you call 5,000 banjos on the bottom of the ocean? A good start.) And so we didn’t notice that Steve Martin wasn’t just a great banjo player, he was a great musician. Even when he proved his musical worth as songwriter and recording artist, he kept us focused on comedy, with songs like “King Tut.” Is it any wonder that we didn’t recognize his musicianship.

It’s his own fault, of course. He kept distracting us, first by making silly balloon animals, then by making hilarious movies, starting with “The Jerk.” As the years passed, he kept distracting us by adding to a catalogue of career descriptions: screenwriter, actor, producer, magician, novelist, playwright, art collector, Grammy winner, Emmy winner, Oscar host… Martin’s talents seemed inexhaustible. And along the way, his fingers kept fretting over that banjo.

Steve Martin

Martin’s prowess on the instrument and his deep affection for banjo music dates back to his teenage years, when—per his autobiography “Born Standing Up”—he would play his 33 RPM bluegrass records at the reduced speed of 16 RPM in order to pick out each note and perfect his playing. And perfect it he has. Attendees at his Britt appearance last season discovered that Martin wasn’t here to do schtick—he was here as a practiced member of the Steep Canyon Rangers, an intensely talented independent, five-piece North Carolina bluegrass band consisting of Woody Platt (guitar, lead vocals), Graham Sharp (banjo), Mike Guggino (mandolin), Charles R. Humphrey III (bass), and Nicky Sanders (fiddle). It was a sold-out performance. And it must have struck a chord; Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers have sold every available ticket for this season’s appearance, on July 27 as well!

That Martin would someday transition from riotous onstage antics and glossy big screen appearances came as no surprise to your “Unfettered” critics—at least one-half of them. Way back in 1994, Terry was working as production publicist on A Simple Twist of Fate, a fine, dramatic film that Martin wrote and starred in (Paula was home in Los Angeles, picking up the pieces from the Northridge earthquake, but that’s another story). On this particular day, the film company was scheduled to shoot a scene that takes place in a pawnshop. The location manager had found an actual pawnshop that required minimal set dressing. But although it was the perfect setting, it also created a problem. The room was so small that there was little space for the filmmakers to stand—especially when it came time to turn the camera equipment around to shoot from another angle. To make things worse, it was raining—hard—so members of the film crew not involved with the meticulous rearranging didn’t want to step outside and face the deluge. Martin could have gone to his nearby dressing trailer, of course, but instead he lingered, his eyes focused high on the wall. This was, as mentioned, a working pawnshop. And there, within tantalizing reach, was a banjo. Martin retrieved it, tuned it, and, for the next forty-five minutes, performed an up close and personal concert for the crew. Truthfully, if the camera guys had been able to keep their minds on the task at hand, it would have taken only twenty minutes to complete the turnaround. But everybody was too busy tapping his or her feet to the master’s impromptu picking.

It may have been even better had the Steep Canyon Rangers been there.

Paula and Terry each have long impressive-sounding resumes implying that they are battle-scarred veterans of life within the Hollywood studios. They’re now happily relaxed into Jacksonville.