Back in 2001, one of my favorite magazines, The Utne Reader, had some of their their staffers make Greatest Hits lists, which were meant to be all inclusive: events, songs, albums, works of art, phenomena, people, etc. I used that idea to formulate my own Top Ten list once and then, as a creative writing assignment, asked my students to do the same.
At the top of my Greatest Hits List are summer Boston Pops Symphony Concerts at Tanglewood in Massachusetts. I remember the summer Arthur Fiedler conducted and my parents brought sleeping bags for us; my brother and I snuggled under the stars to music that filled the night air, cozy and content in that deep-down-in-your-soul kind of way. It's not just outdoor summer concerts which top my list, but the Family Togetherness as well--memories which as a parent I hope we are creating for our own kids.
Once in a while, I get close to some of the magical moments I felt as a child. Tonight I went to the Three Girls and Their Buddy concert (with two of my buddies, natch) at Humphrey's outdoor venue on the bay (my season opener, if you will, since I have tickets to two more concerts there this summer: Joan Baez and The Indigo Girls--duh!).
The highlight of the concert was Patty Griffin singing "Top of the World." Her earnest face, sweet voice, and aching lyrics inspired silent reverence from the crowd. The best I can do to recreate the moment is offer this clip of Patty performing the haunting song last year:
"Everyone's singing; we just want to be heard..."
No comments:
Post a Comment