SHARING THE SHOWS
This is another blog posting written from the Downtown Norfolk Write-In Group. While I'm on a pretty regular writing schedule normally, I've finished the draft of my book, so I'm forcing myself to find little projects, and this group helps keep me regular. And, of course, any time a chance to see a show comes up, that's a reason to write right there.
So this has been the longest I’ve gone without a face-to-face concert, and many folks are estimating that it could be until Fall 2021 that we actually start seeing them again. It sucks, but hey, if it helps us stay safe, that works for me. Besides, I think slowing down could be healthy for me, and who knows where the time I spent reflecting could lead? Of course, I took a break from that reflective journey to attend Drew/Brometheus’s livestream with Rider, his group. All I had to do was log onto Facebook for my experience. It was also kind of cool to be able to just sit and enjoy the music on a more mellow level, whereas before, I was dancing up a storm. I wouldn’t have been able to do much of that tonight, damn plantar fasciitis! Another thing I could do was Google lyrics more easily, because I hadn’t heard quite a few of these more. The band opened up with Bob Dylan’s “One More Cup of Coffee,” which segued into “I Shall Be Released.” My father planted the wisdom in me that a lot of groups have some great songs that never get airplay; I guess this is one of that. Others include AC/DC’s “Night of the Long Knives,” Jethro Tull’s “Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow," and Led Zeppelin’s “Candy Store Rock.” I cited these examples at random, but they’re awesome tunes. The next one was one I knew, The Who’s “The Seeker.” As I’m writing, I’m listening to their 1981 release, Face Dances. “You Better You Bet” is the only song from that album I’d ever heard on the radio. But I love exploring band’s more obscure tunes. The Rolling Stones’s “Let It Bleed” was next, complete with the lyric, “You can Come All Over Me.” How SUGGESTIVE (I’m thinking in terms of the sexual revolution that came with the late 1960s)! Tom Waits’s “Lucinda” was next (I really should look into him), followed by the Stones’s “Sweet Virginia,” another tune heard by me. The Hollies’s “The Air I Breathe” was next, followed by Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on the Wire” (I had to Google both of these). “Condition,” sung by Kenny Rogers with the First Edition, was next. I’d first heard this one in college, off a compilation of 60s psychedelic tunes called Psychedelic Mind Trip, Vol. 2. The band then sung an original tune called “Shades of Grey,” (I think: my apologies if I missed it). They then closed with Bob Marley & The Wailers’s “High Tide or Low Tide.” Once the song was over, I could log off. While I do miss the fun of the crowds at concerts, as an introvert, I actually like the fact that once the show is over, I can log off and be by myself. It was still cool seeing friends virtually. I helped Sherrie logged in and Mark said, “Hey Chazz. Good 2 see u here. I was worrying u weren’t getting 2 enough concerts. Lol.” I, umm, wasn’t, even before this, umm, Rona, ummm, came. (Looks around). Uhhhhhhh, yeahhhhhhhhhh. Oh yeah, and I saw Johnny Mac there too. And I have a present for you (I love you so much I can’t just give you one Phish SONG; you need an entire show).
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So I’m writing a blog posting during a Meetup group, the Downtown Norfolk Write-In, hosted by Suzanna Anderson. Pre-COVID, I was limiting my socializing to concerts, and Saturday mornings were usually time for me to recover from all the teaching I was doing during the week. But now, thanks to all these online socializing opportunities, I can meet people without even leaving the house.
Obviously, due to COVID-19, concerts aren’t happening, and tonight, I had originally planned to see Pigeons Playing Ping Pong at Richmond’s The National with Maggie. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be, but over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to integrate Phish into my teaching, and if I can do something that combines three things I love (writing, teaching, and Phish), I’ll do it. So this is the blog that replaces PPPP. In the Fall of 2016, after Phish released Big Boat, I had the opportunity to view an amazing video set to “More,” which essentially promotes messages of love and unity. On December 29 of that year, during the band’s annual New Year’s run at Madison Square Garden (the run I did with Drew/Brometheus that inspired the title of this blog), I had the opportunity to meet Kelly Morris, the maker of that video during the Phish art show at the Hotel Pennsylvania. It wasn’t quite like meeting Trey, but it came pretty close for me (Kelly, I really do mean that); I was just blown away by the video, so much so that I required students in my English composition classes to view it in preparation for making Public Service Announcements and ask her questions about her creative process. It went quite well. So well, in fact, that I decided to replicate it this semester. Students would watch the video and write about how Kelly built her credibility, appealed to emotion, and used logic to make her argument (ethos, pathos, and logos for my fellow Rhetoric and Writing Studies peeps). A couple of my students noted how the images can bring out emotions of nostalgia, fear, and happiness in different people. One student indicated, “I felt sadness because these are real-world problems we face today regardless of where you’re from.” Next time, I’ll do this exercise as a live session because I’d love to hear the dialogue happening among others in real-time. Reflective practice. This week, students also got a crash course in how to use iMovie through a video chat link. When I showed them how to upload music, the file that was highlighted in iTunes was “About to Run” from 7/6/19 at Boston’s Fenway Park, a show Kelly Contine and I braved a two-hour rain delay for. Some nice serendipity there. I loved the fact that the opening chords played as I showed students how to access their end-product. I haven’t done it this year, but I have played “Waste” on my guitar so students could compare my version with the Phish version from Billy Breathes. They SAID they liked my version better because it was more intimate, but I know the truth. :) Stay safe, and wash your hands! Carmina, great catching up with you on Zoom last night! The more we practice social distancing, the sooner we’ll be able to get social at our shows! |
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February 2024
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