Most students come to Lone Pine Tavern for the food and the atmosphere. The musicians come for other reasons.
Mats Lemberger '06 gained some fame this spring with the posters that he used in his Student Body President campaign. The colorful posters depicted him with a peculiar guitar-harmonica hybrid -- the kind of thing that you would often see in movies about the Deep South. Fans can in fact go to Lone Pine to hear him play the unique instrument.
Indeed, many musicians appreciate the Lone Pine setting for letting them play whatever they want to play, however off-beat the music may be.
Mat Brown '05, for example, plays his guitar while his computer plays the drums. "I'm a rocker. I don't play music," said Brown.
Quite a few Lone Pine performers fall into the jazz and folk categories. Yet Student Activities Coordinator James Turner said that other performers classify themselves as belonging to genres as distinct as indie, sadcore, punk rock, soft jazz, fusion jazz, Beatles-like pop and more.
"Individuals or groups set up an audition -- which is really just an unpaid LPT performance -- and then they get put on the schedule," said Turner. "Individuals get $50 a gig and groups get $100."
Art Baron '07 found Lone Pine to be an optimal place to host informal blues jams, which according to Turner were a "runaway hit."
"You show up, bring your guitar or bass, sign a sheet and then you come up and play," said Baron.
However, the establishment of Lone Pine blues jams is still in its nascent stages. "We're working on securing a regular night and starting a student organization to run the jams," Baron said.
The tavern is unique among campus venues in that students usually do not go there just to hear live music; the audience's attention generally drifts between the music, the food and those with whom they are engaged in conversation.
Lone Pine musicians say that they often find this frustrating. "It's like any place where the audience isn't there just to hear you play," said Matt Goodman '06. "When they ignore you, you aren't being amazing at that particular moment, so it's a matter of asserting yourself into their awareness."
Brown agreed and said that he deals with lackluster audiences at Lone Pine by just "turning it up real loud."
Goodman also offered that weak audiences can be advantageous because it is easier to experiment with new things in front of them.
In general, however, the musicians perform for the enjoyment of the audience. "When the audience is having a good time, you're having a good time," Goodman said.
Lemberger said that Lone Pine audiences are his favorite, mainly because "the students there are open to all kinds of music."
Lone Pine tends to attract musicians who have little to no formal music training and are largely self-taught. "[Music] is my passion, not what I want to study," Lemberger maintained. Lemberger spent his last off-term working at an American folk music foundation, and he said it "helped me refine my love for that music." He added, "It's nice to have a place to come back to in order to play it."
Several musicians expressed gratitude over how they have been able to improve their skills while working at the tavern. "Lone Pine has its own learning culture," Lemberger said. "You learn a lot from your peers. Musicians always like to check out their fellow performers."
Baron got his start playing in bars in his native Long Island, N.Y., and the tavern was actually the location of his first Dartmouth performance.
"I've seen many students improve drastically over my time working here," said Lone Pine manager Sarah Edes.
Yet despite all of Lone Pine's advantages for amateur musicians, there are still a few aspects of the venue that could be improved, according to some of the musicians.
Brown thought that the length of the set that musicians are expected to play is a bit too long. "I tend to run out of original stuff and have to throw in random covers," he said.
"The acoustics aren't great," added Goodman.
Lemberger suggested, "The food could be better."
However, these small complaints aside, the musicians were quick to reiterate that they relish their time performing on the Lone Pine stage. Most said that their best memories at the tavern were when a large group of their friends showed up in order to offer support and hear them play.
Lemberger has a rather unusual memory associated with Lone Pine. He recalled, "One year on Valentine's Day, I was playing songs for the broken-hearted, and this girl came up to me and gave me her number. It's not something I'll forget any time soon."
