(no subject)
So those who know me well, know that I'm a music fiend. I cannot get enough of the musicians that I love - I've maxed out credit cards and traveled across the country, just for shows. Even the people I know with the widest array of musical tastes have laughed at me when I insist on seeing someone I like a 10th time. When I like a band or a singer, I'll try to get everyone to like them - and sometimes it works, sometimes...well, I just don't understand people.
I make a habit out of seeing concerts and gigs. I get depressed when I don't. If I could figure out how to make it a career without having to throw really terrible music in there too, I would. But see, that's where I get picky. I can say great things about everyone from Justin Timberlake to Einsturzende Neubauten and be happy seeing both. But if you throw some bimbette in very little clothing who doesn't write her own songs into the mix, I'm out. The soul behind the music matters to me the most, and if it doesn't have one it is not worth my time or money.
I'm a lyric whore.Saying that explains some of my favorite musicians these days. Many people find them to be creepy, weird, whiny or uncomfortable to listen to but even those who don't like listening to them can appreciate how they have mastered the English (French, Farsi, Indian, etc) language and forced mere words into beautiful poems and stories that can bring you to tears. I understand that. It is how I feel about Bob Dylan. As long as you can appreciate the poets, whether you prefer to listen to them or not, we're golden.
Some of my favorite poets and storytellers? New Model Army/Justin Sullivan. Tom Waits. Concrete Blonde/Johnette Napolitano. Suzanne Vega. Local guitar master Eric McFadden, Johnny Cash, and the mighty Leonard Cohen.
I've flown across the US to see some of them. I sat through festivals I would have never gone to for some of the others. I will be sad until the day I die that I didn't have the chance to see Johnny Cash. But I have never done any of these things for Mr. Cohen. He invokes a calm in me that traveling does not. A sense of solemnity and purity that cannot be put in the same frenzy as the rest of the world. When I have had the surprising luck to see him perform, it is with a hush in my soul, a flower in my hand, and a short walk from home.
The amazing talent that he has as a poet and a songmaster combined with the talent of his musicians is astonishing and it lays bare my soul. My emotional state for at least a week after seeing one of his shows is naked and raw. I cry at the drop of a hat and giggle at things as if I were a child. The power he has to not only silence a sold out crowd but keep them on the edge of their seats and breathless is something I have never seen before. It is a religious experience for music lovers and lyric whores like me - what going to church should be for people but isn't.
"A temporary manifestation or aspect of a continuing entity, An embodiment, as of a quality or concept; an archetype" - these are the definitions of an avatar. I had never been in the presence of one before, but if there truly is such a thing on earth - one that channels the mysteries and secrets of their god or goddess, then he is one - and his deity is music itself. It is an amazing sorcery and a pure magic that renders me speechless and vulnerable beyond belief and leaves me uplifted and broken, silent and singing, crying shamelessly and smiling radiantly.
If you have the chance to catch a performance, please do. The man is 76 years old and still has more stamina than most who are half his age. He knows that he may not be back again and so he gives every person in the room, every single piece of him. It is the perfect offering, and one that should be received with as much love and grace as it was given.
You will not regret a single cent of the not insignificant amount of money spent on your ticket. In fact, you will likely end up as I do today, combing through the finances in the hope of finding some magic place to pull another ticket out of for tonight. Either way, you will never, ever forget this incredible and truly awesome experience. Seriously.
I make a habit out of seeing concerts and gigs. I get depressed when I don't. If I could figure out how to make it a career without having to throw really terrible music in there too, I would. But see, that's where I get picky. I can say great things about everyone from Justin Timberlake to Einsturzende Neubauten and be happy seeing both. But if you throw some bimbette in very little clothing who doesn't write her own songs into the mix, I'm out. The soul behind the music matters to me the most, and if it doesn't have one it is not worth my time or money.
I'm a lyric whore.Saying that explains some of my favorite musicians these days. Many people find them to be creepy, weird, whiny or uncomfortable to listen to but even those who don't like listening to them can appreciate how they have mastered the English (French, Farsi, Indian, etc) language and forced mere words into beautiful poems and stories that can bring you to tears. I understand that. It is how I feel about Bob Dylan. As long as you can appreciate the poets, whether you prefer to listen to them or not, we're golden.
Some of my favorite poets and storytellers? New Model Army/Justin Sullivan. Tom Waits. Concrete Blonde/Johnette Napolitano. Suzanne Vega. Local guitar master Eric McFadden, Johnny Cash, and the mighty Leonard Cohen.
I've flown across the US to see some of them. I sat through festivals I would have never gone to for some of the others. I will be sad until the day I die that I didn't have the chance to see Johnny Cash. But I have never done any of these things for Mr. Cohen. He invokes a calm in me that traveling does not. A sense of solemnity and purity that cannot be put in the same frenzy as the rest of the world. When I have had the surprising luck to see him perform, it is with a hush in my soul, a flower in my hand, and a short walk from home.
The amazing talent that he has as a poet and a songmaster combined with the talent of his musicians is astonishing and it lays bare my soul. My emotional state for at least a week after seeing one of his shows is naked and raw. I cry at the drop of a hat and giggle at things as if I were a child. The power he has to not only silence a sold out crowd but keep them on the edge of their seats and breathless is something I have never seen before. It is a religious experience for music lovers and lyric whores like me - what going to church should be for people but isn't.
"A temporary manifestation or aspect of a continuing entity, An embodiment, as of a quality or concept; an archetype" - these are the definitions of an avatar. I had never been in the presence of one before, but if there truly is such a thing on earth - one that channels the mysteries and secrets of their god or goddess, then he is one - and his deity is music itself. It is an amazing sorcery and a pure magic that renders me speechless and vulnerable beyond belief and leaves me uplifted and broken, silent and singing, crying shamelessly and smiling radiantly.
If you have the chance to catch a performance, please do. The man is 76 years old and still has more stamina than most who are half his age. He knows that he may not be back again and so he gives every person in the room, every single piece of him. It is the perfect offering, and one that should be received with as much love and grace as it was given.
You will not regret a single cent of the not insignificant amount of money spent on your ticket. In fact, you will likely end up as I do today, combing through the finances in the hope of finding some magic place to pull another ticket out of for tonight. Either way, you will never, ever forget this incredible and truly awesome experience. Seriously.