Blog
May 21 2011
Rhymin' Simon at the Ryman (re-posted from the email list)
It’s a paradox. I’m speechless. And yet I need to talk to someone. Like…right now. Even though I stood around talking about it with others for half an hour after the show in the Ryman parking lot. Jon Landau made that oft-quoted statement about Bruce Springsteen in 1974 --- and went on to describe that on that particualr night, he felt like he was hearing music again for the very first time; like a child might. And tonight that's how I feel...
I saw Dylan (six or seven times – can’t remember; best was 9/19/07), Ray Charles (with pops Al Hendrix in the audience), James Brown (two or three times), Springsteen (multiple), Simon & Garfunkel on the reunion tour, McCartney, The Stones, U2, Jackson Browne (multiple), Crosby Stills Nash, Costello, Neil Young with acoustic guitar and harmonica rack, Roger McGuinn solo and reminiscing on The Byrds and friends like Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan (part show part presentation), Tom Petty w/ Benmont and the Heartbreakers, John Prine, and dare I say most of the great surviving singer-songwriters of the last century (except for Leonard Cohen and Joni, I think I’ve seen just about all of them). Lots of guitar players. Too many to even get close to mentioning. BB, Buddy Guy (on a night when he blew the roof off the place), Clapton more than I can remember, Jeff Beck in Chicago at sundown beneath the summer sky, Knopfler (of course), etc. Me and Barry Drake --- my rock and roll historian pal, who inspired me in college and inspires me still.
And never has an evening of music ---- even when I was a little boy and it was all new and thrilling ---- made me feel like tonight has. The band indescribable. The songs impeccable. Paul Simon’s genius (and let's just state the obvious that he is on a level with Bob and The Beatles) elevated with additional inspiration to be at the venue (“humbled to be here at the Ryman”).
I wasn’t supposed to be there. ; It was totally sold-out. But I got in. I had to.
There was this feeling that the moment was there before my very eyes and ears, and I couldn’t hold onto it (because who can), but that….however transient it was in the fleeting moment, it would profoundly affect me as long as I've a heart to beat and ears to hear. I went thinking it’d be memorable --- but nothing like this.
Then again, I’m speechless. So that’s enough ---
"And in remembering a road sign
I am remembering a girl when I was young
And we said 'these songs are true
These days are ours...'"
-Sean