(Title Credit: Jay and the Americans / 1969)
Life has its moments. Some are vastly forgettable – most, in fact, I would say. Many are memory-worthy. Few are magical. When you are part of a magical moment and, most importantly, you recognize it for what it is, you are indeed the lucky one.
Several years ago, Dave and I went to a concert at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia. It was a WXPN-sponsored event called A Five Star Night. We went because one of our very favorite singers, Happy Rhodes, was going to be performing there. But a magical moment happened while we were listening to one of the other performers, Jeffrey Gaines, sing his version of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes”. Jeffrey was sitting on the stage – just him – with his guitar and singing a nice acoustic version of this song. But when he got to the chorus, the entire audience began singing the background vocals. You know – “your eyes, your eyes, your eyes”, etc. It was dark, it was otherworldly – it was a magical moment.
Magic happened again last night.
As you all know, we went to the Dar Williams concert. The concert was in support of her new album, “The Beauty of the Rain”, which is kind of a low-key album, so the concert was pretty low-key. The Keswick is not one for very raucous concerts, anyway. Everyone generally stays seated and respectful the entire time. However, for her second encore, she started to play “As Cool As I Am”. From every corner of the theatre, hundreds of women of all ages, shapes and sizes rushed the stage. They sang and danced and celebrated life right there in front of her. I can’t convey to you what happened to me at that moment. Chills, tears – every emotional response I could have overwhelmed me. I was so proud of the reaction of the crowd, I felt so incredibly hopeful for the future of our daughters. This is the message that they should be receiving – self-affirming, intelligent, strong, confident. Thanks, Dar. You did it again!
np – What Do You Hear in These Sounds – Dar Williams
from the album “End of the Summer”
