Still spinning in wonder over the first TOH concert.
While the set list might change as the venues change; the countries change; one thing that will not change is the excellence; the perfection; the attention to detail Adam is bringing to us. His vision. He's been visualizing this for years, I bet. Maybe for his entire lifetime. It means THIS MUCH to him. So much, he tattooed 'The Original High' on his collarbone. So much, he found a way to put Jonny in the audience for the premiere performance. So much, he's put the music that matters in his life -and maybe his fortune, as well - into this tour. He is revealing his life to us through music. Questioning, doubting, shattering, celebrating, embracing. Here! He's said it. In doing so, he's making me - in particular - look inside.
Adam is my gift. He came from that elusive 'Planet Fierce'. I did not seek him; it just happened.
So, I have a few 'mementos' from the years since 2009, when we first met. Adam fell into my senses late one night, as I tried to turn off the television. Who was this man, singing 'Satisfaction'?? Weeks later, I convinced my soon-to-be inlaw, over dinner at her home, 2000 miles away, that we should watch American Idol - the evening before the wedding rehearsal dinner for my son. Priorities!
So - here you go. Feel free to scroll.
Credit for this following quote goes to 'Fiona Mom' - written on July 25, 2010. I was also at the Warfield, with Melisende - a Topian I've lost along the way. Fiona Mom perfectly captured these first live moments.
"Actual show was amazing - it was hard for me to see so I walked to the far side of pit area where I only could see directly down in front of the stage, like the stage corner looking across it. Just soooo much love being sent him from the crowd. I could see him really looking at everyone.
"'Sleepwalker'. I am a singer and was so impressed watching him do this one. Big breaths from waist up. Singers fill their lungs from the diaphragm, and I could see the entire length of his back /torso filling with air, and he was just power housing those vocals out. Seriously, it was a beautiful thing to see. It takes work to sustain and support those kinds of vocals and he was just cycling that perfect melding of classical trained vocal technique with a more spiritual raw rock vocal technique. It's like the work was done down low in the torso to support the breath at the diaphragm and then the throat was just open and he was just flowing and just filling the entire theatre with his voice. Add to that his incredibly magnetic stage presence visually and the fabulous dancing and his physical beauty and the whole thing was freaking overwhelming.
"At this show I really noticed his stage experience. He can project everything - voice, movement, expressions - to the back of the theatre. So awesome to see such talent in person with my own eyes. Lasers were tremendous - went right over our heads in the pit like a canopy of light.
"Afterwards, we waited like an hour with hundreds of people to see him. Some of us started serenading 'If I Had You'. He came by. I was struck, immediately, by how gentle and delicate some of his mannerisms were. He signed my ticket and I noticed how gracefully he moved his fingers to hold the ticket steady to sign it. Another cool moment - people surged forward when he came over - he held up both hands and lowered them down, without saying anything, and the crowd relaxed. His presence was so graceful, more quiet, introspective."
Next, my friends, I have this quote. I only 'quote' it; wish I knew who wrote it; but I bet one of us will know who it is!
Why Music?
I. Music is a Science
II. Music is Mathematics
III. Music is a Foreign Language
IV. Music is History
V. Music is Physical Education
VI. Music develops Insight and Demands Reward
Vii. Music is All these Things; but, most of all, Music is Art
That is why we teach Music.
Not because we expect you to major in Music.
Not because we expect you to play or sing all your life . . .
But so you will all be human
So you will recognize beauty
So you will be closer to an infinite beyond this world
So you will have something to cling to
So you will have more love, more compassion,
More gentleness, more good
In short, more life.
Here's the last bit of musing from me . . .
When I was fifteen, I was part of an honor choir who sang the adaptation of this Robert Frost poem at a state competition.
I know the poem by heart; it spoke to me. But I couldn't realize the star. Now I do.
"Choose Something Like a Star" - Robert Frost
O Star (the fairest one in sight),
We grant your loftiness the right
To some obscurity of cloud
It will not do to say of night
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to be wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.
Say something to us we can learn by heart
And when alone, repeat.
Say something! And it says "I burn".
But say, with what degree of heat?
Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade
Use language we can comprehend.
Tell us what elements you blend.
It gives us strangely little aid
But does tell something in the end.
And steadfast as Keats' Eremite,
Not stooping from its sphere
It asks a little of us here.
It asks of us a certain height
So, when at times the mob is swayed
to carry praise or blame too far
We may choose
Something like a star
To stay our minds on
And be staid.
So it is with my musings for tonight. I loved today's earlier quote. Here's another:
"A musical genius takes you to an altered sphere of consciousness"
- Itzhak Perlman
Happy New Year to you all, from my altered sphere . . .
