How things rattle about in the brain

matociquala has a piece up about what it means to be honest in a piece of work.

Certainly John Denver pales when compared to Gordon Lightfoot for honesty in content, and they both lose compared to Zevon.

But the way things bump into other things got me to thinking about musicians, and how I've seen some of them in concert.

Zevon, Boiled in Lead, Gordon Lightfoot. Great concerts. Stunning music, raised to another plane before an audience.

The Untouchables, and any number of small bands, who were great on albums, but stank live. Usually because they couldn't get the balance of vocals and instruments right.

A couple dozen bar bands who did get it right. Kick ass stomp your feet and sing along stuff. Yeah, the tapes/CDs were expensive, but they gotta eat, and if they don't, they won't be able to play.

The LA Philharmonic, The Armadillo Quartet, a talented soprano; at the start of her career, singing for the owner of an almost empty restarurant.

Sing-alongs and filk-sessions, crowded hallways in hotels, firelight and folksongs. Old favorites and things I'd never heard before, caroling at Christmas time; performing in the choir at the Army Birthday Ball in 1993, while I was at DLI.

Music is, for all the joy there is in being able to pop a tape in the deck, a record on the turntable, or a CD in the player; and hear some, anytime I want, a social thing.

It is better when there are people to share it. Not just the appreciation, but the making.

Like life, it's best when it's interactive.