Music Scene
Folk duo trolling for fans at UH

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer

The members of Trout Fishing In America – Keith Grimwood, left, and Ezra Idlet – like to joke about their dramatic difference in height. The folk-pop pair will perform a family-oriented program at Orvis Auditorium on the University of Hawai'i-Manoa campus tonight and Saturday night. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser Trout Fishing In America 7 p.m. today and Saturday Orvis Auditorium, UH-Manoa $10 ($4 for children 12 and under, $20 special for families) 956-6878

Typically the first question, no surprise, is about the history behind the group's slightly off-kilter name. That is, unless you meet them in person first.

"Then the first question normally asked is, 'How tall is that guy?'" says acoustic bassist Keith Grimwood of his guitarist partner Ezra Idlet, who stands 6 feet 9 inches to Grimwood's diminutive-by-association 5 feet 5à inches. The vocal duo, who have been together for 25 years, are bringing their folk pop to the University of Hawai'i-Manoa's Orvis Auditorium this weekend for two performances.

But back to that band name, taken, in part, from Woodstock-era novelist/poet Richard Brautigan's similarly named tome. "Brautigan wrote books in the 1960s and 1970s that offered a different way of looking at the world," says Grimwood via telephone from St. Louis, Mo., a couple of hours from a performance. "They were kind of like a gentle, hippie voice that asked that you to take something and look at it a little differently." Brautigan's clever use of language left Grimwood enamored of the author's work.

Grimwood and Idlet teamed up in Houston in 1976, when both were still members of a folk/rock band with the pre-Brat-Pack adopted moniker St. Elmo's Fire.

"As we would travel the country, Ezra and I would take off early in the equipment truck," remembers Grimwood, in a gentle, storyteller's voice with a hint of a Southern accent. "He's a big fisherman. So while he'd fish in all the streams that we found, I'd sit around and read Brautigan books. When folks asked us what we were doing, we'd say we were trout fishing in america."

For three years, the two friends would go out and perform as an acoustic duo whenever St. Elmo's Fire had another one of its many ego-driven flame outs.

"We both knew that we liked life and liked to have a good time," says Grimwood. "The rest of the band liked to argue a whole lot and have meetings to discuss things."

When St. Elmo's Fire was extinguished in 1979, Grimwood and Idlet decided to take their Trout Fishing noodling to a higher level.

Trout Fishing has since released nine CDs on their own label, won a roomful of awards for their independent and family-friendly recordings, and toured the country several times over.

"One of my life's goals has been to go to all 50 states, and Hawai'i will make 49 for me," says Grimwood. laughing. The one state less taken? "Idaho. And I often wonder why we haven't been to Idaho."

Idlet is heard walking into the room, and Grimwood hands him the telephone to discuss the secret of a long musical partnership.

"In terms of business strengths, æKeith is strong with the math and keeps records clean and accurate," says Idlet. "I can carry big equipment."

Come on, guys. Get serious.

"First and foremost, our . . . (act) is about music," says Grimwood. "I'd call it folk music with sense of humor. It's very aggressive. We have this huge sound for just two guys."

Echoes Idlet: "We're very percussive. Keith slaps his bass in many different kinds of ways. I pound my guitar. Keith calls it 'whittling.' "

On stage, the duo mix in a sizable dose of their comic real-life cameraderie into the act, often playing off their, shall we say, more visual differences.

"More often though, we'll play off of our personal differences," says Idlet. "I tend to be really exuberant, dopey and kind of flaky on stage. Keith is more incisive, with a drier and subtler wit.

"It's the straight man and the goon," he laughs. "And I'm the goon."