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Person Street Pharmacy, an old Raleigh icon, trades positions with Governor’s Square, a sign of the times, in the reflected image of Person Street from the window of Marsh Woodwinds. Its new location in a former wedding and photo shop, signals an exciting new era for Rodney Marsh and his multi-faceted inputs into the Raleigh music world. A talented musician himself, his technical services to musicians from grade schoolers to the Marsalis family have become legendary, and now his new digs have given him an opportunity to branch out into performance and recording venues. The cluttered chaos affectionately portrayed in the article about his move just one year ago has been transformed, or tamed at least, and the store, throughout, is engaging and visually a treat. Upstairs, there is a bar and bandstand which is like walking into some sophisticated movie set - the visual impact of the jazz collage with its size 72 sax suit is just truly amazing. The larger, more open performance space has already hosted some memorable events, and Rodney is just getting started.

At one of these events, I had one of those art ephiphanies, of the type described in my first entry on this blog, just a month ago. Marsh Woodwinds was host to an experimental musician on tour, Tatsuya Nakatani. Michael Graziano’s photo shows him setting up his unusual drum set.Tatsuya is a percussionist who uses not only drums and cymbals, but singing bowls (often set spinning on the drum skins), and especially, traditional Chinese gongs, which are large discs with hundreds of tempered faces. You can see one in the lower right of the picture. He strokes the gong with a bow, at first gently, then powerfully and athletically. The resulting cacaphony of vibrations is impossible to describe, but though it seemed truly chaotic, he modulated the gong, adding and suppressing different areas, and blended in his other techniques until I felt I had been ushered into another world. Convinced that a small piece of god was hidden in that disc and had been shared with us, the lucky audience, I immediately went up and bought his cd and I urge you to do the same.The stretch of Person now blessed with Marsh Woodwinds is an interesting case for the major issues addressed here on RDUwtf. A block away, a major redevelopment is making an overt effort to connect to, and benefit from, the historical character of the neighborhood. Meanwhile the tiny business stretch, despite its behemoth anchor, the Krispy Kreme, continues to struggle with low walk-in traffic. Conti’s Italian Grocery, the ailing Chef Rameaux’s Louisiana Market, and a new gluten-nut-dairy free kitchen opening soon, all combine with Rodney’s and the art gallery next door to create a really interesting business community - all inhabiting old structures and paying moderate rent. With the new mixed use developments emerging close by, a different style of retail will soon be in the mix. Hang in there, Rodney! You are part of a really special and endangered niche in the Raleigh business community.