Not just another Guitar Player

Even before the commercial success of musicians such as John Mayer and Jason Mraz, finding a young, struggling acoustic guitar player to listen to was as easy as finding a rapper with "Lil" in his stage name. \nBut now after Mayer and Mraz's pop invasion, solo acoustic guitar players are crawling out of every corner of the nation. In bars to ballrooms, the sounds of "soulful" lyrics and "intense" riffs can be found playing at most college shows, whether anyone knows their name or not.\nBut when asked what sets him apart from all the rest, all 24-year-old singer/songwriter Ari Hest can say is, "No matter what it is (the audience) can identify with what I am doing."\nHonesty is what Hest, the headliner at the Bluebird Saturday night, relies on to attract fans.\n"I'm not a motto type of guy. I just try to write good songs," he says.\nHest has been vigorously touring college campuses and big cities all over the country since 2001 with groups such as Guster and Maroon 5. Once solo, he's now sharing the bill on "The Rubber Meets Road Tour" with Pseudopod and The Clarks until after Thanksgiving. But while the other two bands take a break this weekend, Hest and his band mates will bring his self-proclaimed "acoustic driven rock and roll" to Bloomington to showcase his talent and his love for what he does. \n"I wanted to come. The response was good last time … I just really wanted to get down there," Hest says -- and with good reason, considering his bass player is originally from Bloomington.\nBut even locals are ready for Hest's return. Dave Kubiak, owner of the Bluebird nightclub, is excited for Hest's local reemergence. Hest first ventured to B-town with the Pat McGee Band earlier this year before making a solo appearance in September.\n"I see Ari as someone who is really going to develop over time," Kubiak says. In fact, he gives Hest and his "grass-roots following" six more months before they both get huge.\nJoshua Popejoy, senior and an A-Team rep, says he's thrilled to see Hest perform on Saturday night. \n"Ari's voice is what really sets him apart. His wide range and beautiful falsetto can give you chills at times," Popejoy says. "He also doesn't have a sellout sound or the ego of a John Mayer, which is very refreshing."\nAs a New York native and NYU grad with a degree in communications, Hest didn't always know he was going to be a touring musician. \n"I had no idea going into my freshman year of college that four years later I would be touring. It wasn't even there," Hest says.\nBut when he arrived at NYU, artists like Radiohead, Rufus Wainwright, Ben Folds Five and Peter Gabriel helped to both motivate and form him into the acoustic guitar playing artist he is now. \n"Listening to them inspired me to write better songs," Hest says.\nTo Hest, writing better songs means writing about his own experiences. Most of his songs are autobiographical, or at least autobiographical in terms of his emotions, he says. For a couple of the songs on his most recent album, Story after story, Hest put himself in someone else's shoes to get a strong, emotional driven track.\nIn "Didn't Want to Say Goodbye," the last song on the album, Hest wrote the song from the perspective of a friend who's mother was lost in the Sept. 11 attacks. With such intense inspiration, fans can feel the passion he brings to the stage and the album.\n"The emotion Ari puts into every song is amazing. Last time he was here, you could hear a pin drop in the Bluebird. It was chilling," Popejoy says.\nThough Hest focuses mainly on playing the acoustic guitar, he says he's attempting to pick up a few more instruments, including learning more of the piano and the electric guitar, which he calls "a different beast" altogether. \nBut in the meantime, Hest will continue as usual -- playing shows, sleeping in his downtime and giving directions to his manager as they're driving.