Who do you play for? Do you play for an audience? Do you play for yourself?
Is your music an offering? Is it a spiritual practice? Do you offer it the discipline it requires to get better? It deserves it, you know.
Does it soothe you or wake you up? Does it celebrate life or do you keep it only as an accompaniment?
So much to consider. So much to decide.
Peace of the music be with you. May you transform the music; may it transform you.
Here’s what we need: We need to listen to live music. We need to dance to live music. We need to make live music. And damn it we need to sing.
Music takes us places we can’t imagine. And sometimes that’s as mundane as your living room with a guitar.
Let’s let music move us. What is that that EG Kight sings? “Let the blues move you to a better attitude.” And not just the blues. Bach. Beat. Beatles. Whatevah!
“All we are singing, is give Peace a chance.” We always think we sing that to someone else. We need to sing it to ourselves. Peace.
I’m sure Joe kept himself sane through his lawyer years with hard cases for people whose lives were complicated and insecure by playing music.
He certainly added a lot to our lives through that time… But hooray, here comes retirement!
But now he has all the time he wants to explore his music for himself. I’ve heard a couple things. I really hope we’ll hear more. But I mostly hope that he gets to dig in and just have a good time. And of course I always hope he makes his beloved dance. She does love to dance!
Time for Joe to give his own Peace a chance. Lucky us!
You start some place. We all do. This guy started in this little Valley. He may have been young when he started, but he has a always had big voice! He has a big following inside and outside this Valley.
But every year, once a year, he comes back and sings and plays with his teacher. They have a good time. We have a great time! Leaving is great. Homecomings are great. There’s Peace in both — and Peace is for the listening! Enjoy!
I used to sing back up with this woman. It was always fun because she was always ready for a good time. We always laughed.
And then she fell in love and went away, and music isn’t as giggly fun as it used to be in this valley.
Even when you sing the blues, when there’s harmony and friends, the blues aren’t as hard to carry.
The laughter and the music fill and heal your heart… Join together, they fill the hearts of the singers. They fill the hearts of the players. They fill the hearts of the audience.
Everyone’s hearts are in the same place. That’s Peace! Thanks Averie! You’re so Savory! And so is Peace!
This baby obviously knows that Peace is important and that playing is the way to bring it. I love the composition of this pic. Van is so large; his child is so small. But that child is playing the harmonic full on.
And Van is charmed; not bothered. On the one hand, it’s his baby. On the other hand, knowing Van, he’d be just as welcoming of whatever kid came up to hang by his leg (harmonica or no)… and Van, being Van, draws the littles like flies.
That’s bringing the music. That’s making space for laughter, Love and Peace to happen.
One way or another, making the space and bringing the Peace is what we’re all called to do.
When people who love each other, live with each other, and have for a long time, sing together, magical things happen.
These two have known and loved each other a long time. And their singing shows it. (well so does the rest of their life).
But what if we all allowed ourselves to be open to the love in a song? What if we all made space for the Peace? We need to do this. Sing Peace!
Some nights are just sweet. Last night was one of them. It had been so busy all day. Go here. Go there. Finish this. Start that. Do. Do. Do.
And then, my friends back from NY, dinner over, we collected another friend, and there we were, sitting on a patio, listening to another friend’s great music. That boy can write himself a sad song about class, about living with the drive to create and perform. And he can sing!
The Sun went down. The Moon came up.
It was all a pretty beautiful reminder that taking the time gives great payoffs. Once in a while, remembering how sweet life is, gives you what’s needed to get back on the Peace journey. Comfort and company for the road. Peace, my friends.
Oh, the silly way your brain works. I see my buddy on a high way billboard and think BOLO… but her music is so grand, it’s a good idea to be on the lookout because you want to catch her if you can.
She’s a great singer songwriter. Funny, generous, hot. She’s also an incredible performer. She totally owned a couple songs that she covered. She’s spoiled me for others on those, really. Listened to a young woman approach one of those songs the other day. I make allowances for her age, really I do, some songs it takes a long time to master, let alone own… but I kept hearing EG and kept thinking, go home, learn it, and then come back and try again.
It’s fun to have people you love be really, really good at what they do. It’s fun to introduce others to her music and have them be bewitched as well.
And it’s a bit sad, as her music in my mind is linked to another singer songwriter, a woman who died of cancer a few years ago. They sang together, these two very different women and just had the best time. An extra large time as EG would say. And while Ann Rabson was dying, EG Kight was being very sick with meningitis and encephalitis. At first they didn’t know if she’d die and then she didn’t know if she’d ever pick up a guitar again. Or sing. Or write songs. Or tour. But she is doing all those things and just touching heart after heart.
So, EG Kight BOLO… because I have to say, there’s Peace in the fun of her, Peace in the art of her, Peace in the friendship. And Hope. That’s a pretty heady combination and a great way to spend the weekend. Giving thanks. Counting Blessings. Aren’t I a lucky girl.
But why trust this, give her a listen and you’ll get lucky too!
When asked how his music is different now, after all years of playing; he said he could now add to his notes all the color of emotion and expression.
What lovely insight. You do your work, you practice the scales and the pieces. You put discipline into your craft and gradually or maybe suddenly you realize that you and the music (or insert your art here) are playmates, free to explore and to be explored. Free to enjoy. Free to be enjoyed.
She talked more about the instrument and the way she’s gradually made this flute her flute. A new flute, different, bolder, more capable than any tool she’s ever played. She gets to bring her color to this new tool as well as to the music… and the music pours from her gift.
Do your work. Over and over again. Climb the steps and then swish down the sliding board — And then climb the steps again.
Their joy in playing was palpable. We can have that joy in our lives if we just do the work. And while that’s not a simple thing, it is an every day thing.
What joy these two brought their audience of friends who have listened for years. What joy they will bring those who listen for the first time. What joy they have in what they do. At this changing point in their career as musicians, what bigger Peace could they ask than to keep on doing what they love. What sweeter Peace can they offer? It’s a new Moon in their lives as well as for us. May it be filled with beauty.
