SHARING THE SHOWS
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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April 2024
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