Over time, I have found that live music not only massages my soul but also serves as a direct-deposit in maintaining whatever balance exists in my emotional checking account.
A recent example had to do with acquiring tickets at the very last minute to an already-sold-out co-headlining show featuring James McMurtry and Dave Alvin the weekend before last down at The Stateroom. It had been a spell since my last fix and withdrawal symptoms had me dancing like Saint Vitus himself.
Alvin, going back to the early ’80s when Dave and his brother Phil fused punk and rockabilly in The Blasters, has long been a favorite. And McMurtry, son of “Lonesome Dove” author Larry, has, since his advent on the scene, become one of the more inventive singer/songwriters currently plying the trade. The pairing proved perfect!
Under the heading of “oh, no, say it ain’t so!,” visions of Randy Barton kept smirking across my consciousness most of the evening. Having brought James to the Egyptian Theatre back during his “Wooden Dog” days and then Dave, in an awesome multi-venue triptych with Iris Dement and Tom Russell sometime later, Randy’s presence loomed. Although, it must be said, I certainly tried to give it the slip.
Fortunately, my therapy continued this past weekend with a large dose of Alejandro Escovedo Saturday evening at whatever it is they now call the old ParkWest venue. Somehow, I’ve yet to find disappointment at any of Mountain Town Music’s free concerts out Snyderville way.
Alejandro has this inner glow that defies description in words but is evident, indeed, when one attends his shows. His is a muse that insinuates itself seamlessly into both the creative and pleasure centers the brain. Just his smile is often enough to top off your fuel tank.
Not being one to say “when” when the cup is nearly full, however, I continued on uptown to catch a bite and a brew and the first set of Muddpuddle at the Spur. All three fit the bill nicely especially the band, whose act I hadn’t caught in a while. Both tight and inventive instrumentally, not to mention creative vocal arrangements, they brought me up to speed in a hurry. They’re an outfit that truly enjoys themselves.
Best laid plans to back up Saturday with a Sunday night Rosanne Cash performance at Deer Valley fell through, however. Drat! Her show at the Eccles, the last time she blew through town, had proven quite illuminating as she performed from her then-new CD “The List,” a compilation of country tunes more traditional than her usual shtick and suggested by her father, the man in black himself, Johnny Cash.
Mountain Town Music and the Park City Performing Arts Foundation have long served as default emergency rooms when my affliction gets out of hand. Brian Richards and Teri Orr give better triage than Hawkeye and Hotlips when it comes to diagnosing my live music deficiencies.
But now, fellow aficionados of live-music inoculations, it’s time for the “big fix!” This is the one by which others are judged. This Sunday evening, the Playing for Change touring band will be doing that extraordinary thing they do live onstage at the Snow Park Amphitheater at Deer Valley.
If you were part of the celebratory gathering at the Eccles Center this past October, you know where I’m coming from. Trying not to get too carried away here, but the evening was flat-out rapturous! This grand ensemble of street musicians, “buskers” in the vernacular, has turned Grandpa Elliott, Clarence Bekker, and their virtuoso bandmates into worldwide icons.
With new “episodes” of live-music videos being posted at regular intervals on their website (www.playingforchange.com) and musical schools being constructed worldwide through their philanthropic arm, the Playing for Change Foundation, PFC and its mission of “peace through music” is growing exponentially.
This is truly an opportunity you shouldn’t pass up even if you’ve partaken of their musical sacrament previously. By combining influences from many cultures, they make a powerful statement for unity and, as Bob Marley would say, “one love.”
Join the movement! Spread the word! Become inspired! Get the big fix! It’s about joy! The Playing for Change touring band truly massages the soul while at the same time direct-depositing huge chunks of emotional change into your bliss account. You’ll love ’em! Grandpa Elliott’s just about the coolest portly gray dude you’ll ever run into.
Jay Meehan is a culture junkie and an observer, participant, and chronicler of the Park City and Wasatch County social scenes for the past 40 years.