You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'Music' category.
It was so moving listening to Tessa Souter’s sultry and distinctive voice past Friday. I sat on the grand stairway of the Philadelphia Art Museum with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon in hand, her music deeply penetrating into the very soul of my being. Her jazzy rendition of Sting’s ‘Fragile’ touched my core. I felt mellow and salty tears ran down my cheek. Perhaps it was a hint of the Middle Eastern influence making me feel the deep rhythm in my belly, very pronounced in songs such as ‘Caravan.’ Maybe it was the lyrics, some sad, some touching and all beautiful.
If you are not already a fan, I hope that you discover her latest album ‘Listen Love’, and let her unique voice and her music, reflecting a wide range of influences reach you.
Willow
(Lyrics: Tessa Souter)
What if I became a willow tree
On the banks of you – a wild river
What would you do if I fell into the dark of you
Would that be too deep
And if I touched the very heart of you
Would you let me keep the tender moment
When a part of you loved me too
I’m yearning for a deeper blue
Please let me run away with you to the sea
And if I should let a tender leaf
Go floating over you – a pale green dancer
Would I just sink or would you hold me
While you danced with me
Lead me to the brink of falling deeper
In romance with me
Would you let me drink of you until you were
entranced with me, dance with me
I’m yearning for a deeper blue
Please let me run away with you to the sea
Couple of weeks ago I donned my jeans, spiky boots and a leather jacket and with my preppy 14 year old son in tow went to see Nickelback on their ‘All the Right Reasons’ tour. Two bands warmed up the crowd before Nickelback came on stage. One of them happened to be ‘Breaking Benjamin’, a Philly band glad to play in front of the enthusiastic home fans. The security guards took a slightly different approach, and opted to preserve their hearing by using the ear plugs. I could see their point.
The arrival of the main band was accompanied by the screams of perfectly normal teenage girls strategically positioned above the tunnel entrance, so that they were the first to see them. I am sure that this made a story more interesting at school the next day. From the very first song, the whole arena was up on their feet, energized and rocking.
Nickelback is an interesting band. Hard rock with a lot of influence from heavy metal. Yet, their lyrics have the edge, and provide a great social commentary of the times we live in. Because of this, I expected them to have a very mixed fan base. It amused me to find out exactly how varied this group really was. An overweight couple behind me had every inch of their skin covered in tattoos. One could just imagine them running their tattoo parlor out of a trailer somewhere in Jersey. Couple of housewives next to me sang happily to the ‘Photograph’ knowing every word of the song, as the photos of the band flashed on large screens hanging from the ceiling. Some guys exchanged their business suits for jeans and t-shirts. They seemed to have liked a lot the idea of ice cold beer being thrown to them from the stage.
With the tickets for the 4th row, I was in the groupies territory. A bra and a matching thong flew on the stage. Chad, the front man, made a remark that he was beginning to feel like Tom Jones. A girl next to me kept telling me how mesmerized she was with Daniel, the ‘hot’ drummer. I thought that she would pass out when he performed a solo.
Some gorgeous looking girls, escorted by a couple of biker dudes who must have forked out for the tickets, decided to put up their own show. What started as two girls very provocatively dressed grinding and making up, soon became a full blown lap dance. The security guards, with their backs turned to the stage, for the first time, had enthusiastic expression on their faces. To their great disappointment, their female colleague decided that things were getting out of hand and physically separated the girls. Judging by the professionalism of the performance, I don’ t think that entertaining the idea of the girls working at one of the nearby strip joints off 95, would be a far fetched one.
A guy managed to charge through the security guards and get on stage where he was knocked down by a man mountain of a body guard. Not a particularly smart decision considering that the band was in the middle of a song ‘Side Of A Bullet’. The song is a tribute to the heavy metal guitarist who got shot down while performing.
The concert ended with incredible pyrotechnic display. I left happy humming one of my favorites,
If everyone cared and nobody cried,
If everyone loved and nobody lied,
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride,
We’d see the day when nobody died.
