The joy of an evening of music

It is Erika, here.

So, this no tv thing has really brought out my creativity, as I hoped it would. With so much time to twiddle your thumbs, you have to fill it with something. As you know, I went out on my own and started my own little business. With this business, I began another blog - A Passion for Play- this one caters to parents, their children and finding ways to spend time together. Trying to think up new things to post has not only kept me busy, but Beckett, too since we have to try everything out together first.

I think the best part of this creative-boost has been that I have reawakened my love of writing. The feedback I have received from my friends and family has been wonderful and really encouraged me to keep at it.

There was a particular incident this week that really made me think, "Oh! I have to write about this!" Steve bought us tickets to see Andrew Bird for our anniversary. We have been listening to so much music and have been exposed to so much new music since the big switcharoo, but Andrew Bird has been part of our musical venacular for a few years now. The details of this concert I just have to share:

This was the end of Bird's tour and Chicago is his hometown, so he chose to do something a little different. Instead of playing at the Riv or the Aragon, he chose the 4th Presbyterian Church on Michigan Avenue. You know that huge gothic church from My Best Friend's Wedding? Yep, that one.

The evening was a "Gezziligheid" a dutch word that translates to "social cozy."   Instead of playing a variety of songs from his new and old albums, Bird wanted to be "cozy" with the audience and just play whatever his mood suggested.  In his words, "I have a pretty cool audience that lets me do what I want." 

He played without a band - just him, his violin, guitar, xylophone, his lovely voice and his haunting whistle.  Bird looked like a University of Chicago classics professor with his tweed overcoat and tie.  I didn't doubt that he was sporting argyle socks in his loafers.  The stage was framed by twenty or so 3 foot high vitrolla horns with four 7 foot tall ones standing at attention like golden daffodil trumpets on either side of Bird.  (You can see them in the picture above.)

He had this knack for orchestrating and recording his own sounds to layer behind him as he played the melodies.  At times, Bird looked like a one-man band ala Burt from Mary Poppins.  He had a Les Paul-esque guitar on his back and a violin under his chin which he played while singing or matching the tone of his xylophone to the tone of the whistling coming from his lips.  His voice often was reminscent of Jeff Buckley without the ridiculously high falsetto.  His whistling is what has always attracted me to Bird.  (If you know me, you know I love whistling and when people clap in their songs.  Bird does both.)  He whistles with such ease - it sounds like a mix of the whistling heard in a Morricone western and when someone plays a saw.  Awesome.

Seeing Bird just standing up there in front of us experimenting with his plethora of instruments was awe-inspiring.   He not only played his music, but he moved with his music.  I guarantee he can't cut a rug (he moves in that uncoordinated, nerdy white guy way), but you don't really care because he felt his music like a whirling dervish - head shaking, hair messing and hand wagging.

The previews of his new songs make me incredibly anxious for the new release.  Two songs stood out: Breeding Desperation - the lyrics were "Without bees - breeding desperation - stealing respiration from the tender trees"

and

Lazy Projector which is about how our subconscious picks and chooses our memories - it is a "forgetting, embellishing, lying machine."

The venue made the experience all the more special.  The acoustics were incredible and hardly anyone stood up the entire performance.  I have to say that my bum was especially thankful he hadn't chosen a Catholic church because the Presbyterians know how to cushion a pew!

You may think I'm nuts for going on and on about this concert, but I don't really care.  It was a night that I enjoyed just for the sake of music.  It's something that television could never have offered.

(This pic is from last year's concert.  Couldn't find a shot from this year's.)