Rockin' the Knox

InterviewMarch 15, 2002Buffalo News

Students were awestruck Thursday by an art form they never expected to see at the Albright-Knox - a surprise performance by the Goo Goo Dolls

By JANE KWIATKOWSKI
News Staff Reporter
3/15/2002


It was contemporary art, the high school students were told, crafted in a rock medium that was to be unveiled at the end of a field trip Thursday morning at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. "Great, another sculpture," said Brandon Kiffer, a 17-year-old junior at Olean High School, with one eye on his watch and the other on the bus. But just as the tarp that covered this "special installation" dropped to the floor, so too did the jaws of more than 150 teenagers who simply could not believe their eyes - or ears. MTV at the Albright? More like Dali meets the Dolls. The Goo Goo Dolls, that is, featuring Buffalo natives Johnny Rzeznik and Robby Takac, performing a 45-minute surprise set in the gallery's Sculpture Court. The event, staged in conjunction with MTV Jammed, was taped to air next month on the cable music network. To be sure, the students - from Buffalo Performing Arts Academy, the Nichols School and Olean Central High School - were stunned into silence for much of the first song, "Slide." Katie Wojcik, 17, of Performing Arts, stood within arm's reach of the band, eyes riveted and attention focused, yet not comprehending the unexpected scene. Friend Kim Sheehan appeared dazed, but quickly rebounded to snatch up a guitar pick. The band, in turn, was astonished by the uncharacteristic silence that greeted their appearance on stage.

"It was really strange," Rzeznik said after the show. "In the beginning, I thought "Wow, they hate us.' And then it got really good. It was pretty amazing. "I think it's a nice thing that, all over the country, people are going to see this part of Buffalo instead of just snow or someone losing a Super Bowl," Rzeznik said, squinting in the sun as he stood on the gallery's rear steps.

It was Takac who suggested the art gallery as the surprise setting after he was approached by MTV. "This has been going on for months, putting this together," said Takac, a former student at West Seneca East Senior High School. "I just thought it would be so rude (sassy) to tape a concert at the art gallery. We made a career out of being rude in this town." "

Jammed" is a 30-minute MTV program that is premised on the element of surprise, staging a concert in the most unexpected settings, according to Rich Wall, the MTV coordinator who organized the local event. One recent edition of "Jammed," for example, staged a concert by Blink-182 in a movie theater, attended by patrons who thought they were about to view a movie premiere. "Think of how hard it was to keep a secret," Wall said. "The Goo Goo Dolls in Buffalo is a tough secret to keep."

Finding the schools to participate in the art gallery field trip was a different kind of challenge, one that posed some unexpected reactions from area high school administrators. "I went to a couple who turned me down, and that was unfortunate," Wall admitted, declining to identify the schools.

Some of the students at the art gallery actually thought they heard chiseling behind the tarp before the start of the concert. Still, others who had recently visited the gallery thought it strange that this "special exhibit" would be unveiled for them.

Not all the concertgoers Thursday were on a field trip. Thomas Orwat Jr., 35, of Lancaster, just happened to be at the gallery taking pictures. "It was absolutely one of the coolest things I ever saw in my life," Orwat said. "Field trips will never be the same for these kids. I don't even remember the ride home. The art gallery is a great place to see a concert. I would have never thought I would see one there."

The "Goo Goo Dolls Jammed," meanwhile, is expected to air around April 9, the release date for the band's latest album "Gutterflower," according to Tom Calderone, MTV senior vice president for music and talent.

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