Roni Ben Hur—

Had an opportunity to check out Roni Ben Hur and hang out w/ TL. We drove down to Montclair and after few missed turns and brief conversation about cow tipping, we arrive at our destination w/ 10 minutes to spare. The band leader was the widowed wife of John Hicks. And they played bunch of tunes written by him.

Towards the end of evening, I had a new insight – I realized that even looking at the performers were distracting me from listen to the music itself. It wasn’t until towards the end of the show when I actually closed my eyes I heard each passage and the note dancing around their harmonic grid. I returned home thinking next time, I’m not even going to see the performers. I’m just going to sit, close my eyes and listen.

Too bad that our MTV or post-MTV generations cannot appreciate music w/out image even though music has always been an art of listening. They talk about stage-presence – who cares about what they look? Just go up and play your music! I guess the one of the reasons why I’m getting into non-commerical music [folk, jazz, blues, classical] is b/c going up on the stage and looking good ain’t their main agenda – it’s all about music…melody stated and harmony dancing around her.